Chris Silver Smith points out that a Google Custom Map can be a goldmine for local businesses. For companies and individuals who have some rich local data to share, or local place expertise, creating your own custom map in My Maps may be very worthwhile. People frequently search for local places via maps so adding keywords in map names, map descriptions and choosing suitable map names may bring appreciable traffic. Companies which develop value-added information maps about local areas reap the benefit of having more content within Google Maps and this can convert to more traffic to their websites.

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A Google Local Map helps you stand out 2009/11/06

Mike Blumenthal reports that Google Maps has updated Business Listing Guidelines.

Business Listings in the Local Business Center must have correct information about physical, local businesses, as they appear in the real world. Google may suspend access to the Local Business Center or to other Google Services to individuals or businesses violating these guidelines.

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Google Maps Has New Business Guidelines 2009/11/04

Kwantlen Polytechnic University has a new research facility on the Langley campus. Its goal is to find pest control options and natural solutions to agricultural problems so B.C. can have a more sustainable agricutural sector. It has an insect nursery that will soon be home to a variety of creepy, crawly things. The labs and research are supported by the B.C. Knowledge Development Fund and by the Leading Edge Endowment Fund. Dr. Deborah Henderson is the LEEF chair in sustainable horticulture and director of the Institute.

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Langley Searches For Greener Ways 2009/10/20

VTEA stands for Valley Therapeutic Equestrian Association and it provides therapeutic horseback riding for special needs kids. Its goal is to enhance the quality of life for these special needs children, by improving their physical, mental, and emotional well being with the help of some wonderful horses.

The Pub Night and Silent Auction will be held on Saturday, November 21st at 6pm in Jimy Mac’s Pub, 19935-96th Avenue, Langley. If you have any items/services, gift certificates, etc. that you or someone you know may like to donate, please contact Paula Farr.

Why not contribute to a most worthy cause and have fun at the same time. Click here for PubNight details.

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VTEA is holding PubNight for Hippotherapy

David Mihm warns Be Wary Of Call Tracking Numbers In Local Search. To have Google always display the correct address and telephone number for your business in Google Maps, it is important that these appear in all online citations. A citation is a mention of your business information (name + address + phone number) out on the web even if it does not contain a link.

A particular phone number tied to a particular business gives search engines increased confidence in that information, especially if it matches what the owner has entered into the Local Business Center. Phone numbers may even be a stronger confidence indicator than addresses.

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Local SEO Needs A Single Telephone Number

Bing Local is a new face in local search, at least in the US. Given that Microsoft and Yahoo are now in a partnership deal, this will give increasing competition to Google over the next 2 years of integration.

It is now possible to set up a Local Business Listing in Bing Local in 30 minutes or so, which is effort very well spent. You can verify your ownership of the listing by phone or by snail mail.

For local search, Bing has some cool features, mostly shown within the entertainment and hospitality niches at the moment. Ratings and reviews appear in a scorecard with most of them from Citysearch, Yelp, and Judy’s Book at present.

Overall this local listing process seems much more promising than the continuing problems seen with Google Local Search.

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Bing Local Business Listings In The US 2009/09/04

In the US, Matt McGee notes that Google Ties Street View To Local Business Listings.

The Google LatLong blog notes that for businesses in Google Maps, a new Street View link will appear when available as part of the link options for individual businesses. This makes it even more important for local businesses to claim their listing in Google Maps and make sure the map marker is in the right spot.

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Local Business Street View 2009/08/27

Greg Sterling asks whether the ‘Hyper-Local’ News Site is a Flawed Model.

The Washington Post is closing LoudounExtra.com, a “hyper-local” news site and converting it to a page within WashingtonPost.com.

Not everyone agrees. The Hyper-local news site EveryBlock has been bought by MSNBC. EveryBlock allows users in 15 cities across the US to enter their zip codes (postcodes) and get news, public information, photos and local blogs about their neighbourhood displayed across interactive maps.

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HyperLocal News Sites 2009/08/19

Chris Silver Smith offers Ways to optimize a business for local search via newspapers.  This may bring direct traffic to your bricks-and-mortar store or restaurant.  It will also help your rankings in local search.

• Get listed in the classifieds, which includes the online version
• Expand your listing/profile in the newspaper’s own yellow pages
• Pitch stories and content about your business to local news reporters.
• Come up with a media attention-grabbing stunt
• Provide free content to journalists in return for a link

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Be Visible In Local Newspapers 2009/08/17

Mike Blumenthal, an avid Google Local Business Center (LBC) watcher, notes that Google is now taking a first baby step in dealing with SMBs. He received 2 email newsletters from the LBC as announced recently.

As Miriam Ellis noted, Google has been behind its Great Wall for the past months creating massive frustration among LBC users.  Even now, the newsletters are auto generated and available only to users in the US. 

Getting local results correct in the LBC will require human intervention rather than blind application of computer algorithms.  Google does not seem ready for that as yet.

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Google LBC starts communicating with SMBs a little 2009/08/13