Google My Business or Google Maps is the most effective, free marketing tool in today’s digital world. Making sure that your map is claimed or verified is absolutely necessary for today’s marketplace. The easiest way to check whether your business is claimed and verified is to go to www.google.com/business/ and login with your Gmail account. If your business shows up, that’s great news. If not, follow the directions and process of claiming your business.
Claiming your Google My Business listing
The following are the basic steps to claiming your business on Google My Business or Google Maps:
- Claim your business on Google.
- Make sure that the map displays correctly.
- Focus on using keywords as you fill out the introduction.
- Use pictures and video. Make them as dynamic as possible. Name them with keywords.
- Fill out your page completely. Make sure that you have ‘cover photo’ and ‘profile photo’
- Make sure that the map displays correctly.
- Post articles and other content just like your Facebook business page.
- Focus on getting customer reviews. Google loves reviews.
- Think about running Google Adwords to drive traffic to your GMB page or your website
More effective than Facebook Advertising or Google Adwords
Did you know that on a search results page, the Google My Business/Google Maps listings are the first to show after paid advertisements or Google Adwords? The Google Maps listing conveniently shows searchers the information from your Google My Business (GMB) page including: customer reviews, your website address, your business hours, photos of your business, your address (which is tied into the Google Maps app on your phone), blog posts, business description, and most importantly, your contact information. Essentially, this listing gives your potential customers the information they need to easily make decisions.