All Businesses Should Have a Google Listing

APRIL 27, 2016 BY NANCY

ALL BUSINESSES SHOULD HAVE A GOOGLE LISTINGMay 1-7, 2016

Next week, the first week of May, is National Small Business week. With that in mind Google is hosting workshops all over the country to give business owners advice about the online elements of running their businesses. This reminded me that I had attended one of those workshops a number of years ago. It is what prompted me to list my sewing business with a Google listing. It was my first step in developing an online presence, even when I didn’t have a website yet. The listing has proven vital over the years and more so in recent years. It is how many people find me for the services I offer.

A business listing with Google is free and only takes a matter of minutes to set up and you can update it as needed. To give you an idea of how vital this little step is for creating your online presence I took a screen shot of what shows up in the search when I type in alterations in Cherokee, Iowa

As you can see with the specific listing of my town I popped right up there big as you please with my complete listing contact information, directions and a link to my website. You can even see a photo of my house (it’s the one in the middle behind the tree). It’s a really old picture because my old car, and my oldest son’s moped is in the driveway. He is 20 years old now and he was 14 when he owned moped. Plus the house and yard looks much nicer now. Anyway I digress.

Next I did a Google search for sewing services in northwest Iowa. I wanted to see how I would show up with a less specific search term and different keyword. As you can see in the image I still showed up in the top three. I think it is pretty obvious having a Google listing for your business is a pretty big deal.

How to Create a Google Business Listing

To make the process of creating a Google business listing a little smooter it might be a good idea to open up a Gmail account first if you don’t already have one. This will make it easier to verify your listing later on.

The process of creating your Google business listing is pretty simple, just follow the steps provided when you go to https://www.google.com/business/.

At first they will ask you to search for your business so just type in the name of your business. If they come up with your business, great you have already set it up.

If it doesn’t show your business then you will need to create your listing. I am going to create a listing for my Part Time Proprietor business. So I am going to click on the option where it says, “Let me enter the full business details.”

Follow the steps provided filling in all the details. The following images are how my new listing went:

You will notice that I did check the box that says, “I deliver goods and services to my customers at their location.” and the box that says, “I also serve my customers at my business address.” I only checked those because I am willing to do that for this particular business. If you strictly want to work in a virtual world I would not check those boxes.

In the end Google will want to verify you are the authorized person for this listing. When you check the box that you are authorized it will take you to your new Google+ page for the business listing you just made. You can continue to develop that as you see fit.

If you want to adjust your Google listing and add things such as your operating hours, your website address, and a brief introduction to what you do you will need to go to https://business.google.com/manage/ but make sure you are logged into the Google account where you created the listing. Otherwise the listing won’t show and you won’t be able to edit.

You can read more about the workshops Google is offering around the country here to see if there is a workshop near you. I’ve been to one of these workshops when it was in my area a number of years ago, it was free to attend and the Google staff made it pretty fun. If you can’t attend one of the workshops be sure and submit your email at this link so you can get the information sent to you later on.

Submitting your business listing to Google is your best first step to get your business found whether you are a brick and mortor, home based, or online entrepreneur.

If you have any questions or comments please leave a reply below. I will be happy to help in any way I can. Have a fabulously wonderful day.

In Business With You,

Nancy