14 DAY TRIAL // The launch of the Local section in Google+ last week was only one step in a much bigger vision for local businesses at Google. The company has been trying to tap into the rich market for years now and has made some inroads but nothing big. Still, its plans have only grown more ambitious in time, if unproven.
The company plans to offer a number of services useful to small businesses in the hopes of getting them to use Google products and, eventually, start advertising with the company.
Google already offers several products to small businesses. The Google Place pages, which listed basic info about businesses, such as address, work hours and so on, have been a good first step and are now being converted to Google+ pages.
Google+ pages will have the advantage of having a big audience to cater to and a social element that should prove especially interesting to small businesses.
Google Offers is another tool through which Google hopes to win customers, the service has been somewhat successful, but Google has bigger plans for it rather than just being a daily offers site, it will integrate it with its other ad options aimed at small advertisers.
But these are just a couple stepping stones, Google plans to unveil a unified service, dubbed Business Builder says the Wall Street Journal, which will bring together all products and services aimed at small businesses. Google also plans to unveil several products that will fit this bill.
Google has bought several companies in the past year aimed at this market, like TalkBin which enables customers to send anonymous feedback to a business, or Punchd a loyalty card app. Google is also working on getting businesses online.
The company has unveiled several programs like this internationally, in emerging markets like India or Nigeria, but is working on a large program in the US as well. All in all, Google is gearing up for a major assault on the small business market that is still largely untapped online.