By Jim Clanin
Your Google My Business profile supplies an inexpensive, effective way to communicate with a large number of prospective customers in your immediate vicinity. Don’t overlook the value of this presently free resource in helping you promote customer reviews about your firm! Whether you rely upon reputation management services or private listings, customer reviews increasingly influence the way online visitors perceive businesses. This brief article discusses Google My Business and some of the ways you might consider requesting customer input to enhance your firm’s Internet visibility on a local level.
About Google My Business
Reportedly, the roots of Google My Business lie in Google Local, a directory for businesses launched in March, 2004. The release of Google Maps in early 2005 boosted the utility of local searches for consumers. By March, Google encouraged businesses to update their listings on Google Local. The site gradually amassed extensive data about commercial sites around the world. The formal launch of Google My Business did not occur until June, 2014. It allows businesses to display their profile and streamline their information during online searches.
Businesses need to log into their Google account in order to claim (or create) their Google My Business profile. Currently, Google does not charge firms for a listing. It appears automatically when customers perform a search for your firm using the Google search engine. For this reason, consider keeping important contact information current on your profile. You also have the capability to add some text and pictures.
Sharing Customer Reviews
Reportedly, businesses may display customer reviews with their Google My Business profiles. This process allows people conducting online searches to easily locate customer feedback about a variety of businesses. Whether you utilize Google My Business or other review sites, urging customers to leave reviews online usually holds benefits. It may reassure prospective new customers about the quality of an unfamiliar firm’s goods and services.
Politely asking a customer to leave an online review after any sales transaction provides a practical way to increase the number of online reviews concerning your company. Taking this action might ultimately boost your website rank when people using search engines hunt within a specified geographic area for the types of goods or services you supply. (Make sure you request the permission of prospective reviewers to use their review online on behalf of your enterprise, of course.)
Promoting Businesses in The Information Age
The popularity and power of search engines assists consumers. Millennial shoppers in particular frequently rely upon online resources to collect information about businesses of possible interest to them. By using Google My Business and online review sites wisely, marketers gain an important tool for increasing their profiles within specific markets!
