Welcome to the first week of 2019! When we wrapped up 2018, we promised to deliver loads of useful content to help those small businesses looking to ramp up their digital marketing efforts and our first series focusing on all things ‘Google My Business’ will hopefully do just that.
Firstly, what exactly is it?
Google My Business – the three buzz words that are all the rage in the small business world at the moment. But what exactly is all the fuss about? Put simply – it’s a platform that allows businesses to create a business listing for customers searching for a particular service or product on both Google search and Google maps.
The ability to update information such as opening times and days, respond to google customer reviews (very important) and post regular updates in real time makes this tool incredibly powerful (and currently underused by many small biz managers!) Did we also mention it was free? Win, win.
If we could you give one tip going into 2019 – it would be to get online, sign your business up with a listing for Google My Business and make sure it’s regularly updated for search users to find you easily in the side panel of related searches (see example below).
I’m in! How do I get started?
To get on the Google My Business bandwagon and increase your visibility in search results, you’ll need to visit https://business.google.com/ and click on the ‘start now’ button. You will then need to follow the prompts to provide the below business details:
- Business name
- Location
- Business category
- Contact details (including phone number and website)
- Whether or not your business delivers good to customers
Once you’ve filled out all your details, Google will ask you to verify the listing and once this is all sorted you are ready to go with your basic Google My Business listing! Stay tuned for our next installment in our series and we’ll go through how to maintain your listing so you can get the most out it!
Don’t forget to contact the team at ethne. If you’re stuck and need a helping hand to get started on Google My Business.