Google My Business Listing – A Must have for every Business!

Google My Business is a new dashboard which replaces Google Places for Business and Google+ Local. Google has experimented with both platforms in the past, which has left many business owners feeling confused and frustrated. The new Google My Business dashboard eliminates this confusion by allowing you to manage your company information across all of Google’s platforms, including Search, Maps, and Google+.

Your listing appears right when people are searching for your business or businesses like yours on Google Search or Maps. Google My Business makes it easy to create and update your listing—so you can stand out, and bring customers in.

Anyone with a physical address for their business can set up a Google My Business Page. You do not need a website, just a physical address and phone number. Cool right?

BENEFITS OF A GOOGLE MY BUSINESS PROFILE

1. Search Engine & Maps Visibility: Google My Business gives you first page and top ranking on google search results and maps; as when people search for keywords relating to your business, your listing shows at top of organic search results (whether or not you have a website).
2. Manage how customers view your business: Google My Business allows you take charge of what people see when they search for your business. GMB gives you the tools to update your listing, build a website, and engage with your customers from your phone, tablet or computer. All for Free.
3. Convenience: With Google My Business, you can manage your listing, website, photos reviews from anywhere and at any time – via the mobile app (compatible with Android or iOS) or via a computer.
4. Keep your info updated so people can find you: Need to adjust your hours for the holidays? Or add a new phone number? Make changes in a few easy steps with Google My Business, and your listing will update across Search and Maps.
5. Turn snapshots into sales: Draw in new customers with photos of your products or favourite menu items—pictures show what’s unique about your business, and you can add as many as you like. Your google photos can automatically synchronize with your listing.
6. Build loyalty by starting a conversation: Reviews are now a two-way conversation between you and your customers—be the first to know when you get a new review so you can respond right away.

FEATURES IN A GOOGLE MY BUSINESS ACCOUNT

1. Free Website: With Google My Business, you can create a simple website that looks great in under ten minutes. It’s completely free and easy to create and edit from your computer and phone. Your free website is super simple to set up, and it includes powerful features designed to help drive more customers to your business.Below are some benefits of a GMB website.
   1. Mobile ready: With its responsive design, your website automatically adjusts to look great on every screen whether it’s a computer, a tablet or a phone
   2. Custom domain: Get a custom domain name so that your website reflects your business.
   3. Automatic updates: Your website automatically updates with info on your Google listing, so it’s always up-to-date.
   4. Manage on the go: Create and manage your website from any device, so you can make changes quickly.
   5. Drive calls and visits: With your phone number and Google Maps location prominently displayed, customers will always know how to find you.
   6. Ads-ready: Bring more customers to your site with AdWords Express—your site is designed to drive customer actions.
2. Insights: The Insights feature allows you to access analytics reports and data so that you can understand how your Google My Business profile is performing. You can view the number of views your pages are getting, the number of times people are clicking through to your primary website, and the number of times people ask for driving directions so that they can visit your establishment. With Insights, you can:
   1. You can also view engagement on each of your social posts.
   2. Also, you can get some insight on your Google+ followers.
   3. Understand your customer community.
   4. See which photos are getting noticed.
3. Posts: Just like you do on social media or a blog (on a website), you can create short posts on GMB that shows under your listing in search results. Posts allow you to:
   1. Bring in business by sharing what’s new: Reach beyond just your followers—give everyone searching for your business a reason to come in by posting updates and offers directly to your local listing on Google.
   2. Create repeat business with regular updates: Give customers more reasons to come back by posting daily specials or seasonal updates to your listing.
4. AdWords Express: If you use PPC campaigns to drive traffic to your business website, you’ll really enjoy this more user-friendly AdWords interface. Before Google My Business you would have had to go to a separate login page to access AdWords, but now you can create, launch, activate, and deactivate ads in the same place that you are managing the rest of your Google marketing efforts. You can easily track your ad’s performance from the AdWords dashboard, as well.

HOW TO GET STARTED

1. First, visit the following link: http://www.google.com/business.
2. If you already have a Google Places or Google+ Local account, just sign in. Your listing should have automatically been upgraded to Google My Business. You’ll be taken to the new dashboard, which I’ll show you in a moment.
3. If you’ve never done anything with Google before, then you’ll need to choose the “Get on Google” button. You’ll be taken to the following screen:

GMB VERIFICATION

Verification is a very important aspect of Google My Business, it allows your listing show up in search results on maps and search, allows people review you and allows you access to your page insights.

You can get verified by mail to your physical address or by a trusted verifier in person

TIPS ON UTILIZING GOOGLE MY BUSINESS EFFECTIVELY

1. Use Your Legal Business Name
2. Use Your Physical Address
3. Use Your Local Phone Number
4. Add Hours of Operation
5. Create a Detailed Overview of Your Business
6. Complete your listing 100%
7. Get Rid of Duplicate Listings
8. Encourage Customer Reviews