nice article from thrivehive on boosting your profile on google's local business profiles. google plus is still not getting a lot of respect in the marketing world, but when you're talking local search, it is smart to play as nice with the big g as you can. I have summarized the recommendations in the excerpt below.
we’ve pulled together our list of four things to do and 2 things to avoid to help your Google Plus Local listing dominate the local results.
Do
1. Link it up
include a link to your google plus listing on your website
2. Take a N.A.P.
consistent use of business name, address and phone number
3. Show your stuff
photos and video - visual content is more engaging
4. Seeing stars
try to get customers to review the business
Don’t
1. Can’t buy me love
don't try to game the system with phony reviews
2. Quit nagging
google doesn't like reviews resulting from "please review us" reminder emails. thrivehive suggests using a QR code to encourage customers to do quick reviews on site.