Google pitches Google

Dan Rubinstein, SME Business platforms, Google, was the first featured speaker to kick-off the Kelsey Interactive Local Media conference this afternoon in Philadelphia, and he featured Google, big time.

Rubinstein framed his talk by citing discouraging start-up SME (small and medium enterprise) statistics; Fewer than half of the small businesses started in the U.S. survive four years.

Rubinstein asked, rhetorically, “What can the “industry” do to help small businesses? Rubinstein provided many answers, all were in the form of Google ad products.

For Rubinstein, a key local business problem is a marketing one, an online marketing problem; Small businesses lack online marketing awareness, are not technologically savvy and don’t have time to devote to promoting themselves on the Web.

Google has the online marketing answers for SMEs; Rubinstein made the Google case for local businesses to:

Connect to customers,
Establish a business presence online,
Optimize the experience to complete a sale.

How does Google come to the small business rescue?

Connecting to Customers Through Google Products

Local Business Ads
Google Coupons
ClickTo-Call
Sponsored Links for Mobile

Local business ads enable you to promote your location-based products and services to customers in your area. These ads appear with an enhanced map component on Google Maps and in a text-only format on Google.com and other sites in the Google network.

Whenever a user enters a query that matches advertisers' chosen keywords and business information, up to four local business ads may appear as "Sponsored Links" below the user's Google Maps search results. The ads display in two parts: a highlighted listing in the search results column and a map marker that expands to show additional business details when the user clicks on the ad title or the marker itself.

Small businesses without a website can create hosted business pages so potential customers may find information about the products and/or services offered by the business. When selected advertisers sign up for AdWords through the Starter Edition, they're offered the option of creating a free hosted business page.

Google Marketing Tools in QuickBooks 2007

Start marketing and advertising your business and products on the Internet in just a few easy steps. Once you purchase and install your QuickBooks 2007 software, simply click on the Google Marketing Tools icon from your Home page. Choose the tools that work best for you including Google Maps, Google AdWords, and QuickBooks Product Listing Service.

Take the guesswork out of landing page testing. Website Optimizer makes it easier to determine which version of your landing page users like best. Graphical reports show which page resulted in the highest conversion rate. Use Website Optimizer to test different website content. Graphical reports show which content engages your audience and results in the highest conversions. Run that content to improve your users' experience and convert visitors to customers.

While Website Optimizer is integrated into AdWords, it tests all traffic to your site – including traffic from your AdWords ads, Google search results and any other source of traffic to your site.

During the Q & A, I underscored Google’s primary mission to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible,” indicating that the holy grail for many SMEs is to be returned number one or two, organically, on a Google SERP, not to buy Google AdWords.

I asked Rubinstein, specifically, if Website Optimizer would be available for non Google AdWords customers. Rubinstein suggested it would be, eventually. Rubinstein was also asked if Hosted Business Pages would be available to non Google AdWords customers, Rubinstein suggested they would be, eventually.

For now, SMEs can buy Google AdWords. Rubinstein made a special plea for pizzerias in Utica to buy more Google AdWords!

More Kelsey Conference Coverage:
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AOL: PORTALS RULE!
LOCAL: $31 BILLION TARGET
CAN LOCAL NEWSPAPERS WIN ONLINE?
LOCAL BULLS ONLINE
ADVERTISING INNOVATION: WHO NEEDS PPC LINKS?
IAC’s PRONTO.COM: SHOPPING FOR A WINNER
AOL’s MAPQUEST: ‘INVALUABLE PART OF PEOPLE'S LIVES’