Is Your Business a 'Favorite Place' on Google? The Importance of Local Business Listings
Is Your Business a 'Favorite Place' on Google? The Importance of Local Business Listings
Today I was pleasantly surprised to receive a letter in the mail from Google Headquarters. They wrote to notify me that my local business listing for City Realty, Inc. had been selected as a 'Favorite Place' on Google. They stroked my ego a bit by talking about how they select 'Favorite Places' based on the number of times people found my business listing in searches and clicked on it for more information. The letter informed me that less than 1% of all U.S. businesses receive this recognition. But ego stroking aside, what does this really do for my company?
As it turns out, it does quite a bit. Also included with the letter was a large sticker with a unique barcode. This is Google's QR Barcode. QR barcodes have been around since the 1990's when they began development in Japan. QR stands for 'Quick Response' as the purpose of these codes is to be quickly decoded by mobile devices. With the advances in mobile phone technology here in the U.S. over the past few years, these barcodes are beginning to show up all over the place. They provide an easy way for people in urban areas to gain instant information and reviews about a particular business before they decide to go inside.
There are many real estate related uses for this technology that may soon become relevant, but that is for another post in the near future! For now the QR barcode provided by Google can function as an easy way for customers to gain access to my company's hours, phone number, website, customer reviews, etc. The barcode can be printed and distributed on flyers, business cards, brochures, and any other printed promotional materials. We have also posted the sticker in our window for customers who happen to stop by when our office is closed.
Here is a little video created by Google to show what the 'Favorite Place' barcode can do for businesses:
Dowloading QR Barcode Reader for your Phone
Find out if your mobile phone supports QR scanner technology
Another fun way to experiment with this technology is to create your own custom QR barcode. You can set up your barcode so that when someone scans it they are directed to your website or other information. Learn more about creating custom QR barcodes.
Here is a sample barcode I created that links back to this post:
What are some ways you can think of to use this technology in your business?
____________________________________________________
Mike Conner
Reasons to love Living in Olympia
Olympia Real Estate: Listing Wire
Comments(1)