The simple steps to manage your profile on Google My Business
When getting started with marketing your business online, one of the most effective steps you can take is to claim your business on Google My Business. This is the section of structured data that shows up when people search for businesses like “plumbers near me”. It includes the location, phone number, photos, ratings, and more - all the information that a customer needs to learn about you and get in touch with you.
A prerequisite to this guide is a professional site that leaves an impression on your customers and drives them to your business. Contact Simple Steps to launch your website.
It’s one thing to have a great website built by Simple Steps Web Development that’s optimized for search engines, but getting your data into the search engine itself is an important step in connecting the dots.
Below are the simple steps to manage your profile on Google My Business:
Create an account and claim your business
Follow the prompts to enter the basic information of your business
Verify your address
Fill out business information
Add photos and videos
Solicit ratings
Launch an ad on Google
Create an account and claim your business
Navigate to https://google.com/business and click “Sign In” to get started. You’ll enter your business name to either create your profile, or claim one that already exists.
Follow the prompts to enter the basic information of your business
Google makes the next piece very easy, you will be prompted with a few basic questions about your business. Your address, delivery area, business category, phone number, and website will all be entered at this point.
Verify your address
This step is important for Google to ensure you are the actual business owner. There are several ways that you can verify. Choose the easiest option presented. In my case, I was required to have a PIN mailed to me on a post card. After waiting for the card in the mail, I was able to enter the pin in Google My Business to complete verification.
Fill out business information
The more information you enter, the richer the experience will be, and the easier it will be for customers to interact with your business. In Google My Business, click the “Info” tab to see all the information you can enter. I recommend store hours, and description at a minimum, but any fields that apply to your business should be filled out here.
Add photos and videos
Photos are the first content customers will see in the listing, so they are vitally important. Click on the photos tab in Google My Business to upload photos.
The cover photo is going to be the main image of your listing, so make a great impression. The other images will display in a slideshow when the user wants to see more images.
A profile picture will show next to any posts, comments, or replies you make as your business.
Add interior pictures and exterior pictures under the appropriate tabs to give the users a view of your business location.
Solicit ratings
Customers use the ratings on your Google listing to gauge the quality of your business, so reach out to your past and current customers and ask them to leave honest reviews. Don’t just ask friends for 5-star reviews. A savvy customer will be able to spot disingenuous reviews from a mile away. A large number of real, honest reviews will go a long way to establish credibility.
Launch an ad on Google
Search engine optimization is all about building page rank. You want your results at the top of the list. This doesn’t happen magically overnight even if you’ve done everything by the book. Page rank is a result of people finding your website, interacting with it, and sharing it with others. It can be very hard to establish a good page rank organically - you don’t appear in search results without page rank, and you can’t gain page rank without appearing in search results. To get around this catch-22, you can attract people to your site with paid advertisements. This exposure will earn customers and increase the overall SEO of your website.
In Google My Business, click “Create an ad”. Walk through the wizard to establish the goals for your ad. For more information on these ads, I’ll have another blog post soon about both Google Ads and Facebook Ads.
