Why Having Your Pizzeria on Google Places is So Important

Pizza Shop Talk The Think Tank
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Does your pizzeria have a Google Places listing? If you answered “no,” then you need to get on the task of setting up your free Google Places listing, and right now. There are a number of very compelling reasons to include Google Places as an integral part of your business marketing plan. If you need some convincing, then you should look over this list of reasons for why having your pizzeria on Google Places is so important:

The Yellow Pages is obsolete. Studies show that 97 percent of all consumers use the Internet to search for and choose local businesses. Most of those people haven’t touched a Yellow Pages book for years. Look at it this way: if 97 percent of your potential customers are searching the web for businesses just like yours and you are not there, you are missing out – plain and simple.

Your Places listing will work for you, even when you are sleeping. The Internet never sleeps, and your page is always accessible to potential customers, even long after you shut-down your shop. You can even link your Google Places page to your website, so that customers can make transactions while you catch your Z’s.

Branding. Google Places is especially effective when it comes to your business branding (which, in today’s market, is essential to your pizzeria’s success). By uploading photos and videos, and customizing your content to speak for your unique niche, you can go a long way in strengthening your brand.

Reaching your target market. You can create content for your Google Places listing that speaks specifically to your target market, and then count on the Google search engine to deliver targeted traffic straight to your virtual-reality door. There are very few types of advertising that enable you to reach exactly who you want to by means that are within your control, and Google Places is one of them.

Google Places is free advertising. Regardless of how successful your business is, you have a business budget . . . and you simply cannot argue that many of your business choices come down to the bottom line. Unless you have a limitless marketing budget (and who does?!), you need all the free help you can get. It just doesn’t make any sense not to take advantage of such a powerful marketing tool when it won’t cost you a single cent to get involved.

Take advantage of everything Google Places has to offer and you can secure and anchor your Pizzeria on the front page of Google at a local level. This will translate into increase business for you pizzeria.

Any question reply or PM me.

Kelly

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97% of all consumers use the internet to search for local businesses? That’s an awful lot of internetting going on there. 97% of all consumers have internet access?

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I think this is a good estimate.

5-6 years ago? No. But now with smartphones and what not, IMO its a good guess

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By 2013 you will have more people search the internet on their mobile device than their desktop.

In the Detroit area over 210,000 searches are done each month for the keyword “PIZZA” this is done via a computer and 240,000 via a mobile device. These numbers are for Google. You should find these types of results already in all Metro areas (Mobile > Computer). Yes this means you will want to make sure your websites are mobile friendly to better capture those searches.

It is very important to have your Free Google Business listing complete and optimized. If done correctly I have seen businesses get front page placement on Google. Some experts say “most users really don’t go beyond the first page of their search results”. Just think if a business owner (pizzeria) could capture 3% of that traffic 13500 search going to your website per month.

Here’s something else to think about:

Do a Google search for Pizza and or Pizza Delivery, these are the 2 strongest keywords a Pizzeria needs to be optimized for, now look who is at the top on the listing in a light shade of Pink in the background? Those are paid positions, Pizza Hut, Papa Johns, and Domino’s normally are there, they know those are the most important keywords for the Pizza Industry on the Internet.

If you want to find out how many searches are done in your area for any keyword, go to Google and search for “keyword tool” and the first one that should come up is Google’s, it’s a free tool that most SEO marketers use to find out local search info.

Again in my opinion this is the most important step that any pizzeria owner should do for internet success. Claim your listing, Optimize your listing, Control your listing.

Any questions please ask.
Kelly

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Would you be so kind as to hit me with a link to one of those studies.

Yeah, when I read that this article immediately jumped to mind: http://www.monkeydish.com/advice-guy/ar … tise-there

…according to a study by the US Department of Commerce, twenty percent of US households still have no Internet users, and fewer than seventy percent of US households have access to broadband Internet.

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Sorry for not pointing to references which the article was based off of, I do have more if necessary.

http://www.biakelsey.com/company/press- … ocally.asp

http://www.inc.com/guides/201106/how-to … iness.html

http://marketingmatters.dexone.com/3508 … isibility/

Google has open the door for small businesses to place their listing at a local level. They changes their search results to emphasize the small business owner results. Google knows the end user is searching for small businesses and they are catering to them by displaying them in what is called the 7 pack (A-G). Using a small business term (plumber, towing, dentist, doctor, lawyer, pizza delivery) you will see a Map on the right being geo tagged where the top 7 will display(A-G). Every small business owner needs to take advantage Google+ Local, if done right front page placement can be achieved and if you are already on the front page then you anchor your listing to it.

I see too many Pizzeria Owners not taking advantage of this free listing, then the ones that do the majority of them are not completing the listing correctly. I’m proud to say I have 100% front page placement rate for every restaurant owner I have helped, and for multiply keywords, per owner.

The goal of the article is that normal advertising methods are changing (which all would agree) and Google is a very big player for Small Business Owners. The Pizzeria Owner will see increase traffic if they properly control their free business listing on Google. Don’t forget about Bing and Yahoo too. :wink:

Kelly

Yeah, when I read that this article immediately jumped to mind: http://www.monkeydish.com/advice-guy/ar … tise-there

…according to a study by the US Department of Commerce, twenty percent of US households still have no Internet users, and fewer than seventy percent of US households have access to broadband Internet.

[/quote]

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From the 1st link regarding the origin of the 97% figure:

About User View

User View is BIA/Kelsey’s proprietary user behavior tracking study, which focuses on how U.S. consumers are evolving their use of traditional and online information sources to find and locate local serving businesses. BIA/Kelsey and research partner ConStat have conducted User View since 2003, surveying a nationally weighted sample of consumers via online survey. User View Wave VII was performed online in February 2010 among a sample of 1,002 consumers.

Emphasis mine.

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I have had our place registered for well over a year and do occasional updates when our hours shift to on or off season.

So why am I called daily, sometimes multiple times a day, by Google’s robo-dailers continuing to ask us to register our restaurant? It really is annoying!

I have tried the option to no longer be contacted, but obviously Google just ignores those requests.

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Ah, the importance of actually reading a study before you reference it as fact…

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OK BRAD AND ERIC when was the last time YOU used the yellow pages? so you are telling me 20 percent of the people does not have internet? that means for every 10 people I know 2 of them don’t have some sort of internet? was this study done at, Appellation mountains?

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Could very easily have been done in my last marketplace. It is a conservative estimate to say that 20% of households had no internet access. Further, in the last town I lived in, boradband access was difficult to obtain . . . I had to get a mifi device or sattelite to have ANY internet service at all. Let’s remember that there are a TON of rural and lower property value areas out there that are not serviced heavily by the internet services.

That said, the referenced research used as support for the original post did not actually say what they wanted it to say for the pitch. Internet Surveys, well, don’t really have strong/reliable research value much beyond regular internet consumers. In most large markets, online presence of some sort is an invaluable PIECE of the overall marketing and branding presence that shold be well considered and utilized. However, it does seem to me that if 97% of all consumers search/shop online, then all other forms of marketing would be obsolete . . . I suspect not so much.

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Wow, this is a tough crowd. :slight_smile: You’re right that it’s way too easy to mislead (even unintentionally) and be misled by statistics online. But stats and self-promotion aside, the poster’s original point is valid:

Too many pizza operators still haven’t claimed their free Google Places listings—and they’re probably losing some business to nearby shops as a result.

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OK RON! :smiley:

I used the yellow pages, or yellow book (the small one) to find a vet for my dog Monday. Just today, I was using it to call machine shops to see how much they would charge me to resurface a flywheel from one of my cars.

All I’m saying is there has to be a market out there made up of people using the yellow pages to find the services they need. I can’t just fathom that 97% of the consumers only use the interwebs to find the services, or products, they need. I can take you to apartment complexes, made up of old people, where no one living there uses the internet, let alone use it to order pizza.

If that was the case, Fingerhut wouldn’t be sending me catalogs all year long. :lol:
Oh, I forgot. We’re already on there…

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  1. siri found 4 vets with in 5 miles of your home in 12 seconds.
  2. to bring this full circle that neighborhood, I would say makes up SO LITTLE of pizza eaters and if they are like most senior citizens I would gather all in bed by 8.
    Yes there are a few places that maybe someone uses yellow pages but very small window (maybe ummm 3 percent locally use yellow pages to find pizza in there home town…just my 2 cents.
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Wow, Rough Crowd indeed!

While the statistics in the post may be off a bit, the intent of the post is spot on!

I am willing to bet that the areas that you are in have some sort of Internet and cell phone service. I am also willing to bet that the majority of people will search the web for a business phone number as opposed to picking up a phone book. I can’t even remember the last time that I saw a phone book. Between my computer, iPad, and cell phone there is not a need for it. Not only can I get a businesses phone number, but a map to there location and their web site is typically available. As of Apple’s 2nd quarter of 2012 they have sold 365 million devices that run their iOS software. That is a crapload of people on the Internet! You can look the stats up yourself.

The point that Pizza Tactics was trying to make is that you have to take advantage of every opportunity to get people coming to you and spending their money in your shop. Pizza Tactic is not asking you to buy anything or even spend any money at all, Google Places is a free service.

I see post after post about “how can I make more money” or “how can I advertise better”, someone gives a easy, no cost option to maybe get more visibility to your business and the only thing that people are taking from it is “I think your stats are wrong”!

Just my two cents!

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I don’t have siri, and of course the senior citizens are in bed by 8. They have to be in line at the Old Country Buffet by 6am.

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The intent of the post I read can only be to hype/sell/promote Google Places and not “every opportunity”. I am listening to all marketing points of view because I’ve been learning a LOT new lately about marketing opportunities and trends. That said, when one trots out suspect ‘research’ to support a position, credibility falls off and whatever point was being made loses my attention and respect immediately. Sorry. You want my serious attention amid all the other noise and advise, then you gotta treat me like a serious and intelligent adult businessman who can discern marketing value for my business in my marketplace.

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Jennifer & colgatem, you took the words right out of my mouth. This is the Forest and the trees metaphor. For the others that saw the light and the ones that were constructive in their response thank you.

Google targets your demographics. It is possible to tweak your Google Places listing so that is it seen by those people who are most likely to visit your page and become your customers. This was the whole message.

I have ran into the old school mentality many times in the Pizza Industry, (How can the Internet help my Pizzeria) and when strong change is going in that direct it is still an uphill battle to shed light on those areas to take advantage of them.

The intent of the post I read can only be to hype/sell/promote Google Places and not “every opportunity”. I am listening to all marketing points of view because I’ve been learning a LOT new lately about marketing opportunities and trends. That said, when one trots out suspect ‘research’ to support a position, credibility falls off and whatever point was being made loses my attention and respect immediately. Sorry. You want my serious attention amid all the other noise and advise, then you gotta treat me like a serious and intelligent adult businessman who can discern marketing value for my business in my marketplace.

Nick is right, I am promoting Google Places, this is a free listing that every Pizzeria should take advantage of, plus Bing and Yahoo. Nick is also right on credibility, I did not do the actual research myself, but I read at least 15 articles with the same info and I paraphrased into my article, guilty as charged. Also Nick you do take advantage of marketing opportunities and trends because I saw you took control of your Google Places listing. You filled some info and added 1 picture, after seeing it you fell short and didn’t take full advantage of a great opportunity which is free. After searching Google in your town of Grantville, GA using the search term “Pizza” not one Pizzeria for Grantville showed up, Newman and Hagonville showed up. I’m not familiar with your area and can only guess you live in a small town, I could find out exact population of your area but that’s not the point. You did take the steps in the right direction and with a little help and direction you can dominate Google on the Front page for local searches when someone searches for Pizza. Also Nick, the info I found briefly about your store leads me to believes you are shut down???

Brad Randall, you have great opportunity your self, I saw your front page listing for your one store (“A” position) kudos to you. By putting a little more effort you can get your other 2 stores on the front page too, for your town. Just think of it, 3 stores in one town all on the front page of Google for keywords like Pizza, Pizza Delivery etc… You would control Google for your area, this is powerful stuff.

The big dogs in the Pizza Industry pay big money to be on the front page of Google for your area and you have an opportunity to do it for free, instead you guys bust my chops for quoting for a stat. The next time I shed a light on an opportunity and not to blind you I’ll use a 65watt blub.

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After searching Google in your town of Grantville, GA using the search term “Pizza” not one Pizzeria for Grantville showed up,

That is because there is no longer one there. Nick was forced to close up shop nearly a year ago.

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Truly I’m sorry to here that. I saw indicators pointing to it but none were clear cut on the brief research I did. Kudo for still having the passion for the Industry! I can relate, sold my store in 99, I developed the Internet side of my skills.

Kelly