Google My Business
Google My Business (GMB) is a free online tool developed by Google. It's designed for use by businesses and organizations that what to promote their profiles on Google Maps and Google Search. A Google My Business account allows you to update your business profile online, connect with customers, indicate your businesses' operating hours, etc. In this digital era, small businesses also need to step up and develop an online presence. So, how can a small local business use the power of GMB to promote its presence and attract new customers?
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About GooglE MY BUSINESS
Google My Business can help any small business to grow its local market. It’s definitely the most ideal option for businesses that want to thrive locally and have access to a wider audience.
The free online solution by Google provides the easiest way for commercial entities to optimize their SEO. It allows you to effectively optimize every aspect of your business profile. So, how can you use GMB to attract new customers?
How to Use GMB to Grow Your Small Business
Google My Business can help any small business to grow its local market. It’s definitely the most ideal option for businesses that want to thrive locally and have access to a wider audience.
The free online solution by Google provides the easiest way for commercial entities to optimize their SEO. It allows you to effectively optimize every aspect of your business profile. So, how can you use GMB to attract new customers?
Using GMB allows small local businesses to thrive in this digital era. The obvious benefits of using this free online directory include:
Google provides a straightforward way to create your business profile. Note that you can always create a new account or sign up using a pre-existing one.
Go ahead and add your business name. In case your business doesn’t appear in the drop-down menu, click the option “Add Your Business to Google”. Thereafter, you should consider selecting the appropriate business category that complements the type of industry you are operating in.
You are creating a local market listing for your business. So, enter your physical address and if customers are allowed to visit your business’s listing or not, you should indicate it.
Add your address as well. You will be asked to indicate the physical position of your business on the location map and in case your business doesn’t have it yet, you can simply list the service area. This could be something like “Melbourne, Australia”.
Fill in your contact information including your business phone number. If you have a website address, you can add it too. Alternatively, you can put in your Facebook page’s address if you don’t have a website.
If you are interested in receiving updates and notifications, check YES. Click finish and thereafter you will be asked to verify the business
How to Optimize Google My Business
To increase brand awareness and build customer trust, it’s critical that you optimize Google My Business. This should include the following key aspects:
Customize Your
Business's Listing
Make it your goal to make your business profile distinct. For instance, you should start with a captivating description of your business. Ensure that you use the right keywords that an online user is most likely to use while searching for a similar business.
If it’s an eatery, you can use terms and phrases such as “food” “food delivery”, “restaurant”, etc. Using related keywords will help to drive your business’s results in local searches.
Besides that, make your profile pop up by adding photos and videos that relate to your business’s services or products. You can also include visual content of your clients as well as employees.
While tweaking your profile, consider adding in your phone number, the operating hours, physical address, and willingness to provide all the information that will be requested.
Solicit Customer Reviews
Businesses that rank higher on Google usually have lots of positive reviews. That’s why they easily stand out in the local market setting.
Well, Google normally uses customer reviews as a metric to determine the effectiveness of a business. Numerous positive reviews indicate a good business hence it will easily rank on GMB search results. Note that the converse is also true.
If you are just starting out, it’s always nice to solicit customer reviews from your existing customers. Encourage them to leave reviews on your business profile. If you want to encourage them to do this often, offer those discounts or incentives such as free drinks, soups, etc.
Implement the Extra Features
Make sure that you take advantage of the extra features offered by Google My Business. It’s important to first cover the basics of your profile. However, it’s also good that you pay attention to what your local listings have to offer.
It should be noted that Google is a dynamic platform and new changes as well as updates. For instance, make sure that you make use of the display service area, especially if you are in the service industry.
Alternatively, you can make use of coupons to enhance the chances of raking in more sales. Business managers also have a chance of creating blog posts or even special events thanks to the Google My Business Posts design feature.
Once you have implemented all those, make it your goal to post often. This makes it easier to increase SEO awareness and can significantly improve the digital footprint of your business.
While some businesses make use of mini-ads, there are those that also use social media posts. Just make sure that all the posts you make on your social media pages are linked back to your Google My Business Page. This helps to boost SEO and ensure that you can effectively maximize your online presence.
Make Use of Google Analytics
Google is currently the top search engine platform. It has millions of users every minute and therefore its analytics will give you the best overview of what your potential customers may be searching for.
For instance, you can use Google Analytics to determine where your customers are most likely to come from and how can they easily find your business.
If you are already making posts regarding your business, the analytics tool can help you measure the effectiveness of such posts in terms of engagement. This way, you can easily fine-tune and customize your future posts to match the needs of your target audience.
Make Use of
Google Analytics
Google is currently the top search engine platform. It has millions of users every minute and therefore its analytics will give you the best overview of what your potential customers may be searching for.
For instance, you can use Google Analytics to determine where your customers are most likely to come from and how can they easily find your business.
If you are already making posts regarding your business, the analytics tool can help you measure the effectiveness of such posts in terms of engagement. This way, you can easily fine-tune and customize your future posts to match the needs of your target audience.
Constantly Review
Your Listing
If you want your business to rank higher and stand out, ensure that you frequently engage its listing. Always update it e.g. working hours, new products, upcoming promotions, etc.
It’s worth noting that not everyone will always be satisfied with the services or products you offer. However, this shouldn’t deter you. Make it your goal to respond to customers who are dissatisfied and offer solutions if possible. This way, other potential customers checking your business listing online will have confidence in you.
Google Listing Optimization Tips
The purpose of Google Mu Business is to build trust and promote awareness. A combination of these two features will lead to exposure to a larger audience, more leads, new customers, and eventually more revenue.
But to effectively optimize your listing on Google My Business, here’s what you need to do:
Business Category
The best way to select the business category is by considering its sole purpose. What was your objective when you were establishing the business? Selecting the right category is important because it helps to ensure that Google uses the right keywords to link to your business.
Subcategory
To narrow down your online presence, it’s critical to consider the subcategory because you might be offering some products and services that don’t align with your business’s primary objective. The subcategory option allows you to select specific products and services that your business will be offering. This means that when customers search for these products on Google, they will be directed to your business thanks to the specific product or service offerings.
Business Hours
They are important because they normally appear prominently on your Google listing. So, keep your business hours’ schedule up to date. This way, loyal customers, as well as new ones, will be perfectly informed of hours of operations and closures due to holidays or other events that are unexpected.
Service Area
Of course, you want to target the local market. When asked to indicate your business area, make sure that you indicate if you have a physical outlet with a brick-and-mortar design or if your business provides services to customer’s on-location basis.
Benefits of Google My Business
Using GMB allows small local businesses to thrive in this digital era. The obvious benefits of using this free online directory include:
You don’t need to pay a cent for you to use GMB. You simply need to key in the right information and then start to build your brand by promoting it online. The sign-up process is also quite easy and straightforward. It will only take you a few minutes to finish everything.
Google is the biggest search engine at the moment and the fact that you can use it to create a business profile is advantageous for your SEO ranking. You get to implement your own marketing strategy for free and easily get in touch with customers looking for products or services in your area.
GMB provides one of the easiest ways to rank your business on top of Google Search Engine. Your local customers can easily access your profile from anywhere as long as they are online. Besides that, it gives you the flexibility of conveniently managing business information.
You can input, manage, and also update your business’s information whenever necessary. This way, your customers as well as the target audience will always have the right information when looking for similar products or services.
Uploading pictures, videos, and the description of your business is crucial for first impressions. You are literally giving a wider audience a sneak peek at your business without them physically visiting your retail outlet. That’s why it’s important to upload quality images since they help to give good first impressions.
Most small businesses are usually set in competitive environments. You definitely want to know where your customers are likely to come from, what specific products or services they are looking for. Generally, you will be better placed in your local market since you will be able to focus on what’s working and discard what’s not working.
The fact the GMB allows you to indicate your operating hours on your business profile means that customers can schedule their purchases. These help to enhance convenience. GMB app is designed with a simple and navigable user interface. This makes it easy to manage any online appointment
It’s clear that those who will visit your business or schedule appointments will be specifically looking for what your business offers. But another aspect of GMB that you should consider is the footer with “People also Search For”.
It’s important that you have firsthand knowledge of what your competitors are doing and what’s working for them. The footer feature gives you the best overview of what other similar products or services your customers may be searching for. This way, you can always stay at par if not ahead of your competitors.
Google insights indicate that those businesses with GMB listings usually end up with greater ROI, compared to businesses that use other digital channels for marketing purposes.
The effectiveness of GMB is based on its design that allows the generation of specific and high-quality leads. Besides that, it enhances user engagement since customers can make calls, schedule appointments, and even leave reviews on your profile.
E-commerce is here to stay and it’s time small businesses considered making use of it. It’s important to improve your business’s online profile, even when you are simply targeting a local market. This is because there are customers that are definitely searching for a business like yours within your geographical location.
Google My Business is an invaluable tool that usually puts local business listings on top of search engine results when there are people who are locally searching for a similar business near them. If you can effectively use this online tool, you will enhance your business’s digital presence and in return be able to generate more revenue.
