For businesses with physical locations, your digital marketing strategy will not be complete without a Google My Business listing.
Google is by far the most used search engine in the world. Microsoft Bing comes in a distant second place, and lagging far behind Bing are Yahoo Search, DuckDuckGo, and the strangely named Qwant. In terms of daily direct queries, only Google and Qwant are quantified and openly published.
The results are stunning. Google receives over 9-billion daily queries, whereas Qwant receives a measly 10-million. Apparently, you Qwant always get what you want… when you list your business on Qwant.
All joking aside, we probably don’t have to convince you that Google is a superior search engine. But you might need some additional information before you agree that listing your company on Google My Business is important.
By the time you reach the end of this blog post, you’ll not only agree that creating and managing a GMB page is important, but you’ll understand why.
These days, businesses pour their time, effort, and money into SEO strategies that will ensure their websites land on the first page of Google’s SERP (Search Engine Results Page). First and foremost, Google My Business provides brick-and-mortar companies with superior SEO capabilities. A GMB listing ensures that Google users will find your company on both Google Search and Google Maps, and have access to your address, phone number, and website.
GMB is all about local SEO and broadening your customer base locally. When your business appears on Google’s map during relevant user searches, those users can quickly determine if your location is close enough for them to make the trip. This initial determining factor helps convert users into customers, but there are a few more steps in-between, such as reading customer reviews, calling your business, and investigating your products or services. The bottom line is that your GMB listing will inform customers of all the pertinent information they will need.
One of the greatest determining factors that will help persuade consumers to visit your business is the average star rating that appears on your GMB page. We’re talking about customer ratings and reviews. Whether a prior customer leaves a review or a star rating, both feed into the overall star rating average that Google users will see when they discover your GMB listing. Consumers like to compare businesses by reading these reviews and judging the difference in ratings, which means that your five-star and high-star reviews will ultimately boost consumer confidence in your brand.
Even if a Google user decides not to visit your business, the fact that they found you in Google’s search results thanks to your GMB listing will help to increase their awareness about your brand. This could influence them to choose your business next time. Remember, Google My Business is all about increasing your company’s presence locally to attract local customers that will shop with your brand time and again. In terms of achieving this goal, there is no better free marketing tool on the internet than GMB.
Your business’s reputation matters, especially when you rely on local customers. An aspect of managing your Google My Business page is that you can read and respond to customer reviews, and future customers can see those interactions. Even if you receive a poor review, it’s possible to use the opportunity to improve your brand reputation. The key is to respond to the poor review in such a way that rectifies the complaint, or at least takes an honest step in that direction. Consumers don’t expect perfection, but they do expect professionalism, which you can demonstrate in moments like this. GMB makes reputation management easy.
Even though maintaining a GMB page might seem relatively passive, it’s actually extremely proactive when it comes to building trust with consumers. The trick here is to fully fill out your company’s information within your profile and provide as much detailed information as possible about your business’s policies, hours of operation, and other critical details that consumers are going to want to know. You can even go above and beyond by linking your business blog to your GMB page so that Google users can discover and read your articles, which we’ll examine in the next section of this blog post.
As we mentioned in the previous section, you can link your business blog to your GMB page in such a way that your blog posts will automatically publish to your Google My Business listing. But that’s not all you can do to help win over potential customers. GMB also allows you to add photos of your products, services, storefront, employees, and anything else you can think of. By including this kind of additional content to your GMB listing, you can further legitimize your brand and have a decent shot at beating out your corporate competition.
If you’re ready to get started with Google My Business, here are some links to assist you:
For an in-depth, step-by-step guide to help you set up your Google My Business page and start collecting valuable customer reviews, check out Making the Most Out of Google My Business.
Creating and managing a Google My Business page greatly increases the chances of your business appearing on the first SERP, which means that potential customers will discover and consider your company before they see your competitors.
Also, having a GMB page will guarantee that your business stands out from the countless eCommerce companies that appear online. Only businesses that have a physical location can use GMB. ECommerce businesses are not eligible, which is great news for all brick-and-mortar companies!
There’s no reason not to have a Google My Business listing. The only question is, are you going to create and manage your GMB page yourself, or would you like the digital marketing SEO strategists at FTx 360 to handle it for you?
FTx 360 offers a full suite of marketing solutions at affordable prices. Whether you’re interested in our consulting services or hiring us to manage all of your digital marketing needs, our team of experts can help grow your business, boost sales, and increase your revenue. Contact us to discover what our marketing agency can do for your brand.
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