Google My Business
Part 1: Google My Business Guide for Business Owners in the Philippines: Set up and Confirm Listing 2021
Is your business showing up in Google search results? If not, you might lose an opportunity to be searchable on Google. Well, there’s one platform where you can make your business or brand visible on Google. Google My Business Google My Business (GMB) is a platform that helps business owners create and promote a professional business profile in Google Search and Maps. How will GMB help your business? Google gives GMB listings priority on relevant search results, which also shows on Google Map. If you search for a keyword in a local area, GMB accounts related to that keyword and location will result on top of other websites and other results. In other words, your business information and location will be readily available within just seconds, thanks to the Google My Business account. Notable, isn’t it? Potential customers would not need to check your website to find information about your business. A GMB account can help you with that. Wait, there’s more! Google Business profiles can rank higher on the list if it’s optimized well using GMB SEO. Partnering GMB SEO with Google Ads will surely stabilize your rank and help you rake in more profit. “Near me” searches will bring more potential customers to you. Optimizing your website will provide important information, e.g., hours of operation, website link, business description, etc., on knowledge panel results when someone searches for your brand or types in relevant keywords on the search engine. GMB dashboard produces insights on local search performance and information about your audience and their searching behavior, such as knowing whether customers found you on Google Maps or Google Search. How to set up Google My Business Here are the steps to follow in setting up your GMB account: Step 1: Create an account Sign in with your Google Account or create a new one on Google My Business. Once you sign in, enter your business name and select your business category. Then, click Next. Add your location by selecting YES, then fill in your store address or business address after clicking next. If you have no physical store or business address, you may choose NO. Then, click Next. You may opt to select customer service areas after. Then it will immediately direct you to fill in your phone number and website URL (if you have one). Locate your store or office on the map. Mark your spot on the map, then click next. It will ask you If you serve customers outside your location. If you have another store branch or other offices aside from your main, you can click YES. If you only have one store address, then choose NO and it will direct you to add contact information. Add additional areas to locate your branch stores or to indicate the area of your services. You can add as many areas as you want! Click Next after selecting all the areas you wish to include. Provide some contact information, such as a phone number and/or a URL for your website. Click Next. There’s also a Skip button if you wish to add this information later. Then you may say yes if you want to be updated and recommended. Otherwise, choose no. Now verify your account (or later). Write down your name and wait for the postcard mail to arrive within 14 days. Once you’ve received it, enter the 5-digit verification code on your account. Add your business hours, or skip and do it later. Connect with your potential customers by accepting messages. With 750 available characters, describe your business in the most compelling way. Include keywords that are most relevant to your business and are most searchable. Finally, include a sneak peek of your business by adding photos. Show your best photos to attract more customers! There’s a free advertising credit worth Php 2,000 from Google. Accepting the credit will lead you to Google Ads to create a new campaign. Take the credit and you’re ready to get your account started! Step 2: Optimize your Listing Complete all the information Google asks for. Fill it up with accurate information. Follow the prompts that Google will present, and your Google My Business account will be loaded with valuable information. Select all the relevant categories and use relevant keywords in your description. It is best to use words that potential customers will highly likely use to search and include those words in your listing. After optimizing your listing, download the GMB app on your mobile device or any smart portable device to manage your account anytime, anywhere. Step 3: Download the GMB app Download the GMB app on PlayStore or App Store. With the GMB app, you can conveniently do the following: Update your business information ( hours, location, contact information, and description) Create posts and upload photos View search insights For more information, check out Google My Business Help. Wrapping Up As we take on the road of the digital world, problems such as finding a place to eat, hang out, and tour can be solved with just a click. But don’t let that click lead to anything. Make your business more searchable with Google My Business! Follow the steps mentioned above to create your account and be part of the listing. If you wish to know how Google My Business Account looks and how it will help your business, don’t miss our next blog! Learn more about digital marketing strategies and concepts here on Emerge. Search through our list, and you might find what you’re looking for. Schedule a call with one of our GMB specialists.
The Impact of Online Customer Reviews on Your Business
Do you read every customer review that your business gets? Do you only pay attention to positive ones? If you do, then you’re not paying attention to ALL your customers. Hate it or love it, online customer review has a huge influence on consumers. According to a Local Consumer Review Survey, consumers read an average of 10 online reviews before trusting a local business. Nowadays, people can see online reviews on Google or Facebook. And these reviews continue to dominate the online presence of local businesses. In this case, consumers trust online reviews because they are like personal recommendations from someone you know or group of people. Aside from regular consumers who intentionally look for products and services, we have internet savvy buyers who dig the deepest online reviews to assess what they’re looking for. Also, there is a number of sites where you can find online customer reviews such as TripAdvisor and Google My Business to name a few. On the other hand, 94% of consumers find alternatives when they see negative reviews. So, as a local business owner, it is time for you to take online customer reviews seriously! How do online customer reviews affect my business? People share their experiences about the product or service they purchased online and these can bring great results to your business or the opposite. But what does online customer reviews really do for your business? Let’s talk about the positive output first. Your brand will get noticed (and followed by!) Surely, you’ll get noticed for both good and bad reasons. Bad or good publicity is still publicity, right? The more your customers are having a conversation on your review section, the more your business will get a buzz. But of course, if you want to drive sales, all reviews should be positive. It shows that online reviews are crucial to a business today. Positive reviews increase curiosity to potential buyers and this curiosity will eventually lead to a purchase. Tip: Encourage your existing customers to share their reviews online, whether on your Facebook page or your Google My Business listing. Opens plenty of opportunities Maybe one of the reasons you’re not reading your online reviews at all is the fear of getting bad ones. Well, bad or negative reviews are hard to take. But they can be valuable for your business. Reading and replying to reviews, both positive and negative, enable you to continue what your business is good at and improve the existing product or operations. It opens up your mind to see what you should improve in your process, your products and services, and your employees as well. What’s the best part of reading the reviews? You get to know your customers better! You’ll know what they want and don’t want so you can set up an aligned path for the growth of your business while understanding the market. Bottom line: Have the courage to acknowledge ALL the online reviews! Your business will be deemed trustworthy It is true that building trust within your online community is pretty hard and takes a long time to achieve it. But you can begin with simple steps. Having no review is just as bad having one negative review. A business that has tons of online reviews are more favored than those who have fewer. The more your business is being talked about, the more trustworthy you are perceived by consumers. Conclusively, replying to all good and bad reviews show that you care and appreciate their opinion. Replying to a negative review with a positive tone and genuine appreciation to your customer is all it takes to nullify the bad review. Boosts your sales If negative reviews make your customer choose another business, positive reviews can definitely attract more leads and generate sales. A good review influences potential customers to trust you more and make a purchase with confidence. It means the product or service you are offering lives up to its positive reviews. This is one main reason why you should pay attention to online customer reviews of your business. How to deal with negative reviews Now that we know how important online reviews are, let’s focus on how to deal with negative online customer reviews. Respond promptly Make it a habit to check your Facebook page or Google My Business Listing consistently for new customer review. If it’s a negative one respond quickly as a fox! But… Write like a person, not a corporation This will be a good indication that you take your customers seriously. Connect with them. Writing things like “I understand your dilemma, but we’re very glad to help” increases your credibility. Do not sound like a robot. Tip: Do not copy and paste every response. Personalize it. Be consistent Keep things in mind that customers know if they’re talking to a robot or a real person. Be consistent on how you interact with them while solving the issue. This includes your messaging tone, the length of your message and even the grammar quality of the context should be consistent all throughout the process. Escalate to resolving it personally The best practice that I can recommend to you in trying to solve negative issues is taking it offline. Respond to their review publicly and then take the whole conversation privately, whether it’s through an inbox or call. Get their contact details and encourage them that you’ll work together to solve this. If an issue is sorted out and with permission from the buyer, you can share how you handled it on the web. Conclusion Online customer reviews can make or break a business. But fear not, because it’s part of managing it. How you deal with them is the real challenge. This is a necessary part of taking your business online. If you want a positive online footprint, you need to invest more in generating positive online customer reviews. Reworking your Facebook page and optimizing your Google My Business Listing is a perfect first step for you.
8 Ways to Improve Your Google My Business Listing
Have you tried searching for your business on Google but ending up with unappealing results? Your offline presence may be already established within the radius of your business location, but what about your online presence? Google developed a tool called “Google My Business” – a local business listing platform that is super powerful but often left behind by business owners It offers everything you need for a potential customer to find your business online, particularly on Google’s search engine and Google Maps. Let’s say when someone searches for a “skin care clinic in Pampanga”, you want your website to appear on Google search and Google Maps. With Google Maps location system, your customer will be able to see how far away you are and how to get to your clinic. It’s inevitable that Google My Business (GMB) gives business owners the chance to stand out from the crowd and build trust. Normally, it takes less than one week to verify your business on Google My Business. Once you receive your verification code postcard from Google, simply verify your account using the enclosed code, then your business will be officially live. But in order to stand out, you have to put that extra effort to reach your goal. 8 Ways to Improve Your Google My Business Listing Here are 8 ways to improve your Google My Business Listing: Check your basic info As obvious as it sounds when you have an established name for your business already, checking your business’ basic information is an essential step in improving your GMB listing. Make sure that the email address, phone numbers, and address are correct and up-to-date. If you’re going to update your contact information or moving to a new location, you should automatically update all of this info in your GMB dashboard. Update Your Business Hours Aside from the contact information and physical address, your business’ operating hours are also one of the essential information to have in your Google My Business listing. Secure the normal operating hours, then don’t forget to update them during holiday periods if you have any changes in your business hours. If so, make it on the top of your list so you won’t have grumpy customers not knowing that your closing time will be earlier during the holidays. Make your categorization unique Unless your business is a one-stop shop that caters for all, the selection of your business category is important in creating your GMB profile especially when you choose specific categories that represent what your business is and what you offer. For example, when your primary category is “Hotel”, you can also choose secondary categories that are relevant and can bring you to the right customers like “Budget Hotel” or “Near Airport Hotels”. Then you can also add the amenities or the added value services that can make your offer unique from your competitors. Include your Business’ Website Link, too! Of course, if you have your own website for your business, you don’t want it left in the dark. Put the link of the website beside the contact info and address to make the listing a well-detailed one. When a customer searches for your business, they also want to know more about your business or they might share the word to others, so putting that handy link of your website to your GMB listing is a must. Personalize your Description GMB’s feature “Business Descriptions”, gives you a chance to make a personalized description of your business that customers will see when they find you on Google. Described as the blurb “from the business”, it allows you to write up to 750 characters (but we advise you to limit to 250 characters to be short and concise). It is highly recommended to provide thoughtful content in a way that you can provide useful information when customers search for your business. So avoid using misleading words, emojis, promotions or putting your content in all CAPITAL letters. Keep it authentic. Make it visually appealing Your Google My Business listing should not only contain letters and numbers but also include pictures of your business! Adding photos is a great way to improve your listing. You can use pictures of the exterior and interior shots of the store, your products, and services, even your employees. This way, it can give your business an identity for the customers that will see them. With visually appealing images, it will make your customer visit that store immediately. Check Reviews and deal with the Negatives Google reviews boost your online search results, so getting a ton of comments and reviews can help you. But what if there negative comments and reviews on your GMB listing? Both positive and negative reviews should serve as a bridge with your customers and demonstrate your professionalism and how you really care for them. You show value to your customers when you respond to their positive reviews. While responding to the negative ones allows you to turn the table, or even better, understand what went wrong so your customers won’t experience them again in the future. When responding to reviews, focus on being positive, appreciative and keep a friendly tone. Include Frequently Asked Questions and their Answers In the question and answer section, you can put all the questions that are being constantly asked and make sure to put the correct and accurate answer. Questions like “What’s your most popular item/service?” and other specified queries for your business should be in the question and answer section of your listing. It will help your customer to learn more and lessen their effort to ask. Putting yourself in the shoes of the customers can help you identify what questions they will always ask. And there you have it! We know that after reading these 8 ways can seem overwhelming, but it’s not. We encourage you to embrace the importance of Google My Business listing (mostly for local SEO) in order to further succeed and survive in this market full of