Scott's Blog

So you need more traffic to your local lead gen website.  One of the best ways to get more local website visitors to your site is Google Places.

To register a local business on Google places UK, google verify your listing by mailing out a post card to the registered address.

This poses a problem you do not live in the same city that your trying to promote.  There are two methods to overcome this issue.  The 2nd method is the free method the first costs ££.

Method 1:

Use a virtual address.  Companies like Mailboxes Etc will charge you a monthly fee for a PO box in the city you require an address.  Just plug in your Mailbox Etc address and set up mail forward with them so you get the postcard verification from Google.

The main issue with this method is that it costs money (£100) and if you have several websites your trying to game then the costs can add up.

Method 2:

Go to sipgate.co.uk they offer free VOIP geographical telephone numbers.  Once you have your account registered and you got your local number get it working with the softphone software they offer on their site.  Also free.

Now go to Thomsonlocal.com and register your new number and a false address.  I use the Mailbox Etc addresses just for the hell of it here – even though I do not actually rent out a PO box, it provides good cover!

Now the reason you need a phone number locally is because Thomsonloca.coml will call you to verify the listing so you have to be on standby for the call.  And the reason you’ve listed the business with Thomsonloca.coml is because Google Places UK scrape Thomsonlocal.com listings.

Once the listing has been scraped by Google you can claim owner ship just using the phone number and not having to use the postcard/address.

Hope this helps someone