If you’ve been doing business for some time, you’d likely realize that generating leads are a staple to growth. It’s the lifeblood that sustains any form of business, and that includes this very platform that Herbalife operates in. Lead generation, though, could be costly and tiring, considering the amount to be spent on traditional marketing methods. Luckily, there are certain cost-efficient tools available that could help a lot in customer acquisition, and one of them is Google Places.
What is Google Places?
Think of Google Places as your yellow pages. They are listings on the Internet that make businesses visible online via marking them on Google Maps and giving out information about that company. Signing up for it basically gives you a large ad that allows end users to know about your distributorship’s existence via your profile. The best part of it is that it is absolutely free.
The perks of using Google Places
With all the conveniences available online, it’s quite common for people nowadays to turn to the Internet for their shopping needs. Claiming your Google Places profile will make your Herbalife distributorship available through Google Web Search, Google Maps, mobile search, 1-800-GOOG-411 voice directory search, Google Earth, and Google+. In short, this is more exposure for you via local search.
When a person does a search for Herbalife or its products using Google, your listing in Google Places will be among the top results granted that your physical store or office is near the location of the one doing the search.
Take, for instance, the image above. On the upper right side, above the ads, will appear a map that pinpoints the location of a Herbalife distributor in Wichita, KS upon typing the brand name as a query.
If you scroll down a little, it will show other distributors who have signed up for the Google Places service. Their website and address are also shown, thereby helping you generate leads via web traffic and in-store visits.
Through the course of checking out Google Places, you might notice that there are existing information about your Herbalife distributors, prior to you signing up for the services. This is because Google gathers its data from different sources, including your listing on HNN. However, end users might be given inaccurate or outdated information, as some sources might not be current. By claiming it as your own, you get to ensure that you put in all the right info.
You may also maximize your presence by adding content such as pictures of your product or store, and by encouraging past customers and colleagues to leave comments and reviews. Aside from making it more captivating, it makes your distributorship more credible because of the social interactions and third party endorsements. Overall, using Google Places gives you a competitive advantage in terms of visibility and credibility over other distributors who don’t claim their listings, given that you do things right.
Now let’s tackle how to claim your Google Place for your Herbalife distributorship.
How to claim your Google Place
Signing up for Google Place is easy and may only require a few minutes.
Start by making a Google email account (via Gmail) and then visiting this link for further information about terms and conditions. You can then proceed to complete the information about your networking business on the blanks provided. Refer to the image above to familiarize yourself with the sign-up sheet. The information that you’d be providing would be your distributorship’s name, exact location, and category. This helps Google and your end users to recognize you easier.
The next step would be verifying your networking business. This is to make sure that all the data you included are correct in order to avoid misleading people. The verification would be done through your Gmail.
The third step would allow you to further list down additional details, such as your businesses’ category and a short description. You can then add rich media such as photos and videos, and then submit it for review and confirmation.
Google will mail you a card that contains a confirmation code that you will use to activate your listing. This also helps you ensure that nobody can tamper with the details in your business’ Google Place listing.
Connecting with the locals is always a fine asset for a business. Leverage free online tools like Google Places so you can gain an advantage for your network business over your local competitors.
>>Learn more about how HNN can help you be successful through local search <<