Google My Business 101

1. How to Set Up or Claim your GMB account

The first thing you need to do is search your company name and city on Google and see if there is a profile that pops up on the right-hand side.

If a profile does not pop up then you will need to create an account from scratch. 

If a profile DOES pop up and you never created it and don’t have access to it, you need to click on “Own this Business?” so you can claim it.

2. Remove Duplicate GMB accounts

In the case where you have multiple GMB accounts for your business, you need to delete the duplicate one. All you need to do is: 

• Open Google Maps and log in to your account.
• Find the location you want to report.
• Click on the ‘Suggest an edit’ button.
• Mark the location as ‘Place is permanently closed or never existed’.
• When the reason is asked, select ‘Duplicate’.
• Now click on the ‘Submit’ button to confirm your action.

3. How to Manage your GMB account

Once you have a GMB account there are some key things you need to do to optimize the profile.

1. Ensure the NAP on your GMB is the same on all web properties
2. Create a listing for every product/service you offer
3. Fully fill out the ‘info’ section

4. How to Promote your GMB account

Just having a GMB account created isn’t enough, you need to take advantage of all it’s free promotion

1. Add link to your website
2. Creating weekly article posts
3. Posting photos and video
4. Creating special offers
5. Events

5. How to Generate GMB Reviews

Getting Google Reviews is vital to your success in local search. Here is what you need to do:

1. Get the ‘Google Review Share Link’ on your GMB dashboard so you can give it to your customers
2. Create a list of all your past and current customers, in Excel or Google Sheets
3. Send out a short text message to each of them, with the Review link
4. Send a follow up text a few days later
5. Note in your spreadsheet all the people you texted who ended up writing a review
6. Send an email to everyone who didn’t write a review after getting your text messages
7. Send two more follow up emails.

Closing Thoughts

Google my business is free promotion for your business. And, you can’t get Google Reviews unless you have your GMB profile created. It’s a no-brainer. And if you are already signed up, optimize your account and start creating posts and requesting reviews!

Conclusion

If you need help with your website my company Clear Imaging has been helping small business owners manage their websites since 2004. We’re super dependable, always answer emails and we get the job done; that is why we’ve been around so long. Come on over to the contact page and let us know if there is anything we can do for you. Until then, God bless and stay safe.

https://www.clearimaging.com/