If you are a local professional and do not have a Google My Business, now called Google Business Profile (GBP), you are leaving clients and money on the table.
What is GBP?
- It is a free business listing from Google
- It provides details about your business liked contact information, photos, location, business hours …
- It is for businesses with customer or client contact
- A business with a physical location like an office
- A business that provides services to clients in other locations (mobile Physical therapist, shared office space…)
Why do you need a GBP account?
- It helps ensure people can find you
- It improves local SEO (search engine optimization)
- If you have a GBP you are more likely to appear in a search when people are searching for nearby businesses using Google Maps.
- You can control your online business information
- You build Social Proof through reviews
- You can stand out from your competitors
What is Social Proof?
When you are looking for a plumber you will probably ask your neighbours for a recommendation. When someone can pass on a positive recommendation you start to feel trust for the business they are referring to. Social proof is the same but online. Now, what if you are looking for a Holistic Nutritionist. You will probably Google ‘holistic nutritionist near me’ or ‘holistic nutritionist’ and up pops a list of businesses to choose from. How do you choose? With Google reviews a business displays their social proof to you.
- How many reviews does the business have?
- How recent are they?
- What is the average rating? 1 star or the best – 5 stars!
- How many reviews do they have? 2 or 100?
- What happens when they get a bad review? Do they respond? What did they say?
- What do the reviews say?
- When you click through what do you see?
When you look at Google reviews you are forming an impression of that person’s business. What impression are you giving to prospective clients?
According to the latest online review statistics, nearly four in five (79 percent) consumers say they trust the reviews they read online as much as personal recommendations (BrightLocal, 2020).
Nearly nine out of ten (89 percent) consumers worldwide make the effort to read reviews before buying products (Trustpilot, 2020). https://www.oberlo.com/blog/online-review-statistics
What are the benefits of Getting Google Reviews?
TRUST – An unknown business is risky but Google Reviews can build trust with clients you have never met.
MARKETING – Having a good review profile is part of your marketing profile
SEO – Google reviews effect how you rank when people are searching for businesses like yours
These Numbers will Convince you why GBP is Important
- 97% of people learn more about a local business online than anywhere else*
- “Near me” and “close by” searches grew by more than 900% in the last two years*
- 4 in 5 consumers use search engines to find local information*
Google Business Profile is the cost effective marketing you can do as a business owner!
