‘Whatever your business is to help them discover it’, you might come across this tagline in Google small business promotional ad videos. They are the customers, and letting them know about your business is what ‘Google My Business’ is all about.
If you are a business owner, try to put yourself in the shoes of a customer. Now think when was the last time you checked – best ‘anything’ near me. Probably it would be this morning.
Now, if that particular ‘anything’ was a cafe, it was basically- best cafe near me- and you incidentally happen to own a cool cafe. But the results did not show up the listing of your cafe, your potential customer is gone. It is as straightforward as that. 
Now, how do you list your business? This where Google My Business comes into play which lists every detail business from contact details, email id, physical address, to images, and much more.
Why is Google My Business important in SEO?
The first and foremost thing about Google My Business is that it costs you just the effort and time and not a single penny. This tool is free for all. Be it a small or large business they both can invest in their time equity to have a presence on the biggest search engine on earth.
GMB is the ideal free resource to augment digital marketing and SEO efforts to increase traffic and gain an unflinching online presence. With GMB, you are essentially boosting the native or local SEO. Let us see some stats on native SEO.
Nearly half of the Google searches are made based on the idea of procuring local information. Next 72% of the searches made for local businesses try to spot a place to visit in the five miles radius.
Now, the most important piece of information is that nearly 88% of searches made on smartphones for the business end up receiving calls within 24 hours.
Importance of GMB as a digital marketing solution
- A strong online presence that cannot be overlooked
With GMB, your business listing is placed in search results in such fashion that users cannot overlook it. Usually, the listings are placed just below the ad-based results and above the first organic results. So, be it a laptop or a phone it is hard to glance away from listings.
- Communication of important information to the end customers
The very first benefit of GMB as a digital marketing solution is that it provides complete information about the business of the users. So these users, when they visit the store physically, have a fair idea of what they can expect.
- Showcasing a blend of reviews
Once, your business has been listed the consumers can add their review about your product. Yes, you will have the odd bad reviews. But the chances are high the positive review might push the bad ones deep down. Creating the first impression is crucial, and GMB helps you to have a brilliant one.
Tips to attract new customers with Google My Business
Add every information for customers
The most basic thing you do right is to provide every tiny bit of information for the customers. Whatever you think must be helpful for customers to know about your business add that piece of information. Let the users not divert away to local directories like Yellow Pages to know more about you.
Add photos
Adding photos makes your listing exciting. Think of a blog post without any images, how dry it would be. Similarly. Listings without images do not interest the users. Moreso, real-time images help the consumer to have a sort of virtual tour of the place.
Also, add the images of nearby places which are favorite hotspots in the town, so that customers can directly lead up to your store citing it.
Don’t forget to show the brand logo in the pictures
Before adding images on products or service areas, you must add a picture of that eye-catchy logo that gives your business identity. It is hard to think of a promotional page on social media channels like Facebook, and Twitter without a logo.
Think of Google listing as one of the pinnacle promotional pages where you just cannot miss out on adding a brand logo. It deprives you of hard-earned consumer trust.
Add contact details
Remember, when we said you to add a very tiny bit of business information, we meant you must begin with the contact details. Add information about your physical address, and let the Google map do the rest. Also, add a contact number and email id, remember to update it regularly.
Respond to customer reviews
Managing customer reviews and viewing the good & the bad ones form the same professional lens is of utmost importance. Quite naturally, businesses which respond to customer review and listen to the issues raised have a better chance of retaining users. Sadly, you cannot turn off the review section, and it won’t be good on your part to do it even if it could have been possible.
Add your business description
Adding a complete business description with regards to the quality of the product you deal with or providing information about ISO certification instills great faith in consumers. Think of it as a pitch that you present to prospective leads. So, keep it short and compelling.
Add your address to attract local prospective customers
Local searches with the phrase- nearby me- has increased tremendously, especially with mobile devices. So, make sure you add the address in such a way that it gets the attention of the users. Also, add an address that search engines can locate precisely. Be meticulous with detailing and preferably add a landmark.
Conclusion
Businesses are flourishing online with the tick of the clock. If you want to be part of them try to look out for resources that can boost your business prospects with minimum cost. There are plenty of such resources, GMB is an apt example of a free tool that can propel the state of your business.
Also, the physical competitor might be too big to tackle down, but on the web, everyone’s the same. It is all about how you present your company profiles to the citizens. If you have a lasting impact on consumers’ minds concerning quality products and services- trust us they will keep coming back to you no matter what the state of competition is.
