Google Places is the search engine company’s equivalent of the yellow pages.  Google Places allows businesses to list their company free.  Google Places results appear in countless places – including Google search results, Google Maps, and via third party services. The screenshot below shows a sample search result for Fort Lauderdale insurance.  Notice the "Local Business Results for Insurance Near Fort Lauderdale, FL."  These unpaid Google Places listings.

Listing your business in Google Places and the search engine may return it as a search result.  Google provides free stats on just how many times your listing has been viewed, the number of times driving directions to your location have been requested, and the number of surfers that have clicked thru to your web site.  In addition, businesses can now place special offers (coupons) on their listings.

Listing Your Business

1.    Visit http://places.google.com.
2.    Login -- You’ll need a Google account.  (This doesn’t mean you need to use gmail)
3.    Click Add New Business and follow the directions.
4.    Be sure you are near a business phone line that rings direct to you!