Having a Professional, Optimized Website is very important if you want to get across the message that you have a viable business. Your Website provides your business with that extra layer of credibility. That being said, we must not overlook the importance of going to Google itself and adding our business to THEIR listings.
Why Care?
Google maintains a listing of businesses including their location and hours of work. They also provide business owners with the option of adding photos, and updating their listing often with posts. Some other ideas include monthly promotions, featured articles…
When potential customers are looking for a product or service in a specific region, Google will access the location data from their phone and pull in listings of businesses within a specified mile radius. A business who has taken the time to optimize their website, and update their Google My Business listing will show up favourably in the search results relative to those who have not taken the time.
Create an Account
Google My Business is easy to find. All you have to do is create an account. You can spend some time setting up your account and adding in all your business details. In the end they will ask you to verify your business.
Sometimes the business verification process involves them mailing you a postcard to your business location address. When you receive the postcard in the mail this indicates to Google that you probably are the rightful owner of the business. Generally, only business owners have access to their own mailbox.
Create Your Listing
It is a good idea to spend some quality time setting up your account and really getting the details and descriptions right the first time. Once you go through the verification process and your listing goes “live”, it often takes a lot longer for edits to your site to be put through. This once again should be considered a security measure, as it does slow random hackers down a bit. But it does mean that before you go live you really should get it right!
Monitor Your Listing
One of the things that is important to do when you are managing your Google listing is to monitor customer remarks and comments. The more responsive you appear, the more “Google points” you accumulate. It may not be a bad idea to get a few of your devoted customers to enter a few reviews for you as well. This can help your listing show up in the rankings.
Get Started Today
It is not a bad idea to start the process right away. It takes time to become verified by Google as they send you a postcard by mail that you need to receive before your listing is operational. This can take a number of days. The sooner you initiate the process the sooner your listing will be “live”. This will greatly assist your website in being found in the search results.
Need help setting all of this up? Contact us here for a (free) 30 minute chat about what your needs are and how best to proceed.