A few weeks ago, DTC was selected as a “Favorite Place” on Google. Based on information gathered from user behavior and local listings, this means that we have been selected among the Top 10% of businesses, calculated by the popularity of our local business listing.
Google informed us of our status with the following letter:
Dear Business Owner,
Congratulations! You’re a favorite Place on Google. Between July 1 and September 30. Google users found your Digital Third Coast Internet Marketing business listing xxxx times, and requested driving directions or other information about your business xxxx times.
Because you’re so popular, we’re enclosing a window decal that shows customers you’re a “Favorite Place on Google”. The sticker includes a special bar code that potential customers may scan with cameras on their phones. Then they can see your business listing on Google, read and write reviews, and add you as a favorite right there. We encourage you to put up this decal so potential customers know you’re a Favorite Place on Google.
With the holiday shopping season here, we encourage you to update your free Google listing right away. It’s easy to check if your hours, address, and business description are correct. We also recommend you add photos, videos, and even coupons to help your business stand out. All of this is for free. You’ll notice the results every time someone says, “We found you on Google.”
Congratulations on your popularity on Google. We look forword to providing you with more and better ways to grow your business.
Sincerely,
Michaela Prescott
The Google Local Business Team
This is an interesting development, coming off the heels of Google’s decision to remove SEO and Web Design firms from the 7-Pack and one-box for local listings. Basically, it seems that Google has decided that while firms such as ours count as ‘local businesses’, user who search for “SEO” and a city/state are not actually indicating a local preference.
It’s a bit of a strange, contradictory set of signals from the company. We will be interested to see where they decide to go with this.
As a Favorite Place on Google, we received a decal that contains a QR code (a two-dimensional bar code) that passersby can scan to be taken directly to our Google local listing on their mobile browser. It’s a pretty cool piece of technology that the company has been strongly pushing over the last month.
There are a variety of free and paid apps to read QR codes (we’re currently using i-Nigma). Check out the screenshots below to see how it works.
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- This is the Favorite Place decal. The mobile app views the bar code through the camera.
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- iNigma reads the code, prompts user to visit site.
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- The user is taken to a Google Local Listing.
