Google+ and Google Places - Game On!

You may have attended one of my Google Places Workshops recently, to discover how you can use this free marketing tool to bring you a steady stream of new customers from the UK's favourite search engine. 

Well, things are hotting up! Google has changed the positioning of Places in order to integrate it with Google+, the search engine giant's answer to Facebook. Check out this video on NiS to discover what's been happening to Google Places...

According to a recent report from The Wall Street Journal, Google is preparing to launch a new ad service and tools aimed at small businesses as soon as July.

Noting that the new service was once called “Business Builder” internally, the report claimed it will consist of various products that have been developed by Google and technologies/services acquired through the purchases of over six companies at a cost of roughly half a billion dollars since last year. The source claimed Google is hoping the new service will bring in billions in new revenue each year.

A few of the acquisitions mentioned in the report include in-store loyalty program Punchd and SMS customer interaction serviceTalkBin. The service would also include aspects of AdWords Express, Google Offers, Google Wallet, and several new products.

Central to the effort is Google+, the company’s social network, which it hopes consumers will use to interact with local businesses that now have special Web pages on the network. Those Google+ pages will draw traffic from the company’s Web-search engine. When shoppers visit these businesses, Google wants them to use their Internet-connected phones like a digital wallet, earning loyalty points and making payments at stores that sign up for Google’s new services.

The local business effort lead by Vice President Marissa Mayer and Senior Vice President Jeff Huber will apparently begin to rollout sometime this summer.

Google began listing local-businesses as Google+ pages last week, which further encouraged businesses and users to apply the network for interacting with one another.

Google would not comment specifically on the report, but Huber provided the following comment to The Wall Street Journal:

“Helping local business is a big part of our focus at Google, whether it is connecting shoppers with the right store nearby or helping merchants attract and retain customers. In local, our vision is not a one-size-fits-all product, but a range of flexible solutions that make the Web work for all local businesses”