Google My Business is Google’s free and easy-to-use tool that allows businesses to find customers through Search and Maps. It’s widely considered the most effective tool for companies to manage their online presence online, and nailing down a basic strategy can do wonders for online traffic and business lead generation.
Not sure how to get started? We won’t leave you hanging from a limb! Read on for step-by-step instructions that will empower your business to forge through the online jungle and beat off competitors. 🦍🌴
How to Set Up Google My Business
1.Create a new listing
2.Add your business location and contact details
3.Verify and publish your listing
4.Add your business operating hours
5.Enter your goods and services offered
6.Add photos and videos
7.Manage and respond to reviews
8.Create a posting strategy
Don’t go ape over all the steps above, they’re quick and easy to knock out with a little help. We’re here to walk you through every step of the way to protect your crown as king of the jungle with your digital strategy.
Let’s get started:
1. Create a new listing
If your business has been around for a few years, it’s very likely there’s already a GMB listing waiting to be claimed. Not sure? You can check in a few seconds through this useful tool.
For newer businesses, you’ll have to create one from scratch. Don’t worry, it’s easy and can be done in a few minutes. You’ll fill out input fields with business information such as the legal business name, address, phone number, category, and more.
Tip from the Gorilla: When filling out the above information, make sure it’s grammatically correct with proper spelling to ensure accuracy.
2. Add your business location and contact details
Next, you’ll enter information that lets your customers know how best to do business with you. Do you operate out of a brick-and-mortar storefront? Do you offer delivery? Do you provide at-home services for customers? All of these are critical questions that you need to communicate easily.
The service area feature is important for both search listing results and Google Map results, pulling up as a location within those designated areas.
3. Verify and publish your listing
Once you’ve submitted your business details, location, and service areas, you’ll need to verify your listing. This is an important step in the Google My Business listing creation process because it adds a level of credibility to your listing. It also provides Google with the reassurance it needs that you’re a legitimate business.
The easiest way to do it is verification by phone number. By providing your business’s phone number, Google sends an automated call to have you verify your business.
Tip from the Gorilla: Make sure you turn off your phone menu system before phone verification. The GMB robot can’t dial numbers!
If you have an issue with phone verification, you can also do it via text, a registered business email, or good old fashioned snail mail. Once you verify your account, your edits and postings will be live, and you’re able to view your listing insights and analytics on the backend.
4. Add your business operating hours
Keeping your operating hours accurate has never been more important than now. Google My Business has an extra feature to call out holiday hours, allowing the public to learn about reduced or closed operations due to national holidays and other occasions. This feature is a key step to keep customers happy and informed of the ins and outs of your company.
5. Enter your goods and services offered
Here’s the part of your profile where you can go wild with the details. By filling out your popular products on your listing, you’re not only adding more keywords and SEO points to your profile. You’re also giving customers a chance to do some online window shopping.
You can also do this through the highlights feature, which can bring attention to detail critical business components such as women leadership or contactless delivery, as well as with your business description.
6. Add photos and videos
There are several important parts of your profile when it comes to photography. The three most important are your business profile picture with the company logo, a cover photo, and spotlight photos.
Using your company logo as your profile picture helps with brand recognition, and it’s the number one tip recommended by Google! This is also shown when responding to customer reviews.
Use a cover photo to show off your brand’s personality — feel free to go bananas and have fun with it!
More photos or videos posted onto your listing are used to spotlight your business. Whether they’re trendy, popular products, new arrivals, a moody snap of the interior of your building, or highlighting your employees, you can’t go wrong. It allows the person on the other side of the screen to get a feel for your business and what it’s about.
Tip from the Gorilla: When uploading photos, make sure they’re as high quality as possible, and only uploaded in JPG or PNG formats. Photos should be in focus and well lit. Avoid using filters! When uploading videos, make sure they’re high quality as well!
7. Manage and respond to reviews
Managing and responding to customer reviews is a critical part of upkeep and optimizing your Google My Business profile. Dedicating time and energy to get new Google reviews can be extremely rewarding, using your existing customers as your biggest advocates online.
You can get Google reviews by directly asking them during the point of sale, adding a review link to your email signature, and encouraging reviews through in-store signage.
You can also add your Google reviews to your website, link to them on social media, and more.
Tip from the Gorilla: Responding to every review, positive or negative, is a crucial part of the maintenance process. Customers want to feel valued, heard, and know that their feedback matters!
8. Create a posting strategy
Lastly, you’ll want to nail down a concrete posting strategy for your Google My Business listing. As one of the most difficult aspects of Google to upkeep, you can get creative here and draw a lot of attention to your listing when done right! These can call out special sales, new product arrivals, in-store promotions, events, and more.
If you’re struggling with Google My Business management, whether it’s one location or hundreds, we can help bring your listing to the top of the map.
