What Is Google My Business And How Is It Effective For Marketing A Local Business?
By now, every business owner, artist, or brand understands that getting found on the Internet is vital if you want to attract customers. And, once you're business website is found, you'd better hope that people are saying good things about you on customer review sites, social media, blogs, etc.
The way an online presence is set up and managed can make or break a business in today's business culture that is now driven by the web. The good news is that Google's new tool, Google My Business, helps local marketing agencies and entrepreneurs of all stripes get the word out about products and services while also helping them to manage online reputation and brand visibility.
What Is Google My Business For?
Google has been making local searches a priority for several years now. For example, if a web searcher put the single word "pizza" into the search box, chances are good that they'd get more than a description of how pizzas are made or the history of these popular pies. The searcher would also get a list of pizza parlors near them.
The way an online presence is set up and managed can make or break a business in today's business culture that is now driven by the web. The good news is that Google's new tool, Google My Business, helps local marketing agencies and entrepreneurs of all stripes get the word out about products and services while also helping them to manage online reputation and brand visibility.
What Is Google My Business For?
Google has been making local searches a priority for several years now. For example, if a web searcher put the single word "pizza" into the search box, chances are good that they'd get more than a description of how pizzas are made or the history of these popular pies. The searcher would also get a list of pizza parlors near them.
With the Google My Business tool, website owners get the opportunity to claim their business and make sure that online information is complete and accurate.
Here's a partial list of the types of things that are available to small business owners:
- Claim the business as your own.
- Verify and correct, if necessary, the address simultaneously across search as well as Google maps.
- Gain insights into how customers find your website.
- Find out what people are saying about your business
If you're thinking that most of his has been around for a while, you'd be right. But, there is one significant difference: Google has gathered many different tools that were difficult to coordinate and pulled them together in a single streamlined dashboard that is much easier to use for web owners who want to make sure the right information is available to their customers as well as manage their online reputation.
How Does Google My Business Work?
In the not-so-distant-past, there was:
- Google Places
- Google Local
- Google Maps for Businesses, and even
- Google+ Local.
Business owners with websites struggled to pull a plan together to manage their web presence. Google paid attention and pulled he various tools together in the single tool - Google My Business. And, for good measure, they made it simpler for a brand, entrepreneur, company, or artist to find out what people were saying about them on social media.
Anyone can sign up for a free account, but small to medium sized businesses with a set physical location get the biggest boost from using the tool. Business owners claim their existing account listing - which Google then verifies. It's actually that simple to get started.
The Benefits Of Google My Business
First of all, once a brand owner claims their business, they get the opportunity to ensure that the information is all correct. For local searches especially, the address has to be right. Otherwise, how will new customers get accurate directions to your storefront from Google maps.
In addition to ensuring accuracy, there is also a great opportunity to entice customers to your establishment by adding high-quality and attractive pictures of your location, products, and even your staff. This kind of control means that business owners get the chance to put their best visual foot forward.
If your customers already know about you - and Google your name, a very convenient and information-packed box will appear right next to your listing in the search engine results. Best of all, you get the opportunity to select which type of information you want to include.
Business owners often include their hours of operation, busy times, address, and phone number. Customers using a mobile phone only have to click on that phone number to reach you or on the map to get directions to your location. And, this is just what's visible to the searcher. Using the dashboard, website owners get detailed information about searchers to discover what's working and what's not.
Google remains the reigning emperor of web search, so the big question is why anyone would turn down a free tool that increases your web visibility - while allowing you to manage your online rep. If you haven't checked it out yet, it's well worth trying.
And, one of the biggest benefits of having a claimed Google My Business listing is that it could appear in the 3-pack of business map listings on Page 1 of Google search. What's so important about having your business appear in the 3-pack is that consumers tend to contact the businesses that appear in the 3-pack more so than via the paid ads or organic search results. Naturally, that leads to more customers and more sales. Smart local SEO companies in San Jose CA, for example, know to make every effort to get their client's business in the 3-pack of business listings on Page one of the Google search index.
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