Havelock North businesses are being put on the map - on Google Maps.
Local digital marketing company Mogul is volunteering to help businesses improve their profile on Google Places.
Tracy Burnett, owner of Serengeti on Joll Rd, has taken Mogul up on its offer and said most of her new clients found
the salon online.
Opening hours, location and even which brands the salon uses and sells can be added to Google Places, so when someone needs a haircut they can find exactly what they are looking for.
Mogul wanted to make Havelock North businesses the most Google-savvy in New Zealand and it was working with the Havelock North Business Association to get in touch with local businesses.
Mogul co-founder Georgina Miller said the company wanted to make sure Havelock North businesses were as easy to find as possible. "We wanted Havelock North to become a little hub on Google Places so especially tourists with smart phones or in internet cafes could get the information they want quickly and easily," she said.
About 20 per cent of all searches on Google were related to location and Google Places was a free service. Although anyone could update their listing, many people did not know how and were not aware of the advantages.
"Another great benefit of Google Places for businesses is that it provides valuable insights into how many people are clicking to their listings, what keywords they used to find it and even what areas people travelled from to get to the business," Mrs Miller said. "All this can really help a business fine-tune their offer or expand into other markets."
Havelock North Business Association president Adrienne Pierce was excited to see Mogul embrace the tool. "We're very grateful to Mogul, who are willing to invest their own time, for free, for the collective good of Havelock North businesses," she said.
"We live in a digitally mobile society, so Havelock North will be in a powerful position to communicate and direct visitors to the town through their computers and smartphones."
