In today’s highly competitive business environment every business needs to be easily accessible to clients, both existing ones and potential ones. Google My Business makes it easy for businesses to be easily searchable and accessible by all the means of communication and so on. This is because the tool puts Google Maps, Google+, Google Search, Google Analytics all in one place.
Once a business is listed on Google My Business whenever it’s searched on google the first result shows the business location, the particular address, hours the business opens and closes, contact numbers, link to the business website as well as customer ratings and reviews. This can help in not only driving traffic to your website but to your business if it’s a brick and mortar establishment. And what’s more, it’s all free!
So what to do to get listed? There are five simple steps to take in setting up a Google My Business Page:
#1. Get on Google
To kick off everything the web address to visit is here Once there, “Get on Google” is the tab to click on.
#2. Join or Login
A Google account is required to access the tool so the first step is signing in or signing up on as the case may be.
#3. Key in your business name
The moment you sign in or sign up, you will be required to find your business by typing in its name and address. In case a profile for the business doesn’t exist but it comes up when searched, you will need to confirm or show proof of authority to claim it. Alternatively, the business name might turn out a negative search result in which case you will be required to add the business manually.
#4. Verification
To prove that you are indeed the valid proprietor of the business, a postcard will be sent to the business address you have entered. The card will contain a verification code. You will be required to sign in to your page and enter the code. Only after you have entered the code will your page be displayed.
#5. Adding more Information
Once verification has been done, you need to post a profile photo of your choice for the Google My Business page. It could be an image of your workspace, employees or something more extravagant like the below:
Image courtesy of WilliCreative map listing
Other examples of cool Google+ pages can be found here.
Other necessary information includes an introduction to your page and business, operating hours, business website address and extra photos. You can also connect the page to all the other Google accounts such as Analytics, Google Plus, YouTube etc.
To ensure that you derive maximum value the following are tips that will help in maximizing the benefits accruing from having a Google My Business page:
1. When writing the introduction for the business make it short and to the point. What you want to achieve is to draw customers in using as few words as possible. A sentence or two, written interestingly, will do the trick.
2. When picking the business category it is advisable to choose just a few as opposed to many. It’s a place to give a general picture of the business. Avoid going into details of every product or service you provide.
3. If it’s a mortar and brick business ensure that the name on the Google My Business page is exactly the one in the real world. The spelling of the name, and hyphenation if any, must be exactly the same.
