Spend any real time in the small business marketing world and you’ll quickly be inundated with new services, new tools, new updates, new features and new things everyone thinks you should be aware of. As a result, it’s not always easy to decide what truly demands your attention and what can be written off as background noise. For that reason it’s possible that when Google Place Pages was first released a few months ago, you ignored it. And if that’s the case, it’s time to reconsider your position.

Spend any real time in the small business marketing world and you’ll quickly be inundated with new services, new tools, new updates, new features and new things everyone thinks you should be aware of. As a result, it’s not always easy to decide what truly demands your attention and what can be written off as background noise. For that reason it’s possible that when Google Place Pages was first released a few months ago, you ignored it. And if that’s the case, it’s time to reconsider your position.

1. Your customers are looking for you online: While at SMX West last week, Gregg Stewart of 15 Miles noted that 20 percent of all searches on Google now have a local intent, and that number is even higher when you look at searches performed on mobile devices. SEO expert Bruce Clay later predicted that in two years 70-80 percent of queries will have a local result on the page (!). That’s pretty significant and offers a good indication of where things are going. Searchers are headed online to find local businesses and, thanks to personalization, Google is showing local results even when a user doesn’t specifically ask for them. Users are looking for your business online and one of the best ways to help them find you is to claim, optimize and enhance your Google Place Page. By ignoring it, you make it harder for customers to do business with you. Why do that?

2. Google Places acts as a one-stop-shop for your brand: One reason some small business owners aren’t too friendly to Place Pages is that they resent Google decentralizing their information and pulling people from their core site. Unfortunately, that’s exactly why users like these aggregate pages. They like being able to check out one page and see all your vital information. Embrace it and give users what they’re looking for. Because, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how a user finds your address and phone number…just that they do and that you’ve excited them enough to use it.

3. Google loves (to rank) Place Pages: Thanks to some Google algorithm changes, Place Pages have been given significant search prominence. That means whether you like them or not, they’re showing up, and potential customers are stumbling upon them. As a savvy business owner, you must do your part and help those searchers find you by completely filling out your Google Place Page. I know it’s a little monotonous to always be filling out those little boxes all over the Web, but you’re being asked for a reason – Google is using that information to rank you. Fill out everything, be careful when selecting your business category, and include as much information and (keyword-rich) details as you can. The more complete (and keyword-rich) your profile, the better.

4. Google Places connects third-party sites: You know the information being posted about you all over the Web? Much of it is being aggregated and displayed in your Google Place page. That means what’s out there about you for your business – all the reviews, the associated images, the business information, etc. – is getting more attention than ever before. If you don’t know what’s out there about your brand, Google Place Pages provides more incentive for you to find out. Take this time to make sure it’s all accurate and consistent. Read more at smallbiztrends.com

WTH!?  QR Codes?  Are QR Codes really viable for marketing? Wait a minute, I’m not Gucci, Ford or some other big brand… Indeed, you may not be a big brand–I would argue, as I have done for several clients, QR Codes are not just for the big boys.  A good understanding of your customer and how QR Codes can be used can help you make the decision to QR or not to QR.

Wikipedia tells us a QR Code is, “A QR Code is a specific matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code), readable by dedicated QR barcode readers and camera phones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be text, URL or other data.”

Blah, blah, blah… A QR Code is a scannable/readable barcode that allows you to share text, data or a URL with people. Anyone with a smart phone (Android, iPhone, etc) and a QR Code reader can play along.

A QR Code can be almost anywhere, Calvin Klein replaced their racy billboard ads with a “Get It Uncensored” strategy, Best Buy used QR Codes to enhance shopping, and Mashable has featured 5 Creative Uses for QR Codes.

QR Code readers do not come pre-installed on smart phones and it is likely the majority of your audience, at this point in the game, will not recognize or feel compelled to participate in the QR Code party.  That said, QR Code scanning is increasing, particularly among the Gen Y, affluent or techie markets.

As a business, you’re probably thinking this is way out of your technical scope.  You’re wrong.  That’s the beauty of QR Codes, they are relatively easy, free and painless to create.  Seriously, the harder part is figuring out if and how to implement them.  Creation is the easy part.

Now comes the real dilemma, if and when to use QR Codes for your “not-a-big-brand” business.  Rather than go down a long list of do’s and don’ts, I thought it would be more helpful to showcase the many ways my clients and others are using QR Codes in their marketing, with some helpful hints. Read more at websuccessdiva.com

Let’s say three months ago you convinced your boss to let you put up a page for the business on Facebook.  Then a couple of weeks later, the boss gave you the go-ahead on spending a few minutes a day on Twitter.

But that was three months ago.  And you’ve been spending more and more time on Facebook and Twitter, and the boss is noticing.  So tomorrow, the boss is going to mention all this to you, how he’s noticing that the 5 mins a day you used to spend on Facebook has ballooned into an hour a day.

He’s going to ask you the logical business question: What are we getting for that hour a day you spend on Facebook and Twitter?

Choose your next words VERY carefully.  The natural thought process may be to tell the boss that the company has X number of Likes on Facebook, and X number of Twitter followers.  But the problem is, your boss doesn’t care about the conversation.

If you want to be successful at social media, you pick the strategy first, then the tactics.  You can’t pick the tactics first, then the strategy. Read more at mackcollier.com

One common way small business owner’s work to build up their social media profiles is through online promotions. They may hold a Twitter contest or a Facebook giveaway in the hopes that it will help them catch a user’s eye and provide incentive to get them engaging with the brand. However, that doesn’t mean they’re always successful or they go about it in the right way. Far too often SMB owners fall victim to innocent (and very preventable) marketing mistakes that cause them to lose potential customers without even realizing it.

Below are some tip for running a social media promotion if you WANT people to completely ignore it. Read more at smallbiztrends.com

It’s doubtful that any small business owner sits down to compose his or her Business Plan, and starts the list with a No. 1 priority such as: Get lost in the crowd.

Yet, it would almost seem that many, when naming their companies or coming up with a tagline, actually adopt that as a goal! Therefore, here are the Top Five Rules for those who would prefer not to stand out—who’d like to be undistinguished, unremarkable, and easily ignored!

1. Come up with a business name that means nothing.

3. Weave a less-than-meaningful tagline into your identity.

2. Describe your business in the most generic way possible, so everyone will think they need you.

4. Look at what all your competitors are offering and saying, and mimic them.

5. Try to please everyone. Read more at www.mpdailyfix.com

With all the talk about social media these days, you might think that the key to marketing your business and even driving sales lies entirely with sites like Facebook and Twitter, but, if you market your product or service online, harnessing the power of Google for your small business is still important. By this, of course, we mean search marketing, the general focus of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and, while there are other search engines to consider, SEO expert Aaron Wall reckons Google still makes up about 75 percent of the search market. Here are some things every small business owner planning to market online should know to capture it. Read more at smallbiztrends.com

For large companies, websites have long been a staple of the marketing mix, but even today, many small businesses struggle to establish a web presence. Lack of resources or knowledge about web development can often keep a small business offline.

But for small, local businesses, a website can serve as digital storefront, providing a platform to convince consumers that the company is a reliable, trusted operation and provides them with the information necessary to easily and quickly make a purchase.

The research firm BIA/Kelsey notes that the website now serves as the core of local business marketing, combining all other forms of advertising including print, Internet Yellow Pages, mobile, SEO/SEM, video, reputation management and e-mail/direct mail.

So what do you need to develop a high-quality website for your business? Here are five tips to get you started: Read more at searchengineland.com

Your online hub is the center of your business universe, its the machine behind everything you’ll do to build traffic, grow your list and convert your leads into your ideal, most profitable customers.  Because your hub is at the core of your business existence, you’ll want to spend time to make sure it is optimized and ready to perform.

If you’ve spent anytime reviewing my Social Media Smarts guide, or others, you’ll know I’m a big proponent of the hub and spoke approach to internet marketing: Read more at websuccessdiva.com

Depending on who you speak to, we are either in the great recession or we are in the best business building period of our lifetimes. For those of us who believe that we are bursting with opportunities unlike ever before, you will want to plan and have some fresh strategies in place. By the way check out these entrepreneurs. who decided to ignore the small thinking media who love to scare people, and are in the business of selling FEAR.

That doesn’t mean sit back in your office chair and think that your client attraction will kick in without doing anything. I want to help as many entrepreneurs as possible so here are some fresh insider tips to get you started in the right direction with the right focus. Read more at beverlyboston.com

Today more than ever before, entrepreneurs need these business essentials to thrive in 2011 and beyond. A lot of entrepreneurs focus on building their businesses, and fail to remember to focus on how they are positioning themselves within that business. Ignoring this in your business in today’s current economy could cause your business to falter and then fail. If you are thinking of being in business for the long haul you will want to put these essentials into place and do them all.

You need to focus on these areas of positioning yourself in your business in 2011 and beyond: yourself, your business, your business model and what you offer, and your community. By thinking and focusing on all of these areas and where you are positioning yourself, you will start to realize how they are all connected like a puzzle, and that each can support one another to build a highly profitable and sustainable business. Read more at beverlyboston.com

There are many local and small businesses using Twitter as a marketing tool. We’ve seen the headlines highlighting stand out examples of businesses using Twitter–yet many local, small businesses still have not gone beyond 101 activities.  Let’s look at the many ways businesses can leverage Twitter.

Our list is assuming you’re familiar with the basics of how to use Twitter and already have a presence. Read more at websuccessdiva.com

For most businesses, participating in social media is unchartered territory. When there are no examples to follow, the only way to learn is to experiment. Over the last 18 months, I’ve been observing what’s worked and, more importantly, what hasn’t.

1. Use social media as a broadcast medium

2. Sound like a robot

3. Only focus on work topics or yourself

4. Grow your network too quickly

5. Don’t start conversations Read more at www.problogger.net

What do small business owners view as the most important promotion tool for their small business? Sorry, social networks. It’s not you–yet. According to a Fall survey from Constant Contact, small business owners look primarily to their website (93 percent) and e-mail marketing (92 percent) campaigns to get the word out about their businesses, with more than 90 percent of SMBs saying they use both. The news wasn’t all grim for social networks, however. Facebook took the third spot with 63 percent, while other social media like blogs, Twitter and LinkedIn came in at 33 percent, 31 percent and 29 percent, respectively.

See more at smallbiztrends.com

Say that 10 times fast.  Business blogging is still an exceptional opportunity for lead generation, search optimization, and community building. It is also one of the most frequently misused online marketing strategies implemented by businesses.  Perhaps a disconnect from realizing social (of which blogging is a big part) is fundamentally different than traditional advertising. Read more at websuccessdiva.com

Google Instant, the recent feature that begins displaying search results while you’re still typing your query, has increased clicks to videos in search results by 28 percent, according to a panelist at the fall 2010 Search Marketing Expo (SMX) East conference in New York.

Of course, there’s no guarantee your videos will go viral like Blendtec’s ‘Will it Blend?’ series or the Old Spice guy ads — or even Blendtec’s spoof of the Old Spice ads. But aside from creating great videos, there are steps you can take to help make sure your small business marketing videos are easily discovered. Read more at www.smallbusinesscomputing.com