Businesses today need to position themselves to enjoy the advantages of targeted visibility on Google. To do this, business owners need to be open to the idea of optimizing their website and Google Ads. However, one other area where they seem to be leaving money on the table is the Google My Business listing. Google My Business listings offer a wide range of advantages and give businesses the needed boost in targeted visibility; stats that you can see at Web 20 Ranker prove this. With Google My Business listings, consumers and potential customers are offered a quick summary and snapshot of your business, allowing them to make their decisions fast. While Google My Business listings offer a wealth of benefits, you should know that it is completely free.
Although Google My Business listing promises huge advantages, it is sad that only a few businesses can tap into the wealth of these advantages. A recent survey by BrightLocal revealed that a business profile gets an average of 1,260 views from the total of 167 billion searches performed on Google each month. This statistic shows that a lot is left to be done for businesses to take advantage of the Google My Business listing fully. If you are wondering how your business can take advantage of this online resource for improved visibility, traffic, sales, and revenue generation, below are some of the important steps to take.
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Optimizing your GMB Listing
Optimizing your GMB listing involves putting in place the right measures to help your business get seen by the target audience. To make this happen, below are some recommendations.
Claim your GMB Profile
As a business owner who wishes to take advantage of GMB listing, the first step to take is to claim your business profile. To do this, you must have a physical store or location where customers can walk in to patronize your business.
Complete Every Section of your Google My Business Account
After claiming your GMB account, proceed to provide all of the relevant information required for the account setup. Some of the important information to pay attention to include the name of your business, correct contact address, as well as their business phone line. You will also be required to provide information about the type of business you run.
Pay Attention To your Contact Information
Many businesses have lost potential leads and revenue because they ignored listing their contact information. When entering your information, be meticulous about the Name, Address, and Phone Number. These are important information that can be used to contact you and your business.
Select Primary and Secondary Categories
Your business falls under an industry. You should be careful when selecting your primary and secondary categories. Choosing the wrong category can make you lose out on potential clients because your business isn’t in the right place. If you are lost, you may contact a GMB optimization specialist to handle the optimization process for you.
Other steps to take include;
- Mark off applicable attributes
- Draft a compelling, simple, and easy-to-understand business description
- Use the Post function to publish Google Posts weekly
- Upload new photos
- Answer questions posed by the customer and potential customers
- Collect and respond to reviews from customers
- Add products or services to your GMB listing
- Optimize messaging
- Keep your business profile running.
Why You Need To Optimize Your GMB Profile
There are many reasons why you need to take the initiative to improve your GMB profile. Some of the reasons why you should pay attention to this marketing strategy include;
– Improve Business Online Engagement
A great way to improve online engagement for your business is through GMB listing. GMB listing allows you to post new updates and photos of your business for the target audience. Using the post feature, you can keep customers updated with the latest promotions, cost-saving specials, opening and closing times due to certain events, and other news. These keep the customers engaged and also increases the chances of engaging your business by asking questions.
– Boost Local Ranking
As a local business owner, your customers are in your local area. Optimizing your GMB listing for the local searches ultimately increases the amount of traffic you will enjoy both online and offline. This also proves advantageous in boosting your overall bottom line. With proper optimization, Google sees you as a serious local business and favors you when customers enter searches related to your business category and keywords in your local area.
