The world of online marketing is limitless, as most potential customers today use the internet to search for practices, read reviews and learn more about your business. This is the first article of a marketing series that shares practical information many successful businesses use today as well as our own marketing experience.
As a major digital marketing player, Google is our first discussion in this series. Adding your practice to Google is free, easy and absolutely essential to getting discovered and marketing your services. Here are a few tips to optimize your practice with Google:
There are multiple ways to get your business on Google.
While Google My Business allows you to create a basic business listing (making your practice easy to find on Maps), your Places page now appears as a basic Google+ page. But signing up for Google+ Business enhances your practice even more, allowing customers to interact with you and allowing you to interact with customers – with deals, updates, photos and videos. With all of these Google marketing options, Google My Business acts as your dashboard for managing and tracking your online presence.
Description is everything.
The most basic description begins with your business name, where you can add one to three words that give potential customers an idea of what you have to offer without having to click on anything. Once these customers click, they can find a more detailed description on your profile, where you can include simple, quick-read messaging like bullets and a few sentences that sum up who you are, what you do and why customers need you (you can also include links and special offers). Be careful to not overdo it. Keep the buzzwords to a minimum and write it to flow naturally, you don’t want to sound like a robot.
A picture is worth a thousand customers.
One of the great things about putting your business on Google is that it allows you to customize your profile with photos, and your cover photo is the most important. By designing a banner-like photo, your cover image can act as a sign for your business, communicating who you are and what you do with a visual. Other than your business name and contact information, this photo can act as a first impression, so make it count.
Stay easy to find.
Google knows all, so chances are your business already exists in their directory – you just need to claim it. If not, adding businesses is easy. You will need to register your practice within the city of its physical address, get verified, and then you can start customizing your business listing. These customizations include information like parking, brands carried, hours of operation, contact info, photos and more. The more details you have, the more professional your business will come across.
Stay tuned for our next article in this series, where we’ll discuss how Google+ can enhance your web presence beyond your business listing.
