6 August Benefits of a Google My Business Listing August 6, 2020 By sma Business Tips, Marketing client satisfaction, digital marketing, Google My Business, networking 0 BENEFITS OF A GOOGLE MY BUSINESS LISTING August 6, 2020 | Business Tips, Marketing | client satisfaction, digital marketing, Google My Business, networking By Adam Kiesel, NPI, Inc.'s Digital Marketing Assistant Getting your name out to customers has never been easier than it is right now. Thanks to digital media, you can easily post content to reach potential clients. In addition to utilizing tools like social media, you can integrate a Google listing to further draw traffic to your business website. So what benefits does a Google My Business listing have to offer? Keep reading to learn more. What is Google My Business? Google My Business (or GMB) is a free service that helps business owners promote their services to local customers. Using GMB’s suite of tools and features, you can easily manage how you appeal to prospective clients. In a way, GMB is today’s version of the Yellow Pages, which means that if you have a listing, anyone with an internet connection can find you. Almost half of people who search for a business are trying to find goods and services in their immediate vicinity. Showing up near the top of Google My Business local listings goes a long way in putting you ahead of the competition. Customers Can See Your Location As mentioned above, a large portion of those searching for specific services want to hire a company relatively close to them. You’ve probably noticed this yourself if you’ve searched for a restaurant or movie theater. The businesses in closest proximity to your location show up towards the top. You can also see ratings, reviews, hours and website links. Setting a service area in your Google My Business allows you to advertise to those closest to you. Build Trust Early On Important to any business owner is building rapport with customers to ensure a long-lasting relationship. GMB lets you do just that before you even meet the customer in person, and it’s important to make a great impression right away. For example, most people searching online are going to be wary of a business listing that doesn’t have hours or a website listed. At best, they may make a premature judgment about your professionalism as a small business owner. At worst, they may assume the listing is outdated and you aren’t in business anymore. By filling out your GMB profile completely, you can begin to earn your clients’ trust from their first Google search. Boost Traffic to Your Site Having a GMB listing can drastically increase traffic to your website. If you don’t have a listing, you’ll need to rely solely on organic search results for visibility.. With a Google My Business listing, when a customer uses the search term “home inspector near me,” any business that matches that description in their area will automatically populate. The more interactions you have and reviews you collect, the higher you can appear in the “local pack,” or short index of same-category GMB listings that appear at the top of search results. The higher you are on the page, the greater your chances of receiving a website click and being considered for hire. Gather Insights A highly useful feature of your GMB listing is Insights, your key to analyzing your listing’s performance. You can see how many people are viewing and interacting with certain posts, what sorts of terms people are searching for and a breakdown of demographic segments of accounts for your primary audience. Most importantly, you can see the number of clicks your website link receives. This information helps you optimize your listing, and even cater your marketing to customers. It’s Free and Easy! Perhaps the best draw to signing up for a Google My Business listing is that it’s free! You can easily sign up for an account, and be up and running before you know it. You can then monitor the growth of your business with ease anytime, anywhere by downloading the GMB app, taking a lot of the guesswork out of marketing your small business. It’s a win-win for your bottom line! Get GMB Assistance Today The NPI marketing team is always here to help you with Google My Business. For help setting up your account and making sure your listing is polished and ready for customers, contact us at marketing@npiweb.com. About the Author Adam Kiesel, Digital Marketing Assistant Adam's responsibilities on the NPI, Inc. Marketing Team include content creation for our websites, blogs and social media accounts. He also works on informational items to be sent to current and prospective franchisees. Adam joined the staff at NPI in 2020. Comments are closed.