Should I Create a Google Place for My Church or Ministry?

It isn't a secret that everyone fights to appear on the first page of Google.

While you might not know a lot about Search Engine Optimization (SEO), or even have a budget to put towards getting your church website "optimized"...an excellent free service that Google provides is Google Places.

By creating a Google Place for your church or ministry, you can quickly provide key details to users who have searched on specific terms in your area. For example, a Google Place will provide someone with your:

• Church Name
• Church address
• Church phone number
• Church website address
• Church contact e-mail address
• Directions to your church
• Description of your church

And, as always...the more information you provide the better. You might consider:

• Both inside and outside photos of your church building, preferably with lots of smiling happy people bustling around.
• A quick 2 minute promotional video about why someone should come to your church.
  
• Adding special announcements about important or key topics that your church is passionate about.
  

What are the benefits of creating a Google Place for your church or ministry?

After creating your Place and allowing a few weeks transpire, you will be able to easily review basic statistics that Google provides. They provide you with an easy to read chart of either the last 7 or 30 days worth of activity as well as the Top Search Queries that served up your listing and an impressions vs. actions break down like the one I am including below.

1326	impressions
	How many times users saw your business listing as a local search result
108	actions
	How many times users showed interest in your business listing
	14   Clicks for more info on Maps 2   Clicks for driving directions 92   Clicks to your website

Bottom line, Google Places is a great way to increase your online presence in front of your local community.

Is your ministry using Google Places? Please comment why or why not.