Google Business View

Engage Your Customers With Content

January 19, 2017 by 1picguy

PICTURES & VIDEO ENGAGE YOUR CUSTOMERS FASTER

Engaging customers online has become a big deal for every type of business. Why? How do we find what we need fast? “We Google It!” Yeah….”Google It!” …that’s the action of finding or searching to find what we need with our phone, pad or desktop. That’s how most people find your business as well.

Images play a huge role in connecting people to goods, services and information today. That’s why Google encourages businesses, small or large, to upload fresh images on a regular basis. Why, Picture can tell your story faster than words. Via your Google Business Profile you have likely already connected your business with Google Maps and Google Searches. This is a free way to promote your business online and control the information customers find 90% of the time or more. You may have connected with Face Book and other Social Media sites as well. Pictures, Video and Content drive this stuff!

Inn at Palm Springs, 2525 N Palm Canyon Dr, Palm Springs CA 92262, (888) 788-8466 (760) 832-6003 https://innatpalmsprings.business.site/?utm_source=gmb&utm_medium=referral Welcome, we are the new owners of Inn at Palm Springs, a charming boutique hotel located at the center of activity in Palm Springs. We are family owned and operated. The Inn at Palm Springs has been a part of the Palm Springs lifestyle since the 1950’s. We welcome families, pets and business patrons. Our goal is to have a place for you in Palm Springs for years to come. Come Stay With Us! ; 33.8526731,-116.5528452,232;

29 Palms Inn, 73950 Inn Ave, Twentynine Palms, CA 92277 | (760) 367-3505 29 Palms Inn is a unique and historic place with rustic charm, adobe cabins, great food, swimming pool, and the Oasis of Mara. The Oasis of Mara is at the heart of 29 Palms Inn and has served as a desert water source for thousands of years. We are in the high desert near the northeastern entry to Joshua Tree National Park and it’s Visitors Center. We’re about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Los Angeles, 3 hours from Las Vegas, and 40 minutes from Palm Springs.

Black Forest Lodge 41121 Big Bear Blvd, Big Bear Lake, CA 92315 909-866-2166 http://www.blackforestlodge.com/ The Black Forest Lodge is Independently owned and operated, the Black Forest Lodge offer travelers a comfortable, enjoyable, pet friends and restful stay. Quaint appointed rooms and countless amenities make the Black Forest Lodge one of Big Bear’s most desired travel destinations. Built in 1976, the mountain architecture and charming surroundings make this family friendly lodge a welcome to all.

The Pines Lakefront 350 Alden Rd Big Bear Lake, CA 92315 (909) 866-5400 http://thepineslakefront.com/ , On a site that has been with the Big Bear community since the 1920’s when the Stillwell’s opened their first restaurant, The Pines Lakefront brings back a location that has its roots directly tied to the lake. With a commanding view of the lake and surrounding mountains, the diner can relax on the new garden patio area with its shade pergola that affords an unobstructed view of the lake while shielding the tables from the hot summer sun. With the addition of fencing and a glass windscreen, the patio becomes a very cozy spot to enjoy the offerings from the kitchen and bar. Outdoor dinning and patio let's one enjoy the mountain air.

OES Office Furniture 8480 Utica Ave. Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730 (877) 637-3678, www.oesofficefurniture.com Office & Ergonomic Solutions (OES) has been in business since 2001. We focus on our customers unique needs. We carry all the major quality brands. We focus on businesses and institutions such as schools, libraries and public facilities large and small. We carry everything office furniture - desks, chairs, file cabinets, storage cabinets, conference tables, reception counters – your complete office furniture center.

The Pines Tavern On The Lake 330 Alden Road, Big Bear Lake 92315 909-878-0506 Sit back by the fire and enjoy what is truly the Best View on Big Bear Lake. Sip a martini, an original Gin Cocktail or try one of our many beers or wines in casual, yet classic, tavern charm. Enjoy live music in our piano lounge, every weekend, featuring the Piano Artistry of Mike Cross and friends. Gaze at a breathtaking sunset and glistening lake, and you may even spot an eagle! We offer a Full Bar and Authentic Santa Maria BBQ cooked over a Live Red Oak Fire. Savor aged Tri-tip coupled with pinquito beans from the California Central Valley. Pair that with a fine Pinot Noir and let the memories begin. When you prefer relaxing out in the fresh mountain air, kick back on our new Juniper Lakeside Terrace (coming in Spring). We can also produce a spectacular shoreline wedding on Big Bear Lake.

Here’s another idea that you may be able to adapt to your online activity. …Just another way to help clients relate to your business. Maybe you have already installed a Google Maps Street View Trusted Tour of your locations online. These can easily be embedded right into your web pages. Here’s a sample. You can expand to full page and shrink it back again. Just click thru like Google Street View! ( Oh yeah…. that’s what it is!)

Maybe you want to draw attention to a specific product, location, feature or service rendered by your business. You can easily connect products, services and posts for events and updates! Get Connected! You will be glad you did!

DID I MENTION IT’S FREEEEE!!!

Contact (just click here) me if you need more information or help!

Enjoy!

Promote Your SMB Locally

February 1, 2016 by 1picguy

SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS MUST PROMOTE THEIR BUSINESS

Black Forest Lodge Big Bear Lake, CA 92315 909-866-2166

I am amazed every day at the creative efforts of Small Business People/Owners everywhere. I work with small businesses all over Southern California. Keeping a Small Business a float, now a days, is no little task. Despite the claims of robust economics in the media, myself and many others, are seeing many SMB’s in a struggle for survival. There is no one shot answer for this, except just keep trying!

Here’s a good place to start for free!!! Set up a Google Account and a Google Business Profile for your location. Why? …because this will control 90% or more of the clients coming thru your front door. How? Customers will “Google IT!” ….that’s the act of finding what they are looking for, usually with their phone.

IT’S FREE! Really, if you don’t believe me Google It!!

Make time to promote your business…if you don’t no one else will! By effectively scheduling time critical issues can be conquered one at a time. Take a few minutes every day/week/month to evaluate and set priorities. Set a few minutes every week to promote your business. Do it in a way that say, “Thanks!” to your loyal clientele and effectively appeals to prospective new local customers as well. Just a heartfelt, “Thanks for your business!” can go a long way.

What else might you do? Help customers find your business. Make time to plug into free and low cost assets that will speak to new local customers and potential customers downstream. Oh, you already have a website, you say! …or maybe you don’t? Local Searches are not dependent on a business having a website. They depend on solid “verified” listings that business owners put online. Don’t get me wrong a website can serve to deliver a lot of details. But how will that potential customer find it? Please let me explain.

Promoting a SMB has changed radically over the last few years. For more than 20 years I ran a small service oriented business (back in the day) and I promoted the shop/ service with phone book ads. Every month $500 to $1000, why? …because in the old days that’s where people looked for local goods and services. It Worked! The vast majority of SMBs tell me they don’t do any Phone Book Advertising anymore outside of a simple listing. Why? Almost nobody looks at a phone book anymore. “Where should I advertise?”, some may ask? Think about it for a minute, “Where do you look for local goods and services?” Nearly every person will reply, “Oh I just Google it!” OK here’s the no brainer, where do you promote your business? Did you know that there’s a lot you can do online without spending any money at all. Local Searches depend on solid Google Maps Listings to a large degree. There are other factors but this is the elephant in the room. Great a Google Account for free and a Google Business Listing for free and get STARTED!

Google My Business is a good place to start for free. Free meaning NO COST! Nada!!
Reach out to me by clicking this link if I be of further assistance.

I am a photographer/media manager and I have worked with Google Maps for several years.
These short videos that might help you get started.
https://goo.gl/ZAnvr2
https://goo.gl/op5LLU

I hope this helps you a little!

Thanks for reading KC, Enjoy!

Why Embed Google Business View Tours

January 14, 2015 by 1picguy

What Will You Do With Your Google Maps Business View Tour?

So you have a really cool Google Maps Business View Tour (GBV) of your business location….now what are you going to do with it? By now I hope you have a Google+ Local page all dialed in for your business. I will talk about his a little in another article if you need help to get G+ going. In any case your Google+ page is where your GBV tour will be installed. Once your tour is installed there is plenty you can do to drive customer interest to your business. Remember this is part of Google Maps. This tour is available to the public from anywhere in the world as part of that system. In effect you now have a Google Map wandering through your business. Google Maps is the largest mapping system on the planet and huge numbers of customers use it everyday to find the goods and services they are looking for. By having a solid listing on Google Maps you increase your business’s online visibility dramatically. Google Maps, if used properly can be a huge contributor to your local searches. In other words it will help your local customers find you faster and more efficiently. Your GBV tour contributes by taking maps right inside your location, by letting customers see you as a brick and mortar store and by setting you apart as an actual location in the community that they can enjoy going to. Google+ and Google Maps is like having a global, interactive phone book listing on steroids, only people actually use this listing everyday. I have small business clients that have been using these Google tools for a year or so and are getting a consistent 7ooo to 8ooo hits a day on these pages. Oh yeah, did I mention most of this Google stuff is free!

This is Gatorwraps in Ontario, CA. www.gatorwraps.com

View Larger Map This is the restroom view. These guys create some awesome graphics and vehicle wraps.

Embed Your Google Business View Tour

The next step is get your Google Business View tour out there for all to see. How? You will want to embed this tour into your webpages. Why? Google Maps is the tool of choice for everyone with a smartphone or a computer. Remember Google’s goal is to map the whole earth. They have made a pretty good stab at it. To separate your location and make it stand out you need to give your map a clear identity. Brand it for yourself so customers know who they are dealing with. By embedding you have it right in your own webpages. When you embed a tour you are also providing driving instructions and address information at the same time. Another reason is like most tools the more you use them the more powerful they becomes in servicing your needs. By embedding your tour in your webpages you are creating links with Google Maps straight to your front door. As you might imagine this can attract more than a little attention online. Some of my small businesses clients contend that they are using Google+, Google Maps, GMBV and You Tube so efficiently that their local organic searches (unpaid searches) are doing better than their paid advertising.

View Larger Map This is the shop view. www.gatorwraps.com

Here are a few embedding ideas:

Embed into as many webpages as you wish. It doesn’t cost anything and it’s easy! You can start your tour on a given webpage in any view you wish. For instance, if you are a Eye Doctor, maybe you start a tour in your lobby looking at the glasses displays on the front page of your website. On a different page you can start the tour looking at your receptionist’s front desk, still another in an exam room and so on. The examples on this page illustrate the idea for you. Car Dealers like to show off their Customer Lounge, children’s play areas, Service Department, showroom and maybe parts. Sometimes on the same page, often on different pages.
Embed the tour into your Face Book pages so customers can get familiar with your business.
Embed into pages like Wikipedia if you use them.
Embed into blog pages if you are a blogger (there are many online benefits). Depending on your subject embed your tour into your post (article) with a view to focus on that material and link it to your social media pages to lead back to your business.
Along with embedding and linking to social media some clients have invited customers to look for points of interest within the tour and comment on these. In effect they are inviting them into their shop location. Others have used Social Media, Email and so on to invite customers inside their location via their tour as part of a “scavenger hunt” with some sort of prize attached. Maybe even concluding the hunt with a visit to the store or office.
Some business owners now actually use various overlays along with their GBV tours that create hot spots, add menus and even background music from within the tour. Thus they can connect to shopping carts, contact pages, sales desk and so on. These overlay programs when embedded into webpages dispense information as a customer virtually walks the location. This allows the customer to interact with the business even buying product directly from the tour. Retailers of all sorts love these overlays.
You can ask businesses you work with to embed your tour into their page as well. Most businesses have pages for links. Why have just a link if you can let customers interact directly with your location on those pages. If you are a wedding venue you might have planners run tours of your location on their websites. Maybe flower shops, bakeries or photographers might do the same for you.
If you are an event venue or wedding venue embed your tour so as to attract attention to various appealing aspects of your location. For instance the pool, the lounge, the chapel, the garden or patio….you get he point.
For emails where embedding becomes not so feasible try using Google Url Shortener ( http://goo.gl/ ) create links to your tours and invite customers to check them out. Then you can track the link when logged into you Google Account.

View Larger Map This is the Lobby view. www.gatorwraps.com

These are just a few ideas to get you started. Honestly I am constantly surprised how creative business owners use Google Maps and GBV over and over again to promote there businesses.

Here’s the bottom line!

If you are not using online tools to promote your business you are loosing out on a lot of business. Small Business Owners shy away from things they don’t understand and/or have time to figure out. I know I ran my own store for a few decades. I wish I had these tools then, it would have saved me $1000 a month and actually got some real results. Granted this takes a little time and effort but these tools actually work….ask the big guys how they do it! For the most part the tools are free and there are so many features I can’t begin to comment on all of them in this short article. A Google Business View tour has a one time cost to photograph and install for your location. That cost depends on the size and layout of your location. The labor to shoot and install starts at $300 for a small shop. After the initial install Google runs it as part of Google Maps for free. You will have a tough time finding more powerful and effective tools at any cost. The overlay tools I mentioned are amazing. These for the most part right now are done by third party companies at a very low annual cost. Let me know if you need more information I’ll dig it out for you.

I would enjoy hearing from you please let me know if you have questions or comments. Just click here to send me a message!

Thanks, KC