Nowadays, it is hard to find someone who doesn’t use the internet to find their local business, and according to the data, 86.66% of web users use Google. Therefore, utilizing Google’s tools for businesses like “Google My Business” is vital for any businesses’ marketing.
Google My Business (GMB) is a free, very simple to use marketing tool that lets you manage your free business listing. The listing appears when an internet user searches for your business on Google Search and Google Maps.
The importance of having a GMB listing for your business and optimizing it to its full potential cannot be overemphasized. It is crucial for a solid digital marketing strategy. GMB listing is more than just a business listing. It offers powerful features that not only enhance your business’s online presence crucial to local SEO. But also let you engage and interact with your customers, thus improving your customer’s experience.
Why Google My Business Is Powerful Marketing Tool For Businesses
Some of the benefits of having a GMB listing are:
Easy to find your business
The directions to your business are only a click away on the listing.
Useful information about your business
Publicize your business details and description, opening and closing times, you can add products and services your business offers, inform your customers of amenities on your premises, and much more!
Gives credibility to your business
Getting reviews on GMB builds trust in your brand, and the customer reviews help your potential customers in their decision making before purchase.
Engage with your customers
Your customers can send you messages via GMB, upload photos of your business, request a quote, book an appointment, and leave you reviews.
Create & post content
The best way to interact with your customers and drive new ones is by sharing news or making important business announcements, or sharing a post about helpful tips on your products and services. The GMB lets you post content that appears on the listing.
Business insights
GMB insights are a fantastic way to learn about your business search performance and user behavior on your listing. For instance, you can learn:
- How many users visited your listing
- How many users clicked on your website and made phone calls via GMB listing
- How many users asked for directions to your premises
- Top keywords used by users to search for your business
How To Sign-up Or Claim Your Google My Business Listing
GMB is very user friendly and relatively simple to use. A mailing address is required to sign up for the GMB listing, but you can choose to keep the address private from the public. Follow these steps to sign-up for GMB:
- You will need a Google account to sign-up for GMB. If you do not have one or do not want to associate your personal account with your business, you can create a new Google account.
- To sign-up for GMB, visit https://www.google.com/business/. Click on Manage Now and sign in to your Google account if you are not already logged in.
- Enter the name of your business. If your business listing already exists, you can claim it, or if it doesn’t, you can click on Add your business to Google and fill out your business details.
- Verify your business. Google will mail you a letter containing a verification code to the address you have provided to Google My Business. Once you receive the letter, simply sign in to your GMB account and verify your listing by confirming the code.
- Optimize your listing to take full advantage of your Google My Business.
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