College Students Come Calling for Google

Thanks to Search Engine Land for the heads up on a new Google program to turn college students loose on local businesses.

According to the always-on-top-of-things Greg Sterling, "You've got to hand it to Google for creativity. It created the local business referral representative program to enlist stay-at-home moms, college students and others to get better data about local businesses and build AdWords awareness. (I was told by Google that the response to the program had been strong.) Now Google has developed the "Google Online Marketing Challenge." According to the site, "student groups will receive US$200 of free online advertising and then work with local businesses to devise effective online marketing campaigns."

Sterling also has a heads-up about an upcoming Simple Ads program, so check out his post.

Greg Sterling Talks About How and Why

The always-articulate Greg Sterling has a link to his webcast called "Local Search Advertising: Challenges and Opportunities," in his post on Search Engine Land.

He also discusses some of the real-world issues facing small businesses when it comes to the complex array of online strategies, and the cottage industry that has emerged to help small business get real about local search marketing.

If you are at the execution-end of marketing for a local business you can't go wrong reading his ideas on both strategy and practical "how to."