What is Google My Business and why should you care? Google My Business is the most important building block for any businesses local marketing campaign. It is free, easy to set up and increases the likelihood of your business coming up in a search result organically. One of the most critical elements of Google being the number one search engine is that when people search on terms such as “best restaurant near me” is that Google My Business gives the ability of a user to find all the pertinent information about a business right at their fingertips! As the use of mobile devices outpace PC for internet searches, it is imperative for a business owner to make sure their Google My Business page is fully completed. So, how can you take advantage of this free advertising for your business? In four easy steps, you can have your own Google My Business page:
[tweetthis display_mode=”box”]Here are 4 tips on how to increase your local search results on Google: [/tweetthis]
Set Up Your Google My Business Page
Go to Google My Business. Once you set up your business you have the option of Google calling you or sending you a letter to verify that you are who you say you are. If you do not have a brick and mortar space, you can use the address of your local UPS Store (if you have a PO Box there) and that will work too. Just make sure under hours of operation you add “by appointment only”.
Verify and Update the Page
Verify all the existing information and make any changes to update the page with your address, phone number, website, hours of operation, anything that a potential customer would want to know to do business with you.
Add Photos
upload up to 15 photos of your business. Make sure you add photos of both the street view and the inside your place of business. You can show your products, happy customers, anything that will highlight what is great about your business and encourage customers to come to your business.
Utilize Key Words
Save your photos with filenames that include keywords. For example, “best restaurant, Athens” or “Hair Salon, Athens”. This will increase your SEO (search engine optimization) and organic search results.
Still not sure if this is something you can do? No worries! Contact your local UGA Small Business Development Center to schedule a no-cost session with a business consultant or attend one of our low-cost upcoming training programs. The UGA SBDC offers no-cost, confidential consulting services and low cost educational resources to help you transform your business!
(Source: Laura Katz, Area Director, UGA SBDC in Athens)
