Tips to Improve Your Brand’s Visibility Using Google My Business.

With clients getting more exposed in this digital era, most of them want to feel like they are in control and can figure things out on their own. As a business owner, you should make your business stand out and appear right when people are searching for it either through search engines or Google Maps. Google My Business is a tool businesses like yours can use to manage and organise your online presence; you could also edit your listing whenever you need to.

Google My Business Features No One Ever Told You About.

Google has a way of providing services and tools to ease the stress of business owners while giving customers a swell time during their interactions with brands. Let’s take an in-depth look at the features of Google My Business and all the awesomeness your business is missing out on if you aren’t yet registered on the platform.

Add Photos and Map

The saying that a picture is worth a thousand words actually applies here. People get attracted to pictures and it also arouses their curiosity which makes them want to see even more picture and get to know about your business depending on how well it appeals to them. From Google Maps, a 360°view of your store or office could also be featured.

Open Hours and Special Days

You can add your workdays and time while setting up your account. Once this has been done, it automatically switches to inform people who are likely to visit your office that you are either open or closed. Also, when special days like public holidays are approaching, you will get a notification to find out if you will be available on those days.

Request A Quote Button

People get to send you information about the type or prices of your services/products and you can get instantly notified on your mobile phone. For this feature to show in the listing on search engines, you will need to install the Google My Business App from Andriod or iOS app store. Ensure you log into the app with the same email address and contact details used to register your business then turn on the messaging feature which is found under the ‘Customer’ menu. Clicking ‘Turn On’ will immediately add the ‘Request A Quote’ button on your listing and you’ll also begin to receive messages on your mobile device whenever a quote is requested for by a customer.

Question and Answers

Customers can ask questions about your business and get answers from you straight away without having to place a call or visit your brick and mortar store. Furthermore, while customers are typing a question, Google helps you give them auto-suggested answers to their questions based on your responses to previous messages or posted reviews; this reduces the number of questions that will be sent to you since prospects already get answers before they even send their question (hope that makes sense to you?). Additionally, never get too busy and neglect questions asked by prospects else you will be missing out on other leads who will tag your brand as one that doesn’t value customers.

Google Reviews

People who have visited your office or had an encounter with your brand can drop a review about their experience either positive or negative and also give you the number of stars they feel you deserve. It is very important to respond to their reviews by thanking them and engaging with them appropriately. Do not fret when someone drops a nasty review on your listing. You can flag a review as inappropriate and choose among the options provided to indicate why you want such review taken off your page. Having done this, Google will decide if they’ll bring it down or not. This only emphasizes the essence of great customer service and delivery; you really don’t want your clients calling you out publicly.

Details about Your Business

This is a section where people can read a brief overview of your business; it should contain information about your products/services as well as your Unique Selling Point (USP). When writing the details of your business, you are limited to 1,500 characters so you should be economical with your words and place the most important details at the beginning because only about 200-300 characters will be initially featured until a viewer desires to read more.

Profiles

Your official social media platforms can be featured on the listing with a backlink that takes them straight to your page when a prospect clicks on it. With this feature, prospects can check you out on all platforms before making up their mind to do business with you.

Updates on Events, Offers and Products

If you have latest business events, offers or new products which you want people to be aware of, you can feature them right here and keep everyone abreast of what’s going on in your business. You also have the option to state the duration which you want this information to show on your listing or just take it down whenever you want to.

Get a Free Website

Any business that plans to enjoy the benefits of digital marketing and wants to evolve globally must have a website. To explain this amazing feature, I’ll assume that you just started your business recently and haven’t gotten your website in place yet. You can immediately create a free website while setting up your Google My Business account. As long as all information you have inputted while registering your account is accurate, the platform uses those information to create a website for you where customers can view information about your business, get a quote, direction, or place a call.

In addition to all of these, people can click the ‘Website’ button to land on your brand’s landing page without having to search the internet for your web address or get directions to your store by clicking on the ‘Directions’ tab. As a business owner, listing your business on the Google My Business platform is a brilliant way to get recognized by Google search engine, rank high, and also give clients the information they need without them having to ask for it.

The Listing Process

At Big Field Digital, among the activities we do for clients who are in need of a complete digital transformation and an improved online presence is to list their business on Google My Business. This is done in very few and easy steps as described below; however, you must have a Google account to get started.

Login to Google My Business then click on the green Call-to-Action button saying ‘Start Now’ to begin the GMB registration process. You’ll be required to input your business’s name, select your industry or a business category that best describes your business e.g education, fashion etc. Once that is done, include your address so that your store can be located on Google Maps to make customers find you easily. If you want your address to be visible on your listing then click yes and provide your address and postcode in the fields available. The next step is to include areas where you will be serving customers (let’s just say regions where people can either enjoy your services or purchase your products). Go ahead to add your contact information like phone number, website URL or get a free website for the Google My Business platform if you don’t have one for your business. Finish up the setup and verify your listing; this can be done by getting a postcard containing a code or receiving a call from their team. It usually takes a few days for your business to be verified and listed on Google My Business as well as their Maps.

Finally, don’t stay too far away from your business’s listing on Google My Business so that you can swiftly rectify errors that might get your clients confused. Remember, the aim remains to improve your brand’s visibility even in a saturated market.