Importance of Google My Business Profile (GMB)
It feels challenging for small businesses or low-budget startups to stand out from the online crowd. Google My Business Profile is free and easily noticed on Google and Maps. Small brands need to grow Google business profile to improve online visibility, build trust with the audience and a differentiating factor from competitors. A detailed and robust Google business profile helps engage a broader audience and makes it more likely to be considered a reputed brand. A well-maintained business profile provides essential information in a neat, attractive and accessible format. It makes it easier for potential customers to know about your business.
Setup Google My Business Profile
It will take 5 minutes; follow these steps:
- Log in to your Google business profile or create a new profile if you haven’t already. It is advisable to use a professional work mail account.
- Add your business name and logo and as much information as possible.
Add information about your business type, such as online (mention website), offline (provide address), or one-on-one service.
- Enter the complete business address. If you have an offline store or want customers to visit you, you should provide an exact map address.
- Add accurate contact information.
- Enter a mailing address to verify your profile, even if you don’t have a physical store.
- Provide additional information like working hours, images related to products or client reviews, and business descriptions.
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If you follow the above steps, you can create your business profile. Now that you have created your business profile, the main question is, ‘How to grow a Google business profile audience?’ Therefore, our next heading is about growing the audience.
Steps to Grow Google Business Profile Audience
Complete Information
Provide as much information about your business as possible, such as your full business name (or short form name if you have one), brand logo, correct website address, photos related to your brand, operating hours, call number, business address, or store address.
For example, if you have a gift shop, the shop owner should showcase a beautiful picture of flowers and people purchasing flowers from your shop, as well as the opening and closing times, location of your shop, inquiry number, etc. In this way, people looking for flowers for their loved ones might stumble across your GMB or your profile on Google Maps. Your business gets customers by filling out some basic but important information.
Genuine Reviews
Encourage your existing customers to give reviews about your business on your GMB profile. According to a research study by Think, 88% of customers trust reviews as personal recommendations. Good reviews are essential to growing Google’s business profile audience.
It is equally important to address the negative reviews as they show your commitment to customers.
Taking the flower gift shop example, if you encourage customers to share 5start 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 reviews, then you’ll be able to attract more customers. If a customer finds you have more positive reviews than the other shops on the same street or area, you’re more likely to get more customers.
Post Regular Content
You can use images, short-form text (up to 300 words), and a contact button. This will allow you to share information about completing offers and connect with potential customers. Share regular content and mention relevant keywords. When a customer searches a related keyword on Google or Google Maps, your content may show up, and you can get leads from search results.
Maintain a constant visual or unique writing style to reinforce your brand identity. Your customers will be able to differentiate you from your competitors based on your unique visual or unique writing style.
A dog food shop in the USA can generate more leads if the owner shares ingredients about food and how they’re important for the better health of puppies or dogs.
Google Analytics
Utilise data from Google Analytics for insights about customer behaviour, track conversion rate, and find traffic resources. This data will help you to define your brand accurately and improve your messaging and design. All that will lead to a better Google Business profile.
Bonus Tip
Following the above instructions makes you more likely to create and grow a Google business profile. Here are some extra tips that can help your GMB to stand out:
Regularly provide promotions and discounts to encourage customers to get good reviews.
Provide relevant information about upcoming events.
Share details of your following product or bundle offer for special occasions.
If you’re starting up, use Canva to create graphics.
Ranking Factors in Google’s Algorithm
- Updated and Optimised content
- Quality and quantity of positive Reviews
- Quality, relevance and Authority of Website
- Popularity and Interaction with the audience
- Distance from the user’s location
- How well does your profile match the search query
Conclusion
A Google My Business (GMB) profile is very important for any business, especially small businesses. In this content, you have learned how to create and optimise a GMB profile. We have shared every important piece of information. If you have more ideas, please share them with us.
