Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hours a day. Zig Ziglar
Now you are probably wondering what this means. I came up with this term a few years back when I was running my own digital agency and doing everything digital for clients. I liked my agency, but my heart was in helping small businesses get the basics right. If the foundation of the house is set correctly, then it's easy to build the walls and the roof!
My 'aha' moment was that every small business foundation is a local search. It all starts with getting mapped locally. My friend owns a café located in Atlanta, Georgia. They are tucked away on an inside street in a quaint neighborhood and have several coffee shops around, including the giants like Starbucks.
Our strategy was to create a local brand for them by doing an excellent job of making sure their Google My Business (GMB) was set up 100% and that postings on GMB were fresh and themed. We ensured they had a well-done set up in Yelp as well. That was the game-changer for them.
I did the very same thing for a cigar lounge when I first found them. Their Google Maps was pinned to a grass patch of the strip mall. After we set their GMB up correctly by following all the prompts on the GMB platform, they started noticing a steady flow of new customers from the hotels nearby. They were getting a lot of female clients who were coming in after searching 'cigar lounge near me' or 'cigars near me' and buying the full box of cigars as gifts for their loved ones. This was a whole new set of unique customers that the store never thought they would attract. This is why GMB is so powerful and helpful to a local business owner. You will never always know who is looking for what and when.
These are some of my incredible experiences that help fulfill my passion for assisting small businesses.
Google My Business
For businesses to gain more visibility on Google, they create a Google Business listing known as a Business Profile. If you are a business owner, you need to know that creating a Business Profile will not give you management over it. You will need those management and editing skills if you want your Business Profile to work as an effective SEO and lead generation tool.
A Google My Business account is the only way you can claim ownership of your business profile, get your rights to it, and unlock any other free features to increase your visibility on Google. Let's begin with these basics.
So your business profile is Google's term for your Google business listing. Business profiles show up on Google Maps and in the local results of Google search. Creating a business profile is almost the same as adding a place to Google Maps. Anyone can do it!
All that Google needs is a name, a location, and a category. Once Google confirms that it is not a duplicate, it will create the business profile for that specific location. The business profile is then open to consumers to leave photos, reviews, questions, and even answer questions regarding your business.
A business profile can also be populated with information that Google gets from the web. This means that a business profile is capable of existing on its own apart from the Google My Business account. And despite you creating your own business profile or not, you do not have the authority to manage the information that it displays or the reviews that it collects. This is the point where Google My Business comes in. By creating a Google My Business account, you can easily access, customize, manage, and enhance your business profile on Google for free.
