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Physical Addresses for Offline Clients?

by offline85
13 replies
Hello everyone,

I would really appreciate some offline/local-seo marketing feedback, or help on the following:

I've noticed that Google places requires local businesses to have a physical address & that you are not allowed to use PO-Boxes.

I've also read that it may be risky to use a UPS or Mailbox etc. address because if Google finds out, there is a good chance they may ban your website/company/listing.

With all of this in mind, I have come to the conclusion that the safest, next best choice to actually having a physical address in the target location is to get a virtual office. And when dealing offline clients that either have a home-based business or have a need to target a larger city that their company address is on the outskirts of - it seems like having some type of physical address in the target city is a must.

The lowest rate I've been able to find for nationwide virtual offices is around $60/month. The absolute lowest I've seen, in pretty much any area, was $25/month....but it was not nationwide and if I remember correctly had other fees.

Does anyone know of any more affordable virtual offices (preferably nationwide), or even another safe physical address solution other than a virtual office? Maybe closer to 10-15 bucks with locations in most major cities?

I would really appreciate everyone's feedback, experience, or help with this.

Thanks
#addresses #clients #offline #physical
  • Profile picture of the author mmixon
    Me too! I've even thought about renting a small room at a self storage place and using that address.
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    • Profile picture of the author offline85
      Hey mmixon...the storage place idea sounds interesting, but how would you receive the verification postcard from Google?
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  • Profile picture of the author VegasGreg
    If you spend as much time working within Google's guidelines instead of trying to find a way to "beat them", your results will be much better.

    Don't fight an uphill battle. Learn the system, master it and provide the service to your clients.
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    Greg Schueler - Wordpress Fanatic... Living The Offline Marketing Dream...

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  • Profile picture of the author mmixon
    I think that is what offline88 is saying. If I do not have a physical address how do I comply with goggles rules.
    Same problem with many marketers like me that operate more than 1 business from home. Getting listed and keeping listed in Google when hosting multiple businesses from 1 address is difficult, not impossible, but hard to keep them from being deleted.
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    • Profile picture of the author offline85
      VegasGreg........I appreciate your comment, but I think it actually doesn't help much.

      I think it would be much more helpful to provide some constructive feedback regarding Google places non-accommodation of local businesses that are unable to afford the luxury of a physical office space. Saying "spend as much time working within Google's guidelines" would be a fair statement if the guidelines were perfect, but unfortunately they are not and they tend to leave many legitimate business by the way-side.

      You may want to read the following searchengineland.com article: searchengineland.com/investigating-google-places-hypocrisy-for-address-less-businesses-59998

      Here is an excerpt from the article:

      A few weeks later, Google's Ari Bezman added a post on Google's LatLong blog about it, saying that "Not all businesses serve their customers from a brick-and-mortar storefront," and that some may operate out of their homes and travel around town to provide services. He indicated that the new service area features would allow such businesses to have listings in Google Maps, specifying the areas for which they'd travel to serve, and also enable them to suppress their address location from being displayed.
      Fast forward to December of 2010, however, and you'll quickly find some disparities in Google's messaging and stance on the matter.
      In a recent LatLong blog post entitled "Tips for creating a free business listing in Google Places: business types", Google's Lina Paczensky writes (I've added bolded emphasis):
      "Google Places is meant to facilitate customer interaction with brick-and-mortar businesses and service providers. Therefore, the business owner or employee who is officially authorized to represent their particular business location must have a physical address in order to comply with our quality guidelines."
      There are many legitimate situations that the 'BIG G' doesn't necessarily account for:
      1) Small businesses that can't afford to rent out an office space based on budget
      *2) Contractors that do not normally have a physical address location - but do serve a specific local area - like painters, plumbers, electricians, etc... (the list goes on)
      3) Home-based businesses that do not want clients driving by their home - but still need to be found locally
      4) Local businesses that are just on the outskirts of a major city or metropolitan are, but server the major market and will not be able to reach them due to minor locale differences
      5) National businesses that serve local area clients, but do not have a location in every major city, or can't afford to
      * I can't remember where, but I've actually read that in some instances it is illegal for particular licensed contractors to operate their business from a home address - which is why they use a P.O. Box (which is basically not allowed in Google Places).

      VegasGreg, I hope this makes sense and that you understand that you feel it is better to just play by the rules.......but if the rules are inherently dysfunctional, then what is a marketer to do?
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  • Profile picture of the author VegasGreg
    Sorry I didn't go into more details, but Google makes it vary clear that their Places are for local brick and mortar listings only. If a "business" doesn't fit that criteria, then Places is not the venue to market in. They will need to focus on organic SEO and other directories that don't have those restrictions.

    A true business, with a business license needs a physical address where that license hangs. There are some occasions when people hang their license within a virtual office type environment (or box renatal locations) or within their own household. If these businesses want to list their business in G-Places, they can, using that address, but if by chance they get zapped by Google, they have no one to blame but themselves as that is the gray area.

    I am not saying that I agree with these rules or that it is fair, but it is the rules and Google's intent is to use Places as a TRUE local directory. And if a business isn't a TRUE local b&m business then they just can't use this directory.

    There are plenty of painters, plumbers, electricians, etc with physical shop locations and as a consumer I would trust those companies over "Joe the plumber" that works out of his house. And Google puts a BIG emphasis on trust in their search results. Not that Joe is unreliable or a hard working man, but it is an overall trust and perception thing.

    "Local businesses that are just on the outskirts of a major city" - well these people can click that they serve the additional areas in their listing. But if they don't travel out to provide services and customers need to go to them, well then they really aren't "local" in the actual realm of things and that is why Google sets it's parameters that way.

    "National businesses that serve local area clients" - National is they key word. G-Places is for Local. If the National business has a local office, they can list it. If they don't they can't enter the local directory. They need to focus on organic search results and/or PPC for their non local areas.

    And the part where I said to focus your efforts within the guidelines, I was referring to anyone who is selling offline services to companies. As in find clients that fit the local profile and sell to them and not to focus on selling these services to those that don't fit the profile. Its better to have clients you can get results for and not have to worry about their accounts not showing up or getting zapped after all the work you do. You'll sleep better at night and these clients will love you. Those that get zapped, stop paying you and spread the negative word about your services.

    I hope that explains it a little better from my point of view.
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    Greg Schueler - Wordpress Fanatic... Living The Offline Marketing Dream...

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  • Profile picture of the author webmaster5
    Inspite of reasoning on both sides - the fact remains that it is a big issue for a small business that is home based - or even internet business which is a big of Google itself.
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    • Profile picture of the author Luther Landro
      Greg nailed it on premise. Only use the right tools and offer the right programs, instead of trying to shoe-horn it in.
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      • Profile picture of the author superdevo
        Originally Posted by Luther Landro View Post

        Greg nailed it on premise. Only use the right tools and offer the right programs, instead of trying to shoe-horn it in.
        Luther, no one expects someone dressed as a police officer (based on your photo) to do anything else other than tell everyone to respect the authority (or rules) that may be. Don't get me wrong, I do respect and appreciate police officers and the service they provide, but no one's choice of employment means they need to support a broken system at all cost.

        I don't want to go "V-vendetta" on everyone, but what is not really being taken into consideration by Greg is that "yes, you can be safe by following the rules", but that doesn't mean that change isn't needed. When your voice and needs (and more importantly your fellow marketers voices and needs) are not being heard by the big G-Power that be, then change may have to come via Google waking up one day and saying "Why are so many legitimate businesses hiring other companies to game our system........is it just because they are bad people or is it because our system is not doing a good job accounting for their needs? Maybe we should ask them, and see if we can make it better?"

        When companies (like the G) get too big, they tend to become inherently bureaucratic and insensitive to the needs of their partners........this usually is the reason why well-intentioned folks may "turn to the dark-side" (so to speak) by disregarding certain "terms and conditions".

        In the end I am not advocating for fellow marketers to not follow rules (especially if they are illegal), but do feel bad for those that have the right intentions and are not receiving a fair chance due to an inefficient system. Yes, there will always be those that game the system, regardless of the rules in place just because they seek world domination.......but this does not give us the right to sit back in our "happy bubbles" always smiling at the status quo because they are content supporting a dysfunctional system.

        I appreciate both points of view, though.
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        • Profile picture of the author SendCards
          Read on Google Places for Business FAQ:

          What if I don't have a store or office?

          Every business listing must have a mailing address. If you work from home or you are a mobile business you can specify a "service area" in the sign up process and choose to hide your physical address.

          Chris
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        • Profile picture of the author VegasGreg
          Originally Posted by superdevo View Post


          When your voice and needs (and more importantly your fellow marketers voices and needs) are not being heard by the big G-Power that be, then change may have to come via Google waking up one day and saying

          "Why are so many legitimate businesses hiring other companies to game our system........is it just because they are bad people or is it because our system is not doing a good job accounting for their needs? Maybe we should ask them, and see if we can make it better?"

          I appreciate both points of view, though.
          Unfortunately, Google's customer and their primary focus is on the "searcher". Searchers are their customer. Not marketers, legitimate or shady. Their goal is to provide the best and most relevant search results to the customer.

          "so many legitimate businesses..." - Um, legitimate businesses do have physical addresses. They may not work out of that address, but their legitimate business license needs an address.

          So Google's real question is, 'Why do all these make-shift "businesses" keep trying to pollute our system?'

          They have a system for the other 'businesses', it is called organic search results. And people can game that system too or play within the rules associated to that.

          So, it isn't really the rules, it is the playing field. First you have to find the right playing field and then you can either play by those rules or game them. Playing baseball on a basketball court doesn't really work no matter what the rules are.
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          Greg Schueler - Wordpress Fanatic... Living The Offline Marketing Dream...

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  • Profile picture of the author SirThomas
    Google requires you to be "brick & mortar" business? They only require true and valid mailing business address... That's why they added "service area", if customers don't come to your location.

    They used to even give you an option to white out your address, if you don't want anyone to actually see your address...

    One day, I wouldn't be surprised when Google matches their database against state and local licensing department database...


    Thomas
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  • Profile picture of the author fitz10
    Not really sure what the problem is here when you're working with home based or service businesses. Just put in the address and check the box that says you're a service business that goes to clients. Your address will NOT be shown in the Places listing. This is how I even list my own business and I've never had a problem.

    The only way this would be a problem is if you're doing something shady like renting a virtual office to be closer to the center of a city (supposedly an increasingly irrelevant factor for ranking) or you don't even have a physical location in the city you're trying to rank for (black hat and not advised). As Vegas Greg pointed out there's no way a legitimate business has absolutely no address.

    Oh and for mmixon with multiple businesses in one place (like out of your home) can't you just put something like 300 Main St Suite #1 or Apt #1? The post office should still deliver your mail to 300 Main St but now you can separate out your listing for Places.
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