How GMB (Google My Business) helps your local business?
Local business marketing efforts can include both print and online material, but counting in the fact that the world has gone digital we can conclude that the most efficient way of promoting local business is investing in your online presence. Google has recently revealed that one in three searches is for local services/retail shops/restaurants, etc.
With people looking for the satisfaction of their consumer needs online, you need to put in extra effort to make your business visible in Google’s search results. Arguably the best way to get connected with locals is by listing your business with GMB (Google My Business). GMB helps your local business by letting useful information about your company get distributed by Google in a variety of different ways.
What is Google My Business?
In essence, GMB is a business listing on Google. It is formerly known as Google Local and Google Places, and it’s very different from the other online business directories. Brandify recently did a survey that confirmed Google Maps to be a dominant tool for local searches. Further research showed that as many as 77% of respondents use GMB to find businesses “near me“. Google My Business statistics show that this platform receives as much as a billion unique users every month, meaning you will be greatly missing out on all the benefits it brings with it.
Even though some people know what GMB is, a lot of them aren’t aware that it’s actually a big part of local SEO (Search Engine Optimization). In fact, if you have decided to finally put the time into working on local SEO, GMB is the first place to start because Google My Business SEO benefits are immense. You may have noticed that Google’s high-visibility panel usually displays three listings alongside their information. A complete and detailed listing will help your business lead in this section significantly improving your visibility and local SEO score.
While GMB and SEO are two very important aspects of today’s businesses, the fact of the matter is that they can be complicated. Not to mention time-consuming. So before you dive into this complicated matter, make sure you have both the time and patience for figuring out all the intricacies of the matter. Or simply hire an NYC team of digital marketing experts like Digital Dot and save your time and energy.
Why is Google My Business important?
GMB listings offer your potential customers every crucial piece of information about your business that they will ever need. From a useful Google Map that is available on all devices to your official contact information and office hours, your future customers will have a simple way of reaching you once they become interested in your services.
Every business owner can testify that customers are the backbone of any business. They will also be able to confirm that acquiring new customers is a time-consuming and sometimes vexing process. GMB will take all the frustration and hardships out of this process, making your customers come to you without you having to go out looking for them. Managing to turn your small local business into a success story is only possible if your customer base keeps growing, and GMB will help that happen.
If you are a beginner who finds GMB too complicated or you simply don’t have the desire or need to manage your own account, you can always contact us here at Digital Dot. Our team will diligently work on your listing, ensuring new customers find their way to you.
The benefits of this type of advertising for your local business
For starters, let’s begin with the fact that GMB is free! When was the last time you ran into a useful marketing tool that was completely free of charge? However, we understand that the fact that it is free can’t be the deciding factor in the matter. Luckily, the most stellar Google My Business examples of successful listings show that this is only where the benefits begin.
Encourage reviews and respond to them
Be honest – before buying any product yourself, the first thing you do is look up available reviews. Your potential clients will do the same. In fact, seeing a plethora of positive comments will convince potential customers that your products/services will be worth their money. Although, you shouldn’t be surprised if you receive a few negative reviews from time to time nor should you react aggressively to them. Quite the contrary – feel free to respond to the review and engage with the customer. A negative review doesn’t necessarily have to mean that the product quality is bad. There could have just been a mismatch of expectations.
When replying to a negative comment, make sure you don’t sound offended. Instead, take responsibility for your customer’s dissatisfaction and make sure the same doesn’t happen again. When it comes to fake or duplicate reviews, you can attempt to arrive at a solution by contacting the GMB team. But in order for Google to delete the review, you would have to prove that the review is in contradiction with Google’s policies. So be sure you have all the facts before flagging a review.
That being said, it’s very important for you to encourage your customers to leave reviews. Your customers will be able to leave ratings simply by googling your name. Reviews are a stellar example of how Google My Business helps your local business gain a better reputation, more customers, and increase its sales.
You can make it easier for customers to leave reviews by providing them with a clear CTA (call to action) leading to a page where they can leave a review. We should also note that buying reviews or getting fake reviews can easily lead to shutting down your GMB account and additional sanctions for your website.
Gain valuable insights
In case you would like to keep check of your progress and analytics, you will be happy to know that GMB’s Insights will allow you to access and compare stats. The Insights tab has three main sections:
- Visibility
- Engagement
- Audience
Check how many views your posts and profile are getting. See the exact age groups that are following you. Plot your graphs and view the results of the last 7, 3o or 90 days. You will be able to access all Google My Business statistics easily and quickly, leaving you with more time for other aspects of running a business, like social media management.
GMB can also be monitored through Google Analytics. There, you can monitor everything in one database, making your marketing efforts much simpler in the process. This solution is great, as it eliminated the inability to compare weekly, monthly, and quarterly data, and unlike GMB’s Insights, you have access to historical data rather than only 3 months back.
With time being the most important resource of all, GMB has certainly earned a huge plus by being so easy to manage for most people. There are always those who find their strength to lie in some other fields, and they are the ones who can greatly benefit from our digital marketing services. Digital Dot is a good fit for all business owners, especially the ones who like high-quality services delivered by top-notch experts.
Promote your business with Google Posts
With Google My Business posts, you can promote your services directly through Google Maps and the Knowledge Graph. You even have the option of reaching those people who follow your business. Put simply, a Google Post should contain a representative image, a Call to Action (CTA) and a URL you can use to link to a landing page on your website. Even though each post will allow up to 300 words, only the first 100 characters will appear in the Knowledge Panel. So choose your words wisely.
Your GMB profile will bring everything together
Google My Business dashboard already contains all the tools you will find necessary for managing your online presence. GMB closely ties with AdWords, Insights, Maps and Search, all the tools that can help you attract more positive things to your business. GMB statistics show that this unified interface makes it much easier for local businesses to be found with Google, spiking up their sales and profits. And isn’t that the ultimate goal of any business?
Google My Business helps your local business in a completely free and easy way. It also requires little time but brings long-term results. All you have to do is fill out your profile with useful information and you might stand a chance of becoming one of the brightest GMB examples of success. Of course, if you feel like your schedule is already jam-packed so that it leaves no room for managing your own GMB profile, you can always get in touch with us. Our Digital Dot team will gladly take care of this task for you, making sure your profile is always up to date.
