Google My Business is a de facto requirement for all modern companies. When a potential customer does a Google search on your business, the trust-building process begins with what they see. A Google My Business listing will lend credibility to your company, as well as provide necessary information that a customer needs to know, such as hours, photos, and contact information.
Creating a Listing
- To create your listing, you’re going to start by going to google.com/business and clicking Manage Now.
- From there, you click Manage Locations and click Add Location. After typing in the name of your business, you choose a category that fits your business and add a location if you have a physical storefront. If you, like some, work out of your home or don’t have a business address, Cultivate offers packages that give you a suite number to use as your business location. In the case of multiple businesses in the same location, such as in a coworking space, you click the option that says “This doesn’t match.” You will select if you serve customers outside your location, as well as enter the areas that you serve.
- Then, you will be prompted to add contact information. This information will help build customer trust and encourage customers to take the first step in engaging your business, so you should input as much information as possible.
- After that, you click finish, and it will ask you to verify your location by mail. Google will mail a postcard to your listed address with a code to verify that it is your business.
Adding Information to Your Listing
Once you’ve created your listing, you can go in and add or change information. Starting on the home screen, you click on your business and navigate to the info tab. From there you can edit the information you have already put in if you made a mistake or if it changes, such as the name, location, service area, and phone number of your business. You can also add or change your business’ hours.
Adding Photos to Your Listing
After you have created your Google My Business listing, you need to add photos. Photos help customers recognize your business through its logo and physical appearance, which helps to build customer trust. To do this, you click the photos tab, and then on the plus sign in the upper right-hand corner. This will open up a box for you to either drag photos or open up your files. Once you find the photo you want, you click on it and click open, and it will show up in your listing.
Adding Services to Your Listing
It is important to make your listing more complete by adding the services your business provides, as well as other relevant information. When clicking on the info tab, you will see that there are several different fields for information. While you can fill out as many as you want, we typically recommend filling in at least a few. We strongly suggest filling in your business categories and writing a description of your business to better explain to potential customers what you do.
Managing Your Google Reviews
Your Google My Business listing also allows customers to review your business. Reviews lend credibility to your business and allow you to see what you should improve upon. You can access your reviews from the reviews tab of your listing. You can also reply to your reviews by clicking the reply button. If the review is positive, you can let the customer know that you appreciate their support, and if the review is negative you have the option of apologizing or asking the customer for constructive criticism to fix a mistake.
This lesson, along with a step-by-step video walkthrough and demonstration, are available when you sign up to be a Cultivate member.