Comments on: Google+ Local – What Wasn’t in the Announcement Was More Important Than What Was

By: Google Local: Train Wreck at the Junction | Understanding Google Places & Local Search

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 18:31:19 +0000

[...] have that confidence and really don’t know how the two disparate products will integrate. A new dashboard with increased functionality is likely on its way and hopefully better social management tools as well. What we don’t know is how [...]

By: Google Acquires Incentive Targeting For Coupon Programs | Understanding Google Places & Local Search

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 17:56:32 +0000

[...] scale down to a single merchant and fit into the SMB dashboard/integrated marketing portal that is rumored to be in the works. Imagine a single location grocery store or our local 30 location chain being [...]

By: Google+ Business Pages: To Merge Or Not to Merge, That is the Question | Understanding Google Places & Local Search

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 15:37:24 +0000

[...] know that a new dashboard with increased functionality is likely on its way and hopefully better social management tools as well. In the meantime, since we are [...]

By: Mike Blumenthal

Mike Blumenthal — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 20:55:09 +0000

@Scott
There seems to be inklings of that coming but when is not at all clear. I am with you that there needs to be clear and easy way to manage across multiple locations for both data and content.

By: Scott Clark

Scott Clark — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 20:42:19 +0000

Well you probably knew that I would chime in and offer my hopes and wishes that Google will somehow provide franchises with some answers here. 5-8% of the SMB market is nothing to sneeze at. But ‘zees have special needs and a parent-child management hierarchy is required. Will they ignore it yet again – trying to sell this to each ‘zee individually? Or will they get smart and offer a solution to the franchisor with appropriate dashboard capabilities?

By: An Updated Step By Step Guide for the SMB to their New Google + Local Page | Understanding Google Places & Local Search

Fri, 08 Jun 2012 23:14:07 +0000

[...] Business pages), Google is upgrading a very complex system. Over the next few weeks and months changes will continue to roll [...]

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 16:50:05 +0000

I don’t think there’s a problem with requiring a Google+ account. Eventually, everyone will have one, as all Google properties are moving to require it.

The real problem is that I can’t leave my old reviews published under my Places nickname. I had to hide the 100+ local reviews I had written, because I don’t have time to go through and re-read them to see if I want them associated with my Google+ profile. As more users choose to hide their old reviews, it’s going to be a like a long press of the reset button for businesses that had accrued positive reviews.

By: Mike Blumenthal

Mike Blumenthal — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 04:04:33 +0000

@Chris A

Well if one didn’t have more questions than answers you would be foolish. While I am not able to say what Google thinks, I do believe that we can see Google search-local- social strategy coming together.

I agree that they certainly they can release good software when they and here’s hoping they do so with the face they present to the SMB. And that it is useful and engaging to them.

By: Chris Alphen

Chris Alphen — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 00:38:13 +0000

Mike
Thanks for peeking into the future. I’d be very interested to learn how digital loyalty and CRM will fit into this puzzle. I’m no Socrates but I do have more questions than answers. The 125 million businesses you mentioned; does Google think they can put them in a funnel and monetize them? If so you would think they would pour more resources into this area. A much larger picture of Google shows not a bumbling behemoth with bugs and glitches at every turn. Google is apparently a force behind driverless cars, no room for bugs in that one. Space travel and mining in space are on Google’s radar. Not much room for a null edit there. Kinda makes the concept of bringing some order to business listings seem like childs play.

By: Mike Blumenthal

Mike Blumenthal — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 23:51:07 +0000

@Chris
From a customer friction point of view adding a G+ account is actually less work than the bizarre requirement in the Places review environment of obtaining a “nickname”. That feature, created originally under the defunct hotpot, was hard to find, redirected the user away from the review page and then after creating the nickname they had to find their way back to review. So compared to that the path to create a G+ account is smooth and well integrated. Since Google is nagging ALL users in all their products to get G+ accounts more and more users will have them over time. So for example YouTube goes + every person that uploads will need a G+ account making it easier for them to leave a review.