You want your business to be found online as an entrepreneur or business owner. You must establish a solid online presence if you want people to see you and visit your website. And to help you with this, you need to set up your Google Business Profile (GBP).
GBP is an online portal that visually represents your business to the world when someone searches in Google or Maps to find local businesses near them. It’s a listing where you add information about your business and photos of your location, products, and services. If you’ve created your profile and set it up correctly, your business will appear in the search results.
Setting up your Google Business Profile
Your GBP shows up in Google and Maps search results when people search online. An optimized GBP will help increase your online presence across various Google services. So when someone searches for services or products that you provide, your business listing will come up in the top results.
If you want to be on the first page of Google search results, you need to set up your GBP. You need to keep it up to date with consistent information, effectively communicating your offers and services.
Start setting up your GBP by logging into Google Business Profile Manager using your Google account. After signing in, you will be asked to search for your business by entering your business name or address.
If your business comes up in the results, click “claim your business.” If it doesn’t, you’ll need to add your business manually. You will enter your business category, location, and contact information as you add your business.
After claiming or manually adding your listing, you will need to verify your business. Google offers you several options for verification. Choose the best one that suits your needs.
Once verified, customize your profile by adding information about your website. This information needs to match what’s on your website and your other online profiles. Remember that Google protects its users and will not provide them with search results that cause confusion or provide conflicting information.
Responding to reviews
Another way to keep your business profile alive is by responding to reviews. When you get a new Google business review, that’s great! And you want to respond to these reviews because this will help establish your credibility and online presence. When somebody goes to your Google listing and looks at those reviews, they will see that you’re responding to them. And that shows how active you are as a business.
If you get a negative review, that’s not the end of the world. You still need to respond professionally and attempt to resolve the issue. What is important is how you as a business respond to those reviews. Remember that users will be looking at your responses to those negative reviews, and that’s your moment to show who you are and how you deal with problems as a business.
Answering questions
To keep your Google Business Profile up to date, you need to answer questions. People will have questions about your business and post them on your business listing. It’s important to note that you need to respond to these questions quickly because Google also measures this. Your profile will often say that you reply within 24 or 72 hours. Also, keep in mind that messaging on your profile will only stay active if you are quick to respond to questions.
To ensure you can respond to these questions on time, ensure you have Google My Business and Google Maps on your phone. Set it up on your phone so that it will send you notifications when someone leaves a review or asks a question. This will help make sure that you respond to these messages within 24 hours. And this will show your customers and the target market that you care and are actively engaging with them.
Conclusion
In the end, Google Business Profile is a valuable tool in your marketing kit, whether you’re just starting or experienced. It provides several useful options to make sure your business is found online. And it’s worth setting up and optimizing.
So, claim your listing and set up your profile. It’s a free platform and costs you nothing except your time. If you want to dive deeper into this, schedule a free discovery call, and let’s discuss!
