You can raise your hand if you recall the days when Mum and Dad would flip through the Yellow Pages to find the number of their favourite take-out place. Then again, no. Thank god for the Internet!

Yellow Pages are useless today. You can’t find anything in the Yellow Pages except for a fire kindling or a squat-weight. Never fear! There is a new book on the market to fill the dark void left by the death of the Australian Business Bible.

Introduce yourself. Your Google Listing

“So, kiddos… who’s feeling like pizza tonight?”

Do you understand how this is 500x faster than flipping through an entire textbook? Come on!

You’re not here to read the Yellow Pages! Last year, I attended an event hosted by Google Digital Garage for businesses who wanted to get the most from their My Business listing. The event taught me how to create and maintain a business listing that converts well. And because I am a gem, I want to share this knowledge with you.

This blog will teach you:

• Create your Google listing
• Google Listings: How to Make Your Listing Effective
• Google Insights: How to measure the results of your campaign

Does your Google listing matter?

Before digital, the Yellow Pages brought businesses to Australian homes. The Yellow Pages were the way we located a business’s phone number, address and hours of operation. You only have so much room on your refrigerator for magnets. You could use it when your car broke, you were searching for a dry cleaner, or you needed to bake a cake for a party. Google is the answer to all your questions in today’s world… roll the tape!

According to Google, Australian businesses that have high digital engagement include:

Revenue growth is 1.5x more likely.

Exporters are 7x more likely than importers to export

Innovators are 14x more likely than the average person to innovate

You can also find out more about

Enjoy 1.6x higher revenue per employee

Search connects people and businesses in a way that has never been seen before.

82% of smartphone owners use a search engine to find local businesses.

The interest in “near-me” searches has increased by 3x.

76% of consumers look at several businesses before deciding on a company.

Customers use this method to find out your phone number the most.

And do you want to guess how the majority of people find your company online? … It’s GOOGLE!

How to set up your Google listing

• Google My Business – Get Started OR, if you have a listing already in place, Sign in.
• It may appear (like in our screenshot below). You may see it (as in the screenshot below). It doesn’t matter if it does not. Click through to create another one.
• When you choose your ‘Category,’ you should be as precise as possible. This will tell Google what you do/sell and help people find your website.
• Attention: Pay attention to your address. You should still enter the location even if you do not have an office. In the checkboxes, you can select to show only your suburb, radius, or city. It’s easy!
• Google offers you multiple options to verify your business. Do I really have to do this? Decide for yourself:

Google gives 5x the business to verified businesses compared with non-verified ones.

Optimising Your Google Listing

When setting up or editing your Google listing, you should pay extra attention to certain areas. This will help you stand out from retailers who have just listed their business and never looked back.

Photos

“90% more customers will visit a business with photos in the Search/Maps results page.”

A picture can say more than a thousand words. Use high-quality photos to showcase your product, store and interactions with your customers.

Posts

You might remember Google+. It was Google’s first attempt at a social network, and it did not go well. Google has not tried the social platform again since then, but you can still upload posts to your listing. Imagine Instagram in the search results.

Uploading photos or status updates is a good way to establish credibility, show off products and announce exciting news. You can also share any current promotions or sales to your listing. This is a great tool to get shoppers into the store!

Contact Options

There are four default options for contacting you on your Google listing: Call (or Directions), Website, and Ask A Question. Google gives users the ability to message you directly. You can allow your customers to send you a direct message. Download the Google My Business App on your smartphone and turn on this feature!

Measuring your results with Google My Business insights

Google is the best at simplifying analytics, so they have made it super easy for you to get your search insights. Thank you, Googs. Keep an eye on the insights to see how your listing is doing and whether or not your paid advertising or search strategy is working.

Improve metrics to answer these questions.

What search terms are they using? What search terms are they using?

How many people have viewed your listing?

What is their interaction with the listing? Do they want directions? Are they calling? Messaging? Take a look at your photos.

What are the busiest days?

Set yourself benchmarks, and strive to improve each week. You must strive to be better than yesterday.

What’s the takeaway? If you want to reach the tiny portion of people who still use Yellow Pages, then don’t bother. You should focus on your Google listing.

Google Garage

It’s easy to spend hours searching the web for information on Google’s services…or go straight to the source. Google’s Digital Garage can be a valuable resource for business owners, managers, and marketers. You’ll find videos and quizzes on topics like Google Analytics, productivity and SEO. It’s a great resource and worth checking out.

We’re here to assist you, of course. You can contact us with any questions or suggestions for blog topics. I love a fun fact. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions, blog topic suggestions, or fun facts. (I love good fun facts!