So you’ve taken the plunge by quitting your 9-5 job to run your own business. It takes courage to take that step, but it takes prudence, planning and patience to make it successful. If you have a website, great, but it might take a while to rank locally in your area for certain keywords since it takes time for SEO to work effectively in your favor.
The winning strategy would be to focus on creating your Google My Business (GMB) Account since it’s one of the easiest ways for customers to find out more information about your business online. If you already know all about GMB then great, just follow this Google My Business Checklist and expand your online presence! But, if this is the first time you’ve heard of it then read on to discover more about GMB and why it’s so effective.
What is Google My Business?
GMB is a local listing service. Whenever you type in a product or service into Google, local business listings will appear in the form of a map which typically lists 3 businesses underneath. This is referred to as the ‘3 pack’ and it should be every business’s priority to get into this cluster.
Why Do You Need a GMB Listing?
GMB is an effective way of bringing in customers and boosting your local SEO. Half the battle of running a business is trying to stand out from the crowd in order to generate more revenue. If leveraged effectively, it can be a powerful tool for generating more business.
The Rise in Mobile Search
The rise of smartphones has changed the nature of the playing field, with mobile search now overtaking desktop. According to Google, more than 50% of search queries come from mobile devices.
What does this mean for local businesses?
It makes mobile visibility crucial; GMB is integral to that since these local business listings dominate mobile search results and it’s easy to see how. Next time you type in a product or service into your smartphone, you’ll notice that the GMB listings will take up most of the space on SERPs and that you’ll have to scroll past them before reaching the organic listings.
Gives You More Credibility
People have become more accustomed to Google My Business and sometimes use it as a reference point to check the credibility of a business. The listings make everything look more professional as well as providing important information that can enhance the credibility of your business. Quite often, people will look to GMB reviews before choosing which business to purchase from.
In addition, being able to implement an effective local link-building strategy will help your business stand out from the rest. Outreach has become a bit of an art recently, due to the sheer competitiveness of link-building. Google has also become more astute at picking up black-hat SEO techniques in generating links, so the whole process is a bit more complex now. Looking to digital agencies such as Click Intelligence would be a wise investment since this is an area of SEO that they specialize in. Have a look at their website at clickintelligence.co to see how they can help your link-building strategy.
Learn More About Your Customers
In an era where everything is digitally focused, being able to gather important data has never been so easily accessible. Google provides useful data around your listings which you can use to understand more about your customer’s behavior. For example, you can find out how people discovered your listing as well as their actions taken after they viewed it.
This can help you build rapport with your target market, as well as identify what areas of your business you need to work on in order to improve your conversions.
