A Blog by Web Bright Consulting

Yesterday, I added my Interior Designer client to the Google Local Business Center. Since my client provides services to customers in her geographical area, this would be a good option for local search.

The process of adding a business to the Local Business Center was very simple. It consisted of a few screens asking for business information, including required fields:

• Country
• Company/organization name
• Street address
• Main phone (additional phone numbers are optional)
• Email address
• Website
• Business Description

Other business information that are optional include business hours and method of payment. You can also add up to 10 images and 5 videos posted on YouTube. In addition, you have the option of adding custom fields. Since I wanted to highlight her photo gallery, I added it as a custom field along with its URL. Of course you can also add one or more business category.

When finished with adding the business information, you’ll need to verify it. Google has two options, either they call the business number you provided or they send a postcard within 2-3 weeks sent to the business address. Since I’m doing this on behalf of my client, who I doubt would care to hear from google, I requested to get the postcard and asked my client to let me know when she receive it. I would need to enter a PIN number to complete the verification.

So, how much does it cost to list your business with Google Local Business Center? Nothing! Nada! It’s FREE!

I can’t wait to receive this postcard from google to finish the verification and see the results on the site’s stats! Tune in for another post!

On February 26, 2008, I had the pleasure of listening and participating in an SES Webcast with Seth Godin hosted by Search Engine Strategies. I asked him this question: “Do you have a preference between LinkedIn and facebook?” and his answer was quite surprising! Seth Godin doesn’t use neither LinkedIn nor facebook. His words were “don’t use it if you don’t know how it works.” But he strongly recommends having a blog for everyone.

Since currently I hardly have time to socialize online or learn much about facebook, I’m taking Seth Godin advice: I deactivated my facebook account and I decided to focus on my blog. So please don’t send me any invitations to be your facebook friend, but you’re most welcome to subscribe to my blog and post comments.

The 7 words I can use to describe this book are: “don’t judge this book by its cover”, for if you do, you might think it is terrible! A  person’s head with a chef’s hat on top and a picture of a sundae of meatalls, is disturbing, but very smart choices for Meatball Sundae by Seth Godin. Luckily, I really wanted to register for Seth Godin’s SES Webcast on February 26, 2008 and the only way to register is to know the “last word on page 60 of Meatball Sundae”.  He’s actually practicing what he’s preaching!  

With not much marketing knowledge, I love how Seth Godin highlights the basics of “Old Marketing” and introduces the 14 trends of “New Marketing” with a lot of real life examples of big time businesses.

I expect to use a lot of my new knowledge to help my clients with their marketing strategy, and I expect to buy more of Seth Godin’s books, and I’m excited about attending the webcast on February 26.