A month ago, I gave a class to a group of small business leaders about how to manage their own Google Maps pages. From the confines of my simple and familiar laptop environment, Google Maps is a straightforward form filling routine...1,2,3.

1. Set up a Google account (or Gmail address)
2. Find your Maps page and claim it if it exists (which means ideally you should be near the phone listed in your MAPS page or else wait a week for a postcard to arrive that looks like any other junk mail.
3. Edit your Maps page by filling in a simple form.

SIMPLE! Right?

Not so fast. In that room were PC's, MACS, iPads, Androids, Smart Phones etc. All of a sudden everything was not so simple. Add to that the complexity of "should I or shouldn't I open a Google+ account. Honestly most everyone in the room didn't even know what a Google+ account was. The simple answer is it's a social media platform a lot like Facebook but harder to use.

And there's the rub. Who has time? Not a single person in the room would relinquish the amount of time required to get to know Google+. And just when you think you get it, it changes! I know Google looks at things from a 30,000 ft. level. Well, I don't. I'm on the ground with my clients trying to make it work for my business and my clients. I know that MAPS does something that is very difficult to do because I just watched Apple fall flat on their face trying to compete with it. But the front end has to be dead simple and familiar. Don't keep changing the landscape or you are going to lose me to a platform with not as many bells and whistles but is far simpler to use. That's exactly what Facebook did to MySpace.

Give me simplicity and an intuitive environment. I can not afford to use my time as currency in exchange for your free application. Neither can my clients.