Google My Business (GMB) is one of the SEO tools your business needs to be more visible online to reach your targeted audience.
Every day, millions of people take to Google for the slightest service they need. It could be a local home appliance repair, or a local salon near them or any other service they need.
For this reason, you need to take your business up to the next level by taking advantage of GMB.
If you don’t have a Google My Business {GMB} account, it’s difficult for customers to find you even if you offer such services.
Luckily, this feature isn’t available for just big-time businesses, small scale businesses can also benefit from it.
Are you a business owner in Connecticut? Do you want to increase your online visibility and attract more potential customers in your vicinity?
What you need is a Google My Business account. However, for maximum utilization, it should be handled by experts.
Speaking of experts, Connecticut SEP Pros can get your GMB account set up and running in no time.
What is Google My Business?
Google My Business is simply a service designed by Google to help local businesses promote their services/products online.
This tool helps business owners handle how their business is portrayed online. By providing the right information and following all the steps, your business can stand out from the crowd.
You need to use Google My Business because Google has a large audience that can get to know more about you when they view your profile.
It follows this order: the more online visibility your business has, the more potential customers view your business profile.
GMB is one sure way to improve online visibility as against the traditional pay-per-click advertising.
At Connecticut SEP Pros, our goal is to ensure that our client’s Google business listing is optimized. We ensure that your business in Connecticut benefits maximally from owning a Google My Business account.
Below is our guide on how to set up a GMB in Connecticut and we’re always available to take on the stress of setting up for you.
Steps to Set up GMB That Outperforms Others
- Claim/Add Your Business Listing
The first thing about your business that a customer sees is your Google My Business listing. This is what comes up on Google’s Map search results when a customer searches for a product or service that your business provides. However, if you haven’t created a GMB account, someone that already has will claim your potential customers.
- Business information is 100% Correct
While setting up your account, ensure that all the information about your business is complete, accurate, and updated. Let your account contain your website, the name of your business, location, and other necessary information.
Just ensure that your account doesn’t lack any information that your customers would need to verify the authenticity of your business.
- Verify Your Business
After you’ve added all the necessary information about your business to your account, it’s time to claim your listing. You’ll have to confirm that you’re indeed the owner of the account. This is so that your account won’t be hijacked from you by your competitors.
You can verify your account via a google robocall where a verification code will be sent to your registered phone number. Once this is done, your business will be identified as registered because a verified badge will be placed near your business name.
- Remove Duplicate Listings
You’ll have to get rid of duplicate listings for your business. Your customers may make a mistake choosing the wrong listings and that would be bad for your business. Ensure that the one listing you have provides all the necessary information about your business.
- Add Positive Reviews
The more positive reviews your business has, the higher Google will rank your business. Because Google views your business as one that satisfies customers. Always encourage your customers to leave positive reviews of your business.
Connecticut SEP Pros can help you achieve this easily.
- Add 6+ Business Photos
Adding photos to your Google My Business page can also help to increase your ranking. It also lets your potential customers view your business as legit and professional. You must add a minimum of 6 professional business photos. These photos go a long way in increasing your click-through rate and your ranking. You can start by adding photos of your product, business premises, and staff.
- Add 4+ GMB Posts to Listing
Adding new information to your Google My Business helps your customers know the recent developments in your business. Keeping your customers abreast by posting new information keeps them informed at all times.
- Optimize Your GMB Listing
Having set up your account, you need to optimize your account. This process involves continuous management and updating. In case you need help with optimizing your GMB listing, Connecticut SEP Pros can do that for you.
You might already be practising other SEO tips, but downplaying the benefit of GMB will hurt your business.
Benefits of Google My Business (GMB)
- Google My Business is free.
This Google service is free and you won’t have to pay a dime to access it. You’ll only have to pay if you’re employing the services of experts to set it up for you. All you have to do is log in to your GMB account and fill out all the necessary information. Information like your contact number, business name, and location will be needed.
- Google My Business makes you visible
Google My Business is one of Google’s tools that increase online visibility.
Google is one of the most used search engines and has many users that need a product or service every day. And all too often most users are not sure of the business they want when they make their search.
So, if you have a Google My Business account, your business is already on the global map and so it’s visible to potential customers.
Businesses that have GMB listings still rank higher on Google searches than a site with all the SEO tools but without GMB.
- Google My Business Ensures Online Consistency
The bigger your business gets and the more customers you have, you’ll want to always keep your customers abreast of any development in your business.
Your GMB must be always updated so that customers can easily find you if you change your location.
One thing that makes businesses lose customers is putting their customers through the stress of finding them.
To maintain a consistent online business, your information should always be updated and you can achieve this easily through your GMB account.
- Google My Business Images Provides a Great First Impression
Owning a GMB account gives your customers the impression that you’re ready to stay updated to serve them better. By having a GMB account, you’re simplifying the process of finding your business.
Also, Google My Business helps you to add photos that capture your customer’s attention and at the same time let them know what to expect from you.
You can add professional photos of yourself, your staff, your stores, or even customers’ positive testimonials.
The more photos you post, the more attracted potential customers are to your site. Adding photos to your GMB account is synonymous with adding a face business.
- Google My Business Easily Host Customer Reviews
Google my business is an avenue for customers to leave positive reviews and ratings. However, this might pose a challenge because all customers cannot be satisfied. There will be times that some customers may feel unsatisfied with your business and leave bad reviews.
Notwithstanding, you can reply to all reviews. Thanking your customers for the good reviews promising to do better in response to the bad ones.
Most times, before customers patronize your brand, they first go through reviews. So paying attention to your reviews and replying to both good and bad ones help potential customers to make good choices.
- Google My Business Completes Your Google Profile
Setting up your Google My Business accounts is part of the process of completing your Google profile. A properly set up GMB account will enable your website to be connected to Google Maps, Tag Manager, Google Analytics, and others.
These powerful tools can boost your business on search engine results pages. Also, it keeps you abreast of all digital trends development.
- Google My Business is the Future of Online Marketing
Google currently is the biggest platform for any business to thrive. It brings together both customers and businesses and gives them an avenue to interact with themselves.
Setting up a GMB account is one way of tapping into all the positive benefits of Google. It’s the only way to benefit from digital marketing, rank high on the Google search engine, and drive in many potential customers.
On a final note;
Getting a GMB account in Connecticut is the right step to take to have a successful business. Until you properly utilize the GMB tool, it won’t make any difference to your business.
That’s why Connecticut SEP Pros is ready to guide you through all the processes of setting up a proper GMB account. Also, we can help you manage your GMB accounts and give you the chance to focus solely on your business.
