Problem: Getting found
One of the most important aspects of a small business is getting found by new customers. If customers cannot find you, then you will not have any new clients use your services or purchase your products. This applies not only to yourself as a marketing agency, but to your clients as well. In today’s digital world, there are so many ways for your business to get noticed, whether it be organic or paid. Today, I am going to give you the first step on how to be found, and it happens to be free.
Solution: Google my business
Let’s face it, SEO is scary. Not only can it be expensive, but sometimes the organic process can take forever and requires monthly, if not weekly, tender love and care. There are also hundreds of factors that go into SEO, yet it is the most effective way of being found as a business.
To begin our journey of getting found, we are going to start with the most basic SEO strategy available by the universe’s biggest search provider, Google.
Formerly Google+, Google My Business gives your business a powerful way to be found. Google My Business features a built in profile that appears to the right of a user’s search results and shows the following information:
- Business name
- Business address
- Business telephone number
- Business logo
- Photographs of your business
- One-click direction, call and website buttons
- Popular times
- Hours of operation
- Reviews
All of the above information is tracked by Google using their mighty analytics and gives the business an accurate pulse on how often customers are looking for them. Without this profile, a business is severely hampering its growth.
What is required to create a Google My Business?
Google requires that you have a brick and mortar business location. If you do not have one that is fine, there are many options out there.
You can locate a Post Office Box that does not use a “P.O. Box” in its address or you can see if a local office building in your area has a virtual tenant program. Google does not approve businesses for Google My Business profiles…