Here’s how the new service works:

When you type in a general search like ‘IT support’, Google will continue to display listings in the same way it always has. But if you type in a locally-focused search like “IT support Chicago,” Google will automatically change its display to a Google Place Search page. Here’s what it looks like:

As you can see, it shares a lot of similarities with the Google Places “onebox” that currently appears: local business listings appear next to a map, with a corresponding red pin indicating where they’re located in that geographic area. The big difference is, the new Google Place Search page eliminates all the non-local listings from the page and includes a lot more information for the local listings that are displayed.

What this means for you: since Google is displaying a lot more local listing content on its Place Search pages, it stands to reason that they’ll give strong preference to displaying Places pages that already have lots of content first. It also stands to reason that if your small business’s website appears at #1 in the organic search results for a local query, but has no Google Places listing (or a poorly-optimized local listing), you’re about to lose a lot of market reach.

We’ve recommended that small businesses optimize their local search listings for a long time on Small Business Tech Tips – the new Google Place Search results are a perfect illustration of the benefits of having a well-optimized local listing. If you haven’t claimed and optimized your business, do it! And keep in mind, it’s not just about optimizing the Google Local Business listing itself – the more directories across the web that include your listing, and the more reviews your business has garnered at various different sites, the more content Google will pull in.

The read the full announcement from Google, click here.

The reason? As reported by Ad Age, after finding that only 4% of U.S. Adults have ever used location-based services, Forrester’s study also revealed that:

Almost 80% of location-based service users are male. Close to 70% of them are between the ages of 19 and 35, and 70% have college degrees or higher. Forrester also found these location-app users to be influential (the report finds they’re 38% more likely to say friends and family ask their opinions before a purchase) and they are especially receptive to mobile coupons and offers. This set is up to 20% more likely to consult their phones before a purchase, and are far more likely to research products and services and read customer reviews.

Their conclusion? That because the current user-base is dominated by one demographic, marketers should steer clear of Foursquare and other location-based services for now (with the exception of certain demographically-targeted verticals such as gaming, sportswear manufacturers, and consumer electronics companies).

Forrester is, of course, a leader in online market research, and tends to know their stuff. That being said, I respectfully disagree.

Forrester’s recommendation that male-oriented marketers should blaze the trail (and that other marketers should wait until location-based services attract more users) is a good one — provided they’re not talking about local businesses. After all, those are the businesses that services like Foursquare and Gowalla are designed for.

If you run a local restaurant, bar, or even a clothing store, it seems to me that a 19-to-35 year-old man who’s an early adopter and whose friends consult him for shopping recommendations is an ideal target market. Sure, if you’re a store that sells mostly to women, it might not be as useful (excepting maybe Victoria’s Secret), but most small local businesses will find this market to be a good fit.

A local business stands a lot to gain, simply by claiming its listing and promoting itself on these services. Even if a company’s location-aware efforts only bring in one customer at first, the long-term effects will likely snowball over time. That customer may become a customer for life, and tell all his/her friends about your business. If you claim your listing early and get involved, you’ll already have recommendations and other user-generated content attached to your listing by the time your competitors take notice.

And all of this for a small bit of work to get yourself set up and regularly maintain your offers.

In short, I think along the lines of the first commenter on the Ad Age article, who said,

This is the equivalent of saying, in 1994, that the internet skews male, so real marketers should avoid it…this is an incredibly short-sighted view.

I couldn’t agree more. For local storefront-style businesses, it can only help to be a first-mover on these platforms.

Sure, the returns might not be huge at first. But the cost of entry is negligible (at least for now), and over time, it’s easy to see that those who adopt early will be the ones who reap the most benefits.

Dealmap and Goby are both taking the social out of local internet marketing. In its place, they’re providing something of much more tangible value to the user.

Goby helps its users find things to do in different locations. If you’re looking for an art class in Boulder, CO, for instance, it will offer you a number of related options – from art classes to galleries to lectures at museums, complete with schedules. It does this by searching the web and finding relevant events, then adding them to its database.

Dealmap, on the other hand, is a clearinghouse for local deals. Whereas it’s cool to check in on Foursquare and see a deal that’s nearby for the Mayor of Starbucks, this service gives you an idea of any available sale, promotion or deal near a certain location. It’s a great way for users to save money – and for local businesses to market their products and services.

As Scoble points out, these two services both show you what location-based marketing is capable of. Current services like Foursquare and Gowalla primarily appeal to people’s social nature – they let you check in, find friends nearby, see what’s happening in your circle (and occasionally get a deal). But imagine if Foursquare was to partner with Dealmap – its users would gain a whole lot more than just an occasional free drink or discount at Starbucks. The service would retain its social networking functionality, but gain a HUGE value proposition for its users.

In the meantime, if you’re looking to drive traffic to your local small business, it would be an excellent idea to submit a deal or two to Dealmap.com and see what comes of it.

It’s really kind-of remarkable, when you think about us living in an age where we can broadcast to the entire world…and yet relationships are made and leads are generated primarily by word of mouth. Even in an increasingly-interconnected world, a recommendation still goes a lot further than outright advertising.

This is why services like Twitter and Facebook are so popular – they allow people to be social animals (which we are, by nature), and they allow them to sort through the noise and find what they’re looking for, often largely based on what their friends are sharing.

Social media has become an essential part of local internet marketing – and its influence is growing. This is also why it’s imperative that businesses, small to large, establish a social media presence. But how do you get started?

You’re in luck. Eloqua, a marketing automation company, has just posted their social media playbook for anyone to download and read. It’s an amazingly-detailed reference for how to succeed on various social networks, from Facebook to Twitter to blogs to LinkedIn…and more.

Drop by their blog and pick it up. You’ll be glad you did.

According to direct marketing intelligence firm Mintel Comperemedia, direct mail volume is up 16% in Q1 2010.  Obviously direct mail is still working for a lot of businesses!

Amazingly, insurance-related mailings account for 43% of all direct mail volume!

Mike

Each year David Mihm surveys a number of top SEO practitioners regarding the local listing results they’ve seen, and compiles all the data into a list. The result is a comprehensive explanation of almost all the factors that contribute to a local business’s Google Places position.

Today, Mr. Mihm released the 2010 Local Search Ranking Factors. Anyone in the business of local internet marketing should stop what you’re doing right now and give it a read. You’ll learn a lot.

As Jonathan Volk points out, you can even automate the process. By feeding various articles to a locally-targeted Twitter feed, you can direct prospects to a trackable phone number or a local landing page to capture their info.

Granted, you’ll see much better results if you participate on a regular basis, since a 100% automated Twitter feed is fairly easy to spot (even for novice Twitterers). You’ll pick up more followers if you at least give the impression that you’re a real person.

But for the amount of effort required, Twitter can be extremely effective way to drive traffic and leads towards you or a client’s local business.

Last week, a new service called ChoiceVendor launched. Essentially, it’s the Yelp for B2B companies. Businesses of any size can create an account on ChoiceVendor and review other businesses they’ve worked with.

The implications for small and medium-sized businesses here are huge. As you know, Google Places leverages reviews from across the web to determine a company’s star ranking (hence, the importance of sites like Yelp for locally-focused businesses). Every positive review on Yelp can be extremely valuable to a company’s local search ranking, since Google places extra weight on listings with reviews.

Additionally, there’s an intangible value – the value of trust. If a customer finds a company where customers have gone out of their way to write 4- and 5-star reviews, they’re more likely to consider that company to do business with.

Which brings us back to ChoiceVendor. Up until now, small businesses haven’t had a great venue for their clients and customers to post reviews. With the deployment of this new service, that all changes. We expect to see Google indexing ChoiceVendor’s reviews sometime in the near future. If you have clients who operate in the B2B world, they would do well to make sure they have a claimed listing on ChoiceVendor, and try and solicit reviews from happy clients.

In the long run, the dividends will be huge.

**UPDATE 9/23/2010 – Looks like we weren’t the only ones to take notice – as of today, the ChoiceVendor team has announced that they’ve been acquired by LinkedIn. Congrats, Yanda and Rama!

Although the service is no longer available, we wouldn’t be surprised to see something coming from LinkedIn leveraging their data and technology soon. In the meantime, if you haven’t yet claimed your business on LinkedIn, now’s an excellent time to do it!

Facebook is essentially becoming “the internet” for a lot of users, similar (and yet totally different) from the way AOL was “the internet” for many people for years. One way they are doing this is by extending their “Like” button to content outside of Facebook, allowing you to tag content and easily share your opinion of it with your Facebook Friends within your profile.

Why is this a big deal? Facebook users now have a way to “Like” and share anything, and the information is added to their profile.

Why is this a big deal? Because as a marketer, you are now going to have a ton more information to target your advertising towards, as people’s profiles are going to constantly be being updated with more information about personal preferences, likes, and dislikes.

Let’s see how this one shakes out over the coming months, but I suspect it is going to have a big impact.

Mike

Today, Google announced a rebranding of one of its key features: the former Local Business Center is now known simply as Google Places.

One out of every 5 searches is location-based, so naturally Google wants to find ways to improve their local search results and make money off of the space, too. For that reason, along with the new name, Google is rolling out a slew of features including local search and map listings, realtime updates, custom QR codes and coupons, and more.

The three features we’re most excited about are:

1. Service areas. A pizza business, for instance, can now only focus on advertising to customers who are in their delivery area.
2. Local business photo shoots. That’s right – Google will now come to your local business and take photos, then add them to your Place Page.
3. Tags. For $25 a month, local businesses can buy “tags” which will turn their businesses up in local searches, including Google Maps.

Obviously, this new update is a huge deal for local online marketing. Local businesses of all sizes stand to benefit from a well-optimized Google Place Page.

The study reported that social media usage amongst businesses of fewer than 100 employees increased to 24%, up from 12% a year earlier.

I see a lot more activity in the small business space myself, with more companies using social tools and site for local online marketing, and even using Facebook as a replacement for having a stand-alone website.

As Kipp mentioned in a previous post, companies like Foursquare are rolling out new tools that are sure to accelerate this trend.

Mike