Google Enlisting College Students To Sell AdWords

Google today announced an innovative local marketing challenge designed to spread the word about AdWords to local business.

Student groups will receive US$200 of free online advertising and then work with local businesses to devise effective online marketing campaigns. They will outline a strategy, run their campaign, assess their results and provide the business with recommendations to further develop their online marketing.

It’s a great chance for students to gain practical, real world online marketing experience whilst getting all the excitement of competing with other students from all over the world.

What a great idea. This is a win win for all parties. Local businesses that sign on will see what they have been missing in the digital marketing space and students will learn how to craft marketing campaigns for small business.

Jobs At Google, Starting Pay $40 Per Day

In truth the work detailed here is worth closer to $100.00 per business. I fully understand what Google trying to do but Mumbai factory workers make more for less work.

" As a Google Business Referral Representative, you'll visit local businesses to collect information (such as hours of operation, types of payment accepted, etc.) for Google Maps, and tell them about Google Maps and Google AdWords. You'll also take a few digital photos of the business that will appear on the Google Maps listing along with the business information. After the visit, you submit the business' info and photo(s) to Google through your Local Business Referrals Center, and we'll pay you up to $10 for each listing that is approved by Google and verified by the business.

All you need to be a successful Business Referral Representative is a passion for helping local businesses succeed, a love for the Internet (some knowledge of Google is great, too), and access to a computer and a digital camera."

Realistically a person could probably knock down three or four in a day. Factor in time on site, 1/2 hour per business (if the merchant is not busy), gasoline at $3. per gallon and and least 1/2 hour to input each business correctly which includes coordination with the merchant for verification and it really is working for tip money.
Not even minimum wage when it's all said and done.

New Google Page Layout Results In More Local Searches

Google Maps (Local) up 20% since Google implemented "Google Universal Search."

New Google Maps Page Layout

Check out the new page layout on Google Maps. Google has de-emphasized the maps, moved the sponsored listings to the right under the (smaller) map and dedicated more space to the listed businesses.
The previous layout was claustrophobic and only showed a handful of business listings per page.

This new layout is more in line with other local search engines, easier on the eyes and much more inviting. Good job Google!

More UGC Sites Favored By Google

Last week I highlighted some of the User Generated Content (UGC) sites Google now favors as an enhancement to listings on Google Maps.
Today I noticed a few more including;

Mapufacture.com (GeoRSS Aggregator)
Booking.com (Priceline Property)
VResorts.com (Virtual Tour Aggregator)
XSWeb.com (Resolves to Global Assistant)
SFInj.com (Hotel Info Aggregator)
Smugmug (Photo Site)
Road Runner (Google Search Partner)
RCI Destinations (Timeshare Reviews)

Added to the sites listed previously;

VirtualGlobetrotting.com
Platial.com
Wik.is
Navitraveler
Travelandleisure.com (not really a UGC site)
Propsmart.com (real estate)
Raditz.net
KeyHole.com (Google property)

It's a little confusing trying to figure out what Google considers User Generated Content but it is clear they like mapping sites. Major partners like AOL (Time Warner) get considerable play as well.

Google Maps Now Displaying UGC

Google Maps is now including UGC link options for searchers on the bottom of local search results.

See user-created content New!

On first look some of the sites Google considers include;

VirtualGlobetrotting.com
Platial.com
Wik.is
Navitraveler
Travelandleisure.com (not really a UGC site)
Propsmart.com (real estate)
Raditz.net
KeyHole.com (Google property)

Google also favors pages saved by users of their new My Saved Pages, part of the new MyMaps feature.

How to take advantage of this;
Map your business on Virtual Globetrotting (if it can get by the editors). Join the Keyhole BBS groups. Have your friends and better customers or clients get a Google account and save the map to your establishment on Google MyMaps.
Get accounts at Wik, Platial and the other sites mentioned.

Adding user generated content follows the addition of reviews to Google Maps results earlier this year. Google is favoring what users think about local business, museums and tourist spots etc.
UGC (user generated content), local community and review sites play a big part in marketing your local business. The news today affirms our belief and provides another tool to assist our clients in gaining search share in the categories.

Also on the subject of UGC, how does user generated content size up for advertising purposes? BlueLithium Labs came out with some interesting figures on how UGC ads convert vs. non UGC.

Other Bloggers posting on the topic;
Helen at NonLinear
Greg Sterling at Screenwerk

Google Voice Local Search

This is BIG! Google Voice Local Search was launched today in Google Labs.

Google states;

To try this service, just dial 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411) from any phone.

"Using this service, you can:

• search for a local business by name or category.
  You can say "Giovanni's Pizzeria" or just "pizza".
  
  
• get connected to the business, free of charge.
  
  
• get the details by SMS if you’re using a mobile phone.
  Just say "text message".
  
  

And it's free. Google doesn’t charge you a thing for the call or for connecting you to the business. Regular phone charges may apply, based on your telephone service provider.

Note: Google Voice Local Search is still in its experimental stage. It may not be available at all times and may not work for all users. We’re fine-tuning the service to get better at recognizing your requests."

How important is it to be listed on Google Maps?

Google + Box For Business And Stocks

Small business will be happy to know if your address is correct and listed on Google you may soon see a "Plus Box" asociated with your listing.

Google Blog explains;

"Whenever you see the plus box icon - - click on it to see the additional rich data expand below the original search result. With Plus Box, you'll get a visual snapshot of related information, so it is faster and easier to find exactly what you're looking for.

"You won't see this feature yet for all businesses, but we're working hard to increase its availability. If you're a business owner and would like to see something like this associated with your website, here's how to get your information to us."

Google points to this page and how the plus box looks attached to a restaurant listing.

Are you listed on Google Maps, their local search engine?

Google Maps Synopsis

Small Business SEM tells the Google Maps/Local story better than any I've read before. I blogged on it the other day but Matt McGee really nails it. Great read.

Google Makes A Local Move Down Under

Soon after I finished my earlier post on Google Maps I noticed the news Google has partnered with Rupert Murdoch's News Ltd's Truelocal.com.au to beef up the local offering on Maps.Google.com.au (live since Jan.20).
The Sydney Morning Herald has early details of the deal between Murdoch's property and Google.

Some have speculated that Murdoch would scoop up Local.com for the local search needs of his U.S and U.K properties. I've wondered why they have not scooped up TrueLocal.com. Maybe it will be Google to make a move on one of those relevant local search sites.

(LOCM parent of Local.com was up 4.5% today on above average volume ;-) )

Google Could Dominate Local, Why Don't They?

Google is in a perfect position to put a grip lock on local search. Greg Sterling's thought provoking post offers in part;

"Google is really in the driver’s seat on many fronts right now. Turning to local, the company recently enhanced it's local one box presentation of results.

Google is not the best local application online by any means. (Yahoo! Local, Ask and Yelp, for example, are better.) It has taken some steps to improve the user experience but it could certainly do a great deal more (e.g., “sort by rating,” “click to compare businesses,” etc.). One wonders why not? Maybe Google is distracted by all the initiatives going on there, doesn't feel it needs to upgrade the application and/or doesn't want to threaten its partners too much.

Whatever the reason, the company is not doing all it could in local. But Google is probably now at the peak of its market dominance (I could be wrong of course). And with a few simple tweaks it could literally dominate local — verticals are different — because of its general search volumes.

There are also a range of things that Google could also do on the revenue side that it isn’t doing to attract more SMB advertisers. (Clearly a $3+ billion dollar quarter suggests there’s no urgency there.) Curiously it hasn’t (yet) done them either..."

I'm with Greg, it's curious why there is not more innovation, more urgency. Big "G" is the aircraft carrier in the sea of search so they don't turn quickly but their labs turn out products like Code Search and other useful (and less useful) tools continuously. Why has local lagged? Why do I have a better local search experience on Local.com with all the goofy ad noise than I do with Google Maps?