Personally, the first place I look for local businesses, restaurants, or services is google. I’m sure that’s true for most of us. I’m always disappointed how many small business owners don’t claim their business on google to update their website, hours, and contact information!
Not only does this information help customers, but you can track how many views your business receives and see how many people are calling you without visiting your website.
For example, one of my clients found that over half of the site views were coming from clicks on their local business card in google searches. And many times, the client will just click the “Call Now” button before visiting the site (you know you’ve done this a bunch of times!).
Fortunately, setting up the local business card is super simple… and completely free! All you need is a free gmail account, not even the Google Suite (which only costs $5/month, but more on that in another post).
Ok. Let’s get started!
What is a Google Business listing?
Have you seen this little box when searching for local businesses?
Or this listing of businesses matching your local search:
Or if you’re looking on a cell phone you’ll see this version:
That little “CALL” button is probably the most important aspect of this box. Many, many customers just click the call button to contact the business before viewing anything else.
Of course, they also visit the website by clicking website the website button. As a google-searching customer, I assume the information in this card is accurate. For many small business, it’s not. If you haven’t claimed your business, google might be pulling your hours or website from whatever sources they can find. I’ve seen listings with the wrong hours, an old website, or without a phone number
Since setting this up is completely free, you shouldn’t let this happen! You want it to be easy for your customers to find and contact you! Don’t direct them to the wrong information.
Claiming your business:
I can easily tell if a business hasn’t been claimed by this one statement on the business listing:
If you own the business, you can click “own this business?” to start the process. Google will ask you to confirm your address by sending a post card with a verification code to the business address.
However, while you’re waiting for the card, you can start updating the information! Google will just ask that you log in with a google account.
Maybe you’re opening a new business:
- Sign in to google with your gmail account
- Go to this address
- Click START NOW!
Enter your address and follow the steps! It’s so so simple!
Lost access to your listing?
If you’ve claimed your business listing in the past, but can’t remember the login information, try the support page below to recover the email address:
If someone verified your business account, but they’re not the real owner/ no longer the owner, try the support page below to request admin rights:
You’ve claimed your business! Now what?
Update the hours, make sure the website and contact info is correct, add photos of your shop!
If you’re interest in purchasing GSuite for your business and creating a professional email presence, send me an email below, and I’ll send you a promo code for 20% off!
Need help with your website?
I can help you create a beautiful website, show up in google searches, and bring in new customers through great content!
Send me an email below to discuss what you need:
