If you ever completed a Google search and had a MAP of listings appear on the page, then you know the value of local MAPS listings ranks to businesses. These listings are analagous to standard Yellow Pages categories. Google understands, for example, that if you're looking for a dentist and live in Chicago that you probably don't care about Dentists in New York. There are things that you can do to improve your MAPS ranks.

All your life you may have been told, "don't act up", "don't brag", "don't be the center of attention". Unless your the guy at the party with the lamp shade on his head, most of us shy away from that kind of popularity. But that is not the person Google is looking for anyway. So it might not seem intuitive to want to be "that guy" when it comes to your website. On the web, THAT GUY is the center of attention (or appears to be). He seems to know a lot. He seems to have good authority and a lot of people seem to be listening. THAT is exactly who you want to be. Google is looking for THAT GUY! You can be THAT GUY!

The web: It's the savior and the bane of small business. If you think the web can save your small business because now you have a website and all you need to do is sit back and wait for the phone to ring, you're not ready for the web. Your business needs to connect with people - NOT GOOGLE, NOT FACEBOOK, NOT PINTEREST. Those sites are there to connect people with people, people with businesses, people with ideas and yes SOMETIMES people with products. Perhaps it's time to reconnect with your customers. One of my customers showed me this: a message I very much appreciated.

I never click those! Ok, so maybe you don't. But someone does. In fact a lot of people do. How do I know? Well, for one, it's all trackable. Beyond that, what makes someone click one of the Google Adword ads as opposed to going straight to the organic? Well, there is some science involved and yes even a little slyness on Google's part. Haven't you noticed?

Pretty soon, computer dating will be two computers having coffee togother - minus the people. Who needs people? We've all fallen for this and pretty soon the machine will leave us all behind. Except: you need people to buy stuff.

As reported by the Associated Press: When Google changed the rankings of its search results this month, items from its Google+ social network -- such as photos, videos, comments and links -- got a boost at the expense of other social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Twitter wasn't happy about the changes, which Google called Search Plus Your World, and made its dissatisfaction known. Privacy groups called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the changes.

I visited a company years ago for a marketing class field trip. I can't remember the name of the company, but I never forgot Bubba. Imagine a morning meeting and all they did was talk about Bubba. This company lived for Bubba.

Why would someone rummage through the yellow pages? Because they are looking for something they need. Or more precisely, they're looking for something they need to spend money on. So, should you pay attention to this stuff you hear about search engine optimization, making your website more engaging, drawing the customer in. Really? If I need a plumber, I'm not spending time reading your blog about the best toilet friendly toilet paper.

Most Yellow Cats hate to blog. Why can't we just have the marketing like the old days! Get listed in the Yellow Pages. Advertise in the services section of the newspaper. And if you really want to go all out, fork out some extra bucks for an enhanced listing in the Yellow Pages, quarter page to full page ads. These are not cheap mind you but they must've worked because you wouldn't pay for something unless you got results. Right? Wow - already off subject. But in a really whiny voice say - "But whyyyy - why do I have to blog?"

There's so much to get your arms around relative to Google, I've come up with a new description. It's mind-googling. Every Yellow Cat knows the importance of showing up in the search engines and specifically of showing up in Google. And quite honestly, most of these small businesses think that if they just get the keywords right in their website, that's all they have to do. Nothing could be further from the truth.