Is Google Places Worth It?

I have a business and I would loss money if i had to pay $500 a month to be on google places. I have been in the c and b position, and i am certain it brought me less then $500 profit each month.

PHustler said:

Because once he is listed in GP he will never have to pay again to advertise on adwords as long as he is in GP.

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Yea but that doesn't apply if OP is charging $500 a month.

MagicMike said:

Well, the question that the client needs to answer is: "is it profitable". If its profitable to pay you $500/month, then he should do it. It may be more or less profitable than adwords, but as long as its profitable, he should do it.

I have clients that are ranked #1 on Google and who still do adwords. Why? Because both are still profitable, and I recommend that a client do everything that is making money for them. Your potential client may fall into that category. Maybe keep both campaigns running. When/If one of them becomes unprofitable, than that campaign should be dropped.

If the yellowpages are profitable, then why stop doing them to go online? The answer is, do both. Why would you stop doing any form of advertising that is working?

Ok, I guess I made my point... lol.

I think we need to think in terms of not "replacing" everything with online marketing, but showing prospects how online marketing can be profitable to them as well.

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I 2nd what this guys says

rippy said:

Why would you be charging $500/month when it is a one time thing service?
Making optimised google places listing is set and forget, you can update it every 6 months or so.

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Not sure if you know what you're talking about here.

GPlaces is most certainly no set-and-forget program. Six months from now, the program will be unrecognizable from what it is today.

If you carefully watch the G Place Blueprint videos, it talks about all the continuity stuff.

a) reputation management - in the brave new world of GP, people can leave bad comments. You would be in charge of alerting the owner and having them reply/fix the situation (think google alerts).

b) on-going SEO for organic listings, AND to get GP to stay at the top. Competitors are not going to stay silent. As iiaok said, it is a dynamic thing, GP is evolving.

c) Fanpage - ongoing management of the Fanpage

d) Feedback management - you have to be on top of the customer to get them to get feedbacks. They won't do it themselves.

Plate if full, eh?

blackieman said:

If you carefully watch the G Place Blueprint videos, it talks about all the continuity stuff.

a) reputation management - in the brave new world of GP, people can leave bad comments. You would be in charge of alerting the owner and having them reply/fix the situation (think google alerts).

b) on-going SEO for organic listings, AND to get GP to stay at the top. Competitors are not going to stay silent. As iiaok said, it is a dynamic thing, GP is evolving.

c) Fanpage - ongoing management of the Fanpage

d) Feedback management - you have to be on top of the customer to get them to get feedbacks. They won't do it themselves.

Plate if full, eh?

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I do not see anything mandatory changed 6 months ago and today.
All my listing are live, and ranking well. Once there is a change, you change as well.
Who knows how you people optimise it when listings jump around like crazy.
Bad comments, huh, that is brand management not related to google places, customers can leave bad comments all over the web, so doesn't really count as a google places thing.

I win, good bye.

I think you guys are just looking into ways to take some more cash from clients which is fine, go ahead rob them



Think about it, If client is paying for SEO for 2-3-4 years, what is the point of it? That is the same as pay per click then.

SEO should be implemented within 6 months, and then left alone for client to gain some return after all hard work and investments.
After first 6 months of investing and hard work, SEO service charge should be brought down significantly.

I do the same thing with my client keep them paying and paying.
But when I work on my website, after 6 months it's a lot less work, and website grows by itself. After all if you have a live living website with lots of traffic and good content, new links will be developed by its-own.

Especially if client is small and cant keep paying $500 each month for GP listing.
Think about your client and how much you can take from him.

And also, adwords management they would need a non stop person working on it.
A good adwords manager could bring down cost per click significantly by making many landing pages and optimising them.

Adwords service is usually charged 20% of monthly spend. + Some management fee.

So even if your client dose not want GP listing but wants adwords, that is still yours to take home.