(See The Google Local Introduction here)
(See Part I here)

Part II

To take advantage of Google Local Search, go to Google Local Business Center and login if you already have a Google Account. If you don’t have an account with Google, go ahead and create one when you get to the login page.

If you have an account and login, and are not taken to your listing, click on the large Google graphic seen at the top left. You should then be taken to your listing where you can edit it. If you end up looking at a report of how your listing is doing, click on the large Google graphic seen at the top left again – that will take you to the edit area.

For new users, once you’re logged in, click on “Add New Business”.

For new users follow along – for those with an account already, modify based on the information below.

Begin to add your business information. Pay particular attention to three areas.

In the “Company/Organization:” field, you’ll put your firms name.

Google does not want you to add any other information there. But I’ll be honest – much of your competition is.

They are adding key terms to the business/organization name field.

This is what the Company/Organization field would like if your firms name was the “Law Offices of Walter Thompson”

Walter Thompson Law Offices

But this is what your competition will occasionally do – the example shown is for a Criminal Defense Attorney in Abilene, Texas.

Walter Thompson Law Offices: Abilene Texas Criminal Defense Attorney

This keyword stuffing is against Google’s Terms of Service and could get you kicked out Google’s Local Business Listings.

I’ll leave it up to you to decide what Business/Organization info you wish to to use.

The second area to watch is the e-mail field. I’d recommend using an e-mail address that matches your URL. Don’t use a gmail or other e-mail address if you can avoid it.

The third area that’s vital is the Description Field. Grab the description you wrote earlier and used on the directories and add that to this section. There is only room for 200 characters so if your description is too long, modify it. But keep your city and your major practice areas intact.

Now click “Next”

If Google already has a listing set up for you practice, they’ll show it and ask if you want to claim it (do it) – or you’ll be led to the next page.

You’ll then have the chance to complete the rest of the information fields – complete all that apply to you. One that I like, and is extremely important, is the “Categories” field. There you can add practice areas that are important to your firm.

So, if you’re a PI attorney, you’d enter terms such as “Injury Lawyer”, “Wrongful Death Attorney”, etc. You must, however, choose one of the main categories that Google uses to classify your practice. For the example above, the a normal reference to a PI attorney is “Personal Injury Attorney”.

So if this attorney began to type Personal Injury…..Google would populate the field with choices, one of them being Personal Injury Attorney. Experiment a bit if you are having issues here – you’ll find one that will apply. If all else fails, just choose “Attorney”.

Google gives you five categories – use them all. As long as you have one of their categories, add your other areas below it.

Next, you can add small images or even a YouTube video, hours of operation and payment options. The more you complete, the better the listing will do.

The last step is the Google verification process. You have two options. One, you can choose to have Google mail you a postcard with the PIN you need. Or, you can choose to have them call you with their automated system.

Choose the call feature because their postcard system can take a while. The call verification can make the process move much quicker – I’ve seen businesses listed in as little as a couple of hours. Just make sure you’re at the phone number you used when setting up this listing because the phone will ring immediately.

Just enter the PIN and you’re ready to go.

Here’s a little secret before I go.

To really boost the power of your Google Local Business Listings, have your clients add reviews and work on getting user content.

When you’re phone starts ringing a little more….you’ll know why.