Ever wondered how to get your business to the top of a Google search?
Your Google Business Profile could be the key you need to open the door for new business opportunities. Google Business Profile, previously Google My Business, is an excellent SEO tool at your disposal, especially when it comes to local SEO.
Local SEO explained
It’s all about targeting the customers who are local to you – the ones who are within a short drive away from where you run your business. This is especially important for those with a store front. When your customers are looking for a local business who can solve their particular problem, you need to be the first name they see both on your organic search and through Google Maps. Local SEO includes optimising your Google Business Profile as well as other tricks of the trade. To find out more on how local SEO can boost your business, check out what CREATIVE in TiME can do to boost your organic rankings.
What exactly is a Google Business Profile?
You might be familiar with Google My Business (GMB) since the name change only happened about a year ago. But it’s the same system with even more benefits than ever for your business!
When you search for a company on a search engine, have you noticed on the right-hand side a profile looking something like this?
THIS is a Google Business Profile, and it can do wonders for your business!
Google Business Profile allow you to list your business and its location on Google Maps and local search results. This helps to attract customers within the local vicinity of your place of operations.
So why is a Google Business Profile Important?
The short answer: it brings in leads to your business. But there’s a lot more to it than that.
With this profile, you can clearly display important information about your organisation that your customer’s/clients are searching for. This could be anything from opening times and your website to your address and reviews by previous customers. 90% of people read reviews before converting so by having reviews appear right at the top of Google, it gives your business a higher chance of obtaining a new customer.
When you are looking for a business on Google, how often do you go to the contact page to call them up? More often than not, users head straight to the Google Business Profile and get essential contact information from there with 94%of calls coming from the Google Business Profile alone! If you let CREATIVE in TiME work their magic on your profile, you can work your magic from there and upsell your clients on a daily basis!
Creating a Google Business Profile is entirely free. But to optimise to and utilise in its best capacity, you need to know what the tips and tricks that Google’s robots are looking for. That’s why we are here. CREATIVE in TiME use their expertise to give your Google Business Profile a high success rate.
5 Ways to Optimise your Google Business Profile
1. Make sure all your information is correct.
This might be stating the obvious, but you might be surprised how many businesses forget to update their Google Business Profile when they move locations. By providing the correct information, not only does it mean you’ll get leads sent to the right place, but you’ll also provide a good user experience for your customers, resulting in positive reviews.
2. Add in high-quality photos
You wouldn’t buy something without seeing the product yourself first, would you? The same goes with users when Googling for your company. When a restaurant has high quality images of their food, it can entice customers to place a booking. When you showcase behind the scenes images from your business, it shows the positive and friendly experience they will have whilst with you. A high-quality image of your company logo is also a must!
3. Don’t forget to add video
Online Videos Have an Audience Reach of 92% Worldwide.By adding a video to your Google Business Profile, your target audience can get a real feel for what you have to offer and the people behind the business. Ever since TikTok took the world by storm, your audience has been consuming more video content than ever before. After all, a video can say exactly what you need to say in under a minute.
4. Write a compelling description
Your description should help sell your business to potential customers. It needs to include your unique selling point (USP) – what makes you stand out from your competitors? Otherwise, how will they know to choose you? Your unique selling point is well unique; its what gets your customers to convert instead of looking at your competitors.
5. Engage with your Google reviews
Having customers leave reviews on your business sends a trust signal to potential new customers. But so does responding to the reviews you receive. By responding to positive reviews, it shows that you are engaging and building loyalty and trust with them. Alternatively, by replying to negative reviews with solutions for unhappy customers, it shows you are proactive to solve any issues. Every business has at least one negative review – it’s all about how you address them. Struggle with keeping professional? Leave it to us.
How CREATIVE in TiME can help
Setting up your Google Business Profile might appear easy enough at a first glance but optimising it the profile is the key to success. Creating these business profiles can be time-consuming and for a busy business owner such as yourself, this might not be your top priority. But that’s what we are here for! We discuss your goals, we set up and optimise your profile, and you get to watch the leads roll in! Contact CREATIVE in TiME today to get started.
By opting to include more than just one of our services, you can reap the benefits from multiple directions, giving your business even more opportunities. Local SEO doesn’t just comprise of your Google Business Profile; it also includes localised keywords in your copy and building links with other businesses and organisations in your area. See our full list of services here.
Do you want the good news or the bad news? Bad news…you now need 3 layers to go outside without feeling like Frosty the Snowman. Good news…festivities are in full swing!
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, the world of marketing might pause long enough for you to scoff a mince pie but make sure to check out our latest monthly roundup of marketing news and updates whilst they’re hot and fresh. If you missed out our October monthly roundup of marketing news and want to catch up just click here.
There is always something changing, whether it is social media or Google, and you need to stay on top of it! When you’re trying to feel festive you may not want to keep up to date with news but if you are offering a product or service, Christmas is your time to shine!
Let’s get started;
Fendi’s Time Square Takeover: Is Creativity Dead?
Last week famous fashion brand Fendi took over New York’s Times Square by covering it in their signature yellow.
Venturini Fendi said: “Times Square is something futuristic, something so different from Rome and peculiar of New York. It’s a landmark of the city – the lights, projection. It’s a window to the future.”
In a futuristic environment, was their takeover too lacklustre with a lack of imagination? Most brand ‘city attacks’ have heaps of creative flair and make use of the magnitude of the area and displays.
Fendi’s display was not well received with little to no traction in the fashion industry leaving many people wondering who the target audience was and what reaction was intended. A mass of bright yellow with their logo would likely be memorable, however with people attributing the work to ‘Fenty’, ‘Fenti’ and ‘Fendi’ it is unclear if people even remembered the brand name!
CREATIVE in TiME say: Marketing is essential for all businesses and creative marketing is ideal. What are your competitors doing? What do your customers want to see? Don’t be afraid to change.
Are you struggling with your marketing? If you are looking through this post and want to up your game, then click here to read about our services and what we can do for you.
Google Maps adds 3 NEW Features for Local Shopping
In the midst of the pandemic, more and more people are wanting to support local businesses and Google are introducing 3 NEW Google Maps features worldwide to help. Local businesses, it’s your time to shine! “Busyness” (yes, that is how you spell it) is one of the new features, who else didn’t know this was a word?
Area Busyess: When using Google Maps you can see how busy an area or business is currently and the estimation of busyness throughout the day.
Directory Tab: The Directory tab is most useful in shopping centres as it will display a list of all businesses, whether they are open, what floor they are on and what their star rating is.
Restaurant Information: Google Maps is now able to display more information when customers look up local restaurants. Information such as price ranges, delivery and other amenities will now be visible to customers if provided.
Is your information on Google up to date? If not, make sure that your information is detailed, succinct and useful. Including information such as disabled access, catering for dietary requirements, and COVID-19 measures can encourage customers and bring in people who otherwise may not come in.
Google Maps isn’t the only thing to keep up to date with, want to know how to use Google My Business to grow?Check it out here.
CREATIVE in TiME say: Google is KING! Whether you are a brick-and-mortar business or an online business, keeping up to date with all of Google’s updates is vital!
O2 creates Snapchat AR store for Black Friday Samsung deals
Black Friday is the biggest shopping event in the early calendar with total spending in the UK expected to have hit 9.42 BILLION pounds!
O2 has got involved with Black Friday and adopted the use of Snapchat’s augmented reality (AR) feature to create an “AR store of the future” to promote Samsung Black Friday deals.
This inventive sales idea allows prospective customers to save money without leaving their home or putting down their current phone! It transforms the four walls around them into a virtual sales area used to present 3 Samsung products and a “buy now” button.
The 3 products shown are the Samsung Galaxy S21 5G, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3, and Samsung Galaxy Watch4.
This is a unique and engaging shopping experience for customers and may point to a new way to shop. It is unlikely to become common place but, would you use an AR shop on your phone?
CREATIVE in TiME say: This is very unique, but is Snapchat a dying platform? We’re not sure on this one but one thing is for sure – AR is not going away anytime soon.
Instagram Launches Live Test of Longer Videos in Stories
Instagram has launched a live test of 60-second videos in stories, this was first spotted in testing last month. This change means that longer videos in stories will not be split into 15 second segments and will reduce interruptions in stories.
The feature is currently being tested by a small user group in hopes it will improve creative freedom and streamline video uploads.
This test is likely influenced by TikTok, who have risen in popularity as the best place to be for video, and do not limit the length of your videos.
CREATIVE in TiME say: We likey this one! We were expecting this feature sooner or later. After all, they do like to copy EVERYTHING TikTok does.
Google Review Snippets will not show if the reviews are republished from another source!
Customers love reviews and therefore businesses want them to be as visible as possible but for Google to display a review as a snippet, the review must be directly submitted to the website.
For most businesses, you likely take reviews for your business from other places on the internet, such as Facebook, and then publish them on your website. This is effective at having reviews seen on your website but it will disqualify the page from being eligible for rich results.
Google defines reviews from other sources as “testimonials” instead of reviews. Here is what Google’s John Mueller had to say about it:
“We probably wouldn’t show that as reviews in the search results because it’s more like a testimonial. Reviews would essentially need to be something which is based on a specific product on that page and the reviews need to be things that users leave directly on that page.
So if you’re kind of like archiving reviews from other sources and you’re posting them then we wouldn’t pick those up as reviews for the structured data side. You can keep them on the page we just wouldn’t use the review markup for that.”
If you currently don’t accept reviews on your website but want to start, the easiest way to do so is to add a review submission form on every product/service page on your site.
CREATIVE in TiME say: Reviews are so important for your business! Customers love them, Google loves them, everyone loves them!
Roundup Complete!
We hope you enjoyed our monthly roundup of marketing news, check back in next month for our December monthly roundup of marketing news! You can even have it delivered straight to your inbox by signing up for our newsletter! Just send your email over to andrea@creativeintime.com.
Whilst you do that, does your business need a hand staying up to date? Maybe you’re struggling to keep on track with all of the new marketing changes? There’s a lot after all!
Wouldn’t it be amazing to know you are getting customers from Google just by following a few steps? Who are we kidding, of course it would be!
With some guidance, using Google My Business is a simple and effective way to reach potential customers and show off the best parts of your business. Brick and mortar businesses and online businesses can both benefit from the effects of Google My Business.
Below we have collated our top 5 steps to help you grow using Google My Business.
1. Share images and videos of your business
PEOPLE buy PEOPLE (cliché but true), not businesses or corporations. Prospective customers love behind-the-scenes shots of what’s going on at your business. Humans are nosey people!
Make the most of your images by choosing the right size to fit its purpose:
Profile picture: Your profile picture is what your customers will recognise your company by on Google. Ensure it is memorable, recognisable and high quality. For a profile picture, your image should be 250×250 pixels.
Cover photo: Your cover photo is also set as your listings preferred image to show first, ideally this is where you can showcase your companies personality, this is not a guarantee that it will show first however. An image of 1080×608 pixels should be used.
Other images: Customers like images, it gives an insight into your business and the people who work there. Use images in Google My Business posts to improve your posts and increase chances of a purchase or booking. Use an image of 720×540 pixels for any additional images.
Videos are rapidly increasing in popularity and effectiveness. With the amount of choice available to consumers, people are doing a quick internet search to find the best product to fit their needs. Videos are exemplary at giving people an up-close in depth look at what you are offering.
Did you know that 81 % of businesses are now using video for marketing?
A video can improve trust in your product and encourage people to make a purchase. After all, 90% of consumers claim a video will help them make a purchasing decision.
2. Share your products
A great feature on Google My Business is the ability to add products to your listing. If you have a retail business, adding your best-selling products to your Google listing can boost sales and shows prospective customers your products without even going to your website.
Use this feature to add best sellers and products that you want to push. Use eye catching pictures to draw attention, ensure your product description is succinct but includes enough information about your product to entice a purchase and make sure yourprice is correct!
No one likes going to checkout and noticing a price has gone up unexpectedly, if anything changes regarding your products promptly update your Google listing for it, your customers will appreciate it.
3. Generate reviews
Don’t underestimate the power of online reviews, 93% of consumers say that online reviews have influenced their purchase decisions!
Google My Business reviews are a gold mine for new customers. Don’t be shy to ask for reviews from former and current customers, when prompted most customers are happy to leave a review.
Did you know that Facebook reviews also show up on Google My Business? Now you do!
Online reviews allow for your customers to share their experiences with your business and can bring credibility to your product or service. Negative reviews can have a bad effect on your business, but Google My Business reviews are interactable which means if someone did, hypothetically, leave a bad review you could respond and resolve the issue.
You should RESPOND to all reviews whether they are good or bad by using personalised responses and customer names. Show care and appreciation towards customers as consumers will also be looking for this.
4. Share your events
Whether it is a sale, workshop, price reduction or open house, you should share it! Posting events to your Google My Business page will make it known to more people and can allow for more attendance/engagement. Present your event in a fun and engaging manner, no one wants to sign up for an event that sounds boring or uninformative.
When posting an event, include a link for people to sign up for said event or a link to a product page if there is a sale. Make it simple for customers to get involved, the less steps they need to take the more likely they are to participate.
5. Monitor your analytics
Google My Business insights is a great tool to see how people interact with your listing. If you are implementing our previous tips then you need to monitor their analytics too.
You can view how many people have viewed your photos, how often your business is searched and what actions your customers take such as going to your website amongst many other visibility and engagement statistics.
Keeping track of your analytics can show you what to continue doing and what needs to be improved. If you notice certain Google My Business posts get significant interaction whilst others do not then be FLEXIBLE and consider changing your plan accordingly. As humans we don’t always like change but it is necessary to improve and thrive.
Google My Business is a tool that all businesses should be using, whether small or large, to engage with customers and promote their business.
We hope these tips can allow you to revamp your listing and set your business on the trajectory to success. If you need help getting your marketing on track, just get in touch! Marketing is where we shine.
