How to Setup 'Google My Business'
Google My Business is a tool designed by the search engine giant that helps to manage your Search information and Map location, all from one screen. By updating your information you can ensure you come up in search results, whilst also have a platform to introduce your brand story to customers before they ever visit your site.
As a business whether you deal in mobile app development or fashion, being found is an integral need in the modern business landscape. With so much competition on the horizon, if you aren’t as visible as possible - especially on the internet - then you are not guaranteed a high footfall for your business or click through for your site. But, there are ways for the savvy business owner to avoid this and become much more visible.
One of the best and most efficient ways to make your business more finable is through Google My Business. A completely free way to help secure your business a spot on the first page of Google, for free!
What is Google My Business?
Google My Business is a tool designed by the search engine giant that helps to manage your Search information and Map location, all from one screen. By updating your information you can ensure you come up in search results, whilst also have a platform to introduce your brand story to customers before they ever visit your site.
Customers can also leave reviews for your business through this service, giving you a Google rating which can help to attract even more people to your services. Responding to them helps to show how active you are as a business, as well as receptive to feedback!
Statistically, you are twice as reputable with customers if you are verified through Google. So it pays to set this up as soon as possible!
Steps to Setting Up
There are a few things that you will need to get started on fleshing out your Google My Business, the more information the better! These include:
- Business name and address
- Telephone number
- Logo
- Opening and Closing Times
- Click-through website buttons
It is important to note that Google requires you to have a brick and mortar address for this to work. This is a security measure, as it helps to avoid anyone from setting up an account and potentially being a scammer. For those home businesses who don’t have a business address, there are a couple of ways to circumnavigate this.
Including setting yourself up as a virtual tenant in an office building - this gives you an official business address and makes it easy to setup your Google My Business. There are a number of different price points for these services, to suit any budget.
Once you have the necessary information at hand, setting up your page couldn’t be easier. Simple go to the Google My Business Page as seen below and click the ‘Start Now’ button.
You will then be presented with a map, this is where you enter all of the details of your business.
Once you have filled in all of the necessary information you will be prompted to verify that all of your information is accurate. Google will then create your profile and account. From there, all that is left to do is to verify your business address through a verification postcard sent by Google.
As soon as your address is verified, you will be given access to your Google My Business Dashboard. From your dashboard, you can add your logo, create an album of photographs of your business for customers to access and even analyze insights.
Top Tip: According to Google, businesses that add photographs to their page receive 42% more direction requests on Maps and 34% more people click through to the website. Ensure you have high-quality photographs on your page for optimum engagement!
Next Steps
Okay, so you have a Google My Business page all set up. What’s next? Well, you will be much more findable and you should see a rise in traffic to your site at the very least. Start asking for your customers to leave you reviews and you may see even more. Google reviews are a key aspect of organic SEO, so don’t be afraid to ask for them to make your business more noticeable!
Actively updating your information, putting new photographs and engaging reviewers is necessary to keep your profile as fresh as possible. The fresher, the more customers you will attract.
Optimisation
The insights gained from your Google My Business can help you to grow and gain more customers. As it’s focused on your local traffic, it is important to understand what drives you to the top of people’s results in your area. After all, ranking highly in the map view, at the top of the page, can often be much more important than your rankings below the map.
Distance, relevance and your reviews impact where you appear on this map ranking. You can’t directly influence distance and relevance to a great extent - if you are fifty miles away, for example, there’s little you can do. But reviews are something you have some control over. Negative reviews don’t necessarily affect your ranking negatively, but good reviews will certainly help to boost your position.
Other than trying to create as many positive reviews as possible, optimisation revolves around ensuring you have a profile which is 100% accurate and up to date at all times.
Conclusion
Your Google My Business page is up and raring to go, now you just have to let it work for you. It may be a silent partner when it comes to your marketing efforts, but it’s one of the most powerful tools in your belt in this respect, so don’t forget to do it and miss out on valuable traffic.