Google My Business (GMB) is one of the most important platforms you need to register for if you’re doing an offline business.
When you search for something on Google Search or Maps, you see various local places in there. These details are displayed there because they have filled in all the information on Google My Business.
It allows you to display the card view in the Google search and it displays the open-close hours, money, products, services, etc. in the Maps.
Above all, it also allows your customers to contact you directly through Google. You might have seen a few options where you can contact any business, this is because they have verified their profile on GMB. Let’s see the benefits of GMB.
Benefits of Google MY Business
There are multiple benefits of Google My Business. One of them is that you get a digital presence without having to create a website. It gives you a huge boost in the local search. Local search includes all the terms where people have either included a location or they are looking for a place “near me”. Let’s see the various benefits of Google My Business.
(a) Promote Products, Services, and Brand Name
The first benefit you will get is the branding. Your business’ branding will be done through Google My Business. When someone searches for your brand name, Google displays a small card on the sidebar that shows them about your brand.
If it’s a local search, you will also see your business displayed in the search. Local search is anything that has a location or includes terms like “near me”.
Further, it allows you to promote your products and services. Google has introduced a useful section where businesses can add products or services to their business.
So, whenever someone searches for a business, they will also see your product or services. If you’re a restaurant, you can add a menu as well.
Adding your products and services is a lot more beneficial as people are looking for a specific product or service sometimes, if your business provides the same, you will make a sale. If multiple people are searching for the same service or product, your Google business listing will be on the top for that particular product or service.
This is why you need to add your products and services to the business whenever possible. That’s how you can make the most revenue.
(b) Local Business Leads
Business leads are the core benefit that will help you make revenue. Google My Business will allow the users to contact you directly. They can either message you directly on the listing or they can use your other contact details to contact you.
We will talk more about contact details in the next section. As of now, let’s talk about the business leads.
The Google algorithm works nicely. Say, for instance, you’re a hardware store in X street. If someone searches for a hardware store on the same street, Google will show them multiple options.
However, if your store is registered in GMB, Google will show your store with priority. So, your store will appear 1st in the list, unlike others. This will allow you to get more business leads.
It will even be helpful when someone searches for the terms in Google search and not the Maps. Google will showcase your business info in a card even if you don’t have a website. Your customers can visit your store using the address provided in the listing. This brings us to the next point.
(c) Publish Address and Contact Details
You can publish your address and other contact information on Google My Business for customers to contact you.
There are mainly three options that you will see in the listing. The customer can get directions to your office or shop. By this, they can visit your store without getting distracted. If your store is near them, Google will show your store first. So, you will get the offline leads with it.
Along with this, there are options to either call the business directly or you can even visit their website.
The best part is that Google My Business even allows you to add multiple office addresses. So, if you are a logistics company, you will surely have multiple offices and warehouses in different parts of cities or states. In that case, you can add as many addresses as you want in the listing.
This allows the customers to find the nearest office to you. So, they can provide their parcel or goods to your nearest office in the easiest way. The number you provide can be different for all the offices. So, if someone searches the office near X street, they will get the number of the same office. With this, your customers can easily visit you or contact you.
(d) Sponserd Business Listing
Sponsored business listing is the best way to grow your business most easily. As you know, digital marketing allows you to grow your business at a faster speed.
With paid ads and other things, your business will grow at scale. Your business listing will show at the top of the pages even though there are other businesses with better reviews. It will also show a tag called “Sponsored”.
However, most people will select the first link and visit your store.
It’s a paid campaign you can run with your preferred budget. For most businesses, it’s highly recommended to run sponsored business listings. Sponsored Google business listing will surely cost you some money, but the results you get are surely worth it.
So, you can start the campaign with the least amount of budget and then increase the budget as you grow. This is how you can get started with the sponsored business listing.
If you’re an extremely small business with no bigger budget, you can first publish the Google business listing and wait for a while to see the results. Thereafter, you can start promoting the listing.
Conclusion
To conclude, Google My Business is a very useful platform you should register if you’re doing an offline business. If you have a store or a location, it’s kind of a mandatory listing you need to create if you want to grow. It will allow you to ensure that your business has the right amount of branding and you’re not losing any customers. You can get services from a software company for Google My Business to ensure that you’re ranked properly and that you do it in the right way.
Rishit Bhatt is a content strategist and a professional writer with a keen interest in technology and tech-enabled businesses. He aims to help businesses integrate tech into their on-premises infrastructure with technical documentation and helpful articles.