What is Google My Business?
Being found on a search engine is a vital part of any company’s online marketing strategy if they want the customers to come to their physical store or business location, and Google’s aim with Google Local Business listings or Google My Business is to help companies achieve this. Best of all, this is a free service that allows your business to be listed with the search engine and can be particularly useful if you are working in industries like tourism. While you should look to have a broad online marketing strategy for your business when it comes to finding customers, this is a good tool and can help to drive visitors to your website and your business.
The Criteria For Google My Business
This service is designed for businesses that normally have contact with their customers in person. Now while we are living in a post-COVID-19 world it is good to know that when it comes to some types of online businesses, they may not qualify. Also, in order to be eligible for a listing, the business must still have a verifiable postal address, and this will be used as a part of the process that Google will ask you to complete when signing up for a local business listing. In order to verify that you represent the business, a postcard with a code is sent to the company, and this is then entered into the Google account before you can complete your online listing.
How Can Google My Business Benefit Your Business?
The keyway that this can help the business is that when people are searching for a certain type of product or service in your area, the list of companies that come up would include yours. For example, if you have a hotel in Philadelphia, and someone searches for “Philadelphia Hotels†in Google, among the results would be your business if you have created a listing for it. This can also be particularly helpful for users, as all businesses (who provide the proper permissions) are also shown on a map so that it is possible to quickly identify the location of your business too.
What Can You Add To Your Google My Business?
There are a number of different pieces of information that Google will ask for when you create your listing, and these can help to make it useful for both you and the people searching for businesses like yours. One of the most important is opening hours, and you can also upload information such as the type of payment you accept, availability of parking, and whether you allow pets. To help make your business attractive to potential customers, it is also worth taking advantage of the chance to add pictures or even a video to your listing, with YouTube hosting these videos.
Used As Part Of Your Online Marketing Strategy
Google My Business isn’t going to be the only part of your online marketing strategy, but it is certainly a useful tool that can be used to draw customers to your business. Google is undoubtedly the biggest player in the search engine market, but you can also cover all the bases by also adding your business details to Bing Local and Yahoo Local too. When used along with social media, blogging, and a good website, this can help to use the online marketplace to deliver business results in the real world.
If you want to continue a discussion about online marketing or Google My Business, RC Website Group offers a free consultation to help us get started right!
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Tags: Online Marketing, Google My Business