Why Use Google My Business?
Google My Business is a free tool available to any business? It's one of the most important pieces to building a successful online presence. Google My Business allows you to create a free listing for your business on Google Maps and Google Search, it’s a powerful tool that can help grow your business and get you more customers.
But why Google specifically? Because Google Search is dominating the online search world, with 92.24%market share versus competitors like Bing or Yahoo!, that makes it the easiest way to catch the eyes of millions of people online. Since Google has such a huge market share taking advantage of the free-to-use storefront is crucial to online success for your business whether it’s a local business or an online business.
Here are some great reasons you need a Google My Business page:
- To get found on Google
- To get found on Google Maps
- To get found on Google Image Search
- To get found in Google Ads
- To get found in Google Maps for Mobile
- To get found in Google Search, Maps, and Image Search
Brick and Mortar Businesses
If you’re a local business your goal is probably to bring in as many customers as you can. Well, Google My Business is perfect for bringing in customers that are already looking for your business. Whether it’s Google Maps or a Google Search, a potential customer is looking for a solution to their problem, maybe they are looking for a coffee shop that serves cold brew, or a local technician that could repair their game console. There are always people searching online for a solution to their problem, and with Google My Business you’re one step closer to being there for that individual.
There are plenty of crucial business details you can add to your Google My Business to ensure a customer has the right information quickly.
- Address
- Hours of Operation
- Contact Information
- Services
- Website
- Reviews
- Appointments
- Products
These data points are crucial for helping your customer make the right decision when searching online for a solution to their problem. Especially as a local business, you want to make sure someone looking for example a bike repair shop, the information they’re going to need is an address, hours of operation, and maybe a phone number to check availability. With one search, this individual looking for a bike repair shop can easily make an educated decision to visit your shop knowing in confidence that they’re going to have their problem solved.
With 60% of smartphone users contacting businesses directly using the search results (Think with Google) this sends us a clear picture, people are searching online and are more willing to engage with your business with proper contact information, this helps individuals quickly call your business and get the answer they need.
Maps
Google Maps is one great way for consumers to find services or stores near their location. You’ve probably noticed that on Google Maps there’s plenty of stores and locations that are already taking advantage of this feature. Customers are searching on their smartphones before making a lot of choices, especially in cities like Chicago, where there’s a lot of new foot traffic each day. If your business isn’t popping up on a google search as a nearby choice, you’re probably missing out on business.
Search
When consumers are searching, that means they’re looking for a solution to their problem, and that means an opportunity for your business to get out in front of them and showcase why you’re a great solution to their problem. Using location data you provide for your business, and the location of the user searching on google, the results are tailored to each search, if we go back to our bike repair shop from earlier, we can see results like this.
Simply by searching “bike repair shop chicago” we are right away directed to nearby repair shops that we can take out bicycle. Google instantly packs the top 3 locations that it thinks will best suit the search and provides clear information about the business. Contact information, location, rating, and business hours are among the results for each result. As a consumer this gives me quick access to the information, I need to make an informed decision to take my bike in for maintenance.
Online Businesses
With the growing number of businesses operating, Google My Business is a great tool to help your business stand out on Google Search results. Though Google My Business is meant to help local businesses, if done right, your business can easily provide important information to customers that's looking to do business with you.
When set up right, Google My Business is perfect for your business to provide a quick and simple point of contact and showcase your business’s reviews. Why’s this important? Well, when a customer is trying to contact your business, and there’s no physical location, it helps to promote a customer support line where they can reach someone with any questions or concerns. As for reviews, reviews are crucial to creating trust in a business that doesn’t have a physical presence or isn’t what the customer is familiar with.
When your online business operates within a community, you must be promoting yourself on Google My Business to help customers find you, and have an easy way for customers to reach out if they have any questions.
Google My Business is a great resource for your business to take advantage of, when done right, this free-to-use tool offers your business to more people and makes it easy for you to showcase information to make it easy for customers to reach you. Google My Business is one of the most important pieces to building a successful online presence, for all small businesses.
