I had to write this post as soon as I got home from the mailbox (rural here), and after a bit of research. I had a letter and window decal from Google Maps in the mail, and I was totally lost as to what it was all about. As it turns out, the listing I have on Google's Local Business Center was getting noticed.
It seems that Google Maps did some data collection between July 1 and September 30, 2009. Based on the number of times a site was found on a map search, and the number of times more info was requested (directions or click on business's site), Google sent out these letters and window stickers to around 100,000 businesses in around 5000 towns and cities, giving them the name "Favorite Places."
To be eligible, the business had to be listed in the Local Business Center, as mine was, with up-to-date information about location, services/products, and hours of operation. I had done all of that long ago, hoping to get a little exposure as a listed business in local search business results. Well, I guess it worked better than I thought. My tiny real estate brokerage was one of those 100,000, and the only one in my area that I know of to be listed.
Google even sent me a window decal with a custom QR code that allows someone to take a cell phone picture and be taken to my website. Content, lots of video, and hundreds of images all on my blog-based website is what I attribute it to, as my brokerage is one of the smallest in the area.
Here's more from Google and others on this program:
If you're not listed at the Google Local Business site, get it done. And, if you are, check to see if your information is accurate and up-to-date.