Make Easy, Free Sales Using "Google Places" and the "MLQ Widget" One of the biggest reasons that potential customers in your area don't know who you are is because they simply can't find you. Long gone are the days when you paid a fee to have a listing in your local Yellow Pages and the phone would ring. We all know that consumers today no longer go to the Yellow Pages to find contractors but they now search online. We certainly don't have a metric to tell you exactly how many consumers use "Google" to search for lawn and landscape companies but it's probably pretty safe to say that ALMOST ALL OF THEM DO!!!!!!!! The issue that we all face is that it's very difficult to figure out how you can be at the top of page one for certain keywords or phrases that customers use to find lawn and landscape companies. You could begin paying a marketing company $500 a month for a SEO (Search Engine Optimization) campaign that will take 18 months to work or you can simply sign up for a "Google Places" account. "Google Places" is essentially an online version of the Yellow Pages that revolves around the services your business offers and a radius around your own location. With very little effort you can show up for free on the first page of Google by simply having an account. If you don't have a "Google Places" account yet you need to create one by visiting https://www.google.com/business/placesforbusiness/. After going through a verfication process you will quite literally show up on the first page of google for consumers in your area who are searching for your type of service. No wait, wait! WAIT!!!!!!!!! Don't go yet. Before you go off to set up your new free listing you have to read this next part which will make you the most awesome lawn care service ever! One of the best features of the MyLawnQuote.com estimating program is the fact that you can actually have potential customers perform their very own estimate by measuring their lawn with our satellite measuring tool. You simply place what we call a "Measuring Widget" on your homepage. (Your homepage that consumers will now be finding for free because of your Google "Local" listing.) The customer types in their address and they are brought to a sattelite image of their property. They then measure their proerty with a couple of clicks and before they know it they have a customized estimate for whatever service they are looking to have performed. They can sign up, ask questions or even prepay. The great thing is that this happens 24 hours a day. The widget looks just like this. Go ahead, try it out. Pretend that you are a homeowner and you just clicked on your companies listing that you set up with Google “Places.” The process could not be simpler. You create a listing, you link it to your site that has the auto estimating widget featured prominently and your making sales….without even trying.