Google Business Solutions

Continuing from the subject of the previous post, Google has a bunch of additional services to offer businesses, small, medium, and large alike.
The Google Business Services page - http://www.google.com/intl/en_us/services/index_a.html - offers these options:
AdWords - buy keyword targeted advertising both within search results and across the entire web.
AdSense - show AdWords on your own website or within your own application to earn revenue for your organization.
Analytics - track visitors and produce reports for management.
Google Enterprise Search - all the power of Google, for your own intranet.
Google Places - post and update business information so consumers can find out more while searching Google or Google Maps.
Google Apps - Gmail, Google Docs, and more, all virtually hosted within your own domain for your organization.
Checkout - a way to accept money online. An alternative to payment systems like PayPal.
Postini - the power of Google to control spam or other undesired email for your entire business.
Merchant Center - Google's tool to upload your business product inventory. This allows your inventory to be accessible and searchable across many Google properties, including Search, Product Search, and Commerce Search. When consumers use Google to shop - your items will be listed.
Website Optimizer - Google helps you optimize your own business or organizational website so that it's easily and thoroughly indexed by Google's search tools.

Google Local Business Referrals

Google LBR was an interesting program that Google discontinued a while ago. But I had to find a solution for the small and medium sized businesses out there that need these services. The answer is proper usage of Google Pages.
The first step is to visit this URL and either create a new Google account or log in with your existing one:
http://www.google.com/local/add
Second, watch these videos:
http://www.youtube.com/googleplaces
Third, go back to the page from step one, and begin creating your own business Google Places Page. This allows you to: manage business information, post coupons and live updates, and see how you're doing with a performance dashboard.

Gas Price Indexes

A friend requested some gas price indexes, so here's a brief survey of the main ones:

GasBuddy.com

Gas Prices @ MSN Autos (Beta)

http://gasprices.mapquest.com/

Gas Price Watch

AAA Fuel Gage Report

Healthcare Price Indexes

In my online travels, I've found a few different interesting providers of healthcare price or cost information on the Internet:

1. PriceDoc at http://www.pricedoc.com/ - seems to be the most comprehensive of all, although its network did not offer a lot of locations particularly close to me, it does seem to have a lot of listings nationwide. Also offers a unique "Priceline" style feature where you can name a cash price, and they'll try to find a physician/professional who will accept your offer.
2. Healthcare Blue Book at http://HealthcareBlueBook.com/ - While they don't offer prices for specific practitioners, this site is great for getting an idea of the average "fair" price for many medical procedures in your own zip code. (Seems to offer nationwide coverage.)
3. Out Of Pocket at http://outofpocket.com/OOP/Default.aspx - Not sure this site is very helpful for the average person. It seemed to be little more than an interface to Google at the time of my review.