Optimizations For Google Business Profile
About 97% of consumers will try to find local businesses by doing online searches.
Google Business, formerly known as Google My Business, helps many of those businesses.
The service, which is entirely free, can help your future customers find your painting business.
If you can get your business to be among the first listed when people look for local painters, you’re more likely to get a call from them.
With the right optimizations, you can get a lot more out of your Google Business Profile.
Here are some optimizations to learn and know for Google Business Profile in 2023.
1. Add A Full Business Description
One of the first things you should do with your Google Business Profile, if you don’t have it yet, is to add a business description.
What this basically means is that you’re going to be describing your business and what you do.
Imagine you’re meeting someone on the street and they know nothing about you – how would you best tell them about your business?
What are your specialties, and how do you serve your customers — this is good information to pass on in your description.
2. Add Photos To The Profile
You know how seeing nothing but text will be a bit dull compared to seeing photos, right?
This can be even more the case when you’re making up your Google Business Profile.
People who see photos with your profile will understand your business a lot more than if you have none.
It’s also an easy way for you to show off some of your best work – the painting projects you’ve finished.
Make sure that you always are taking before and after photos of your projects as you complete them.
Doing this will allow you to keep updating your profile whenever you have new photos from finished projects.
3. Add A Phone Number
If you make appointments for at home estimates over the phone or even answer a lot of customer questions that way…
It’s really important that you have your phone number posted on your Google Business Profile.
Be sure that you have the best phone numbers to reach you, be it your business phone or your cell phone.
By adding your phone number and occasionally checking that it’s still correct you’ll have a good way for customers to reach you.
4. Get Customer Reviews
Customer reviews are some of the best ways that people are going to get to know your business.
When future customers search for local painting professionals, they will be more drawn to profiles with reviews.
If you have a good amount of experience, it is reasonable to reach out to past customers.
You can even send emails out, if you have a database of past customers, with a link to your profile.
Simply state that you would appreciate their help by providing a review of the paint work that you did for them.
It’s best to provide them with a few boilerplate questions to guide what they should write.
These will be questions like how did they like the work you did for them, and how it improved the area that was painted.
By guiding the reviews a little bit you will keep them relatively short but on point and about your business.
5. Post Regularly
Google Business Profile allows you to post blog-like text, which is not to be confused with your company’s actual blog.
When you post a blog entry to your Google Business Profile, it helps keep your business relevant in searches.
It also shows that you are active in keeping your Google Business Profile up to date.
A big difference between the content you post here and your business blog is how long it lasts.
While blogs you post to your site will be there forever, content you post to your Profile stay up only a week.
Take this opportunity to regularly post about things like deals and news, keeping in mind you can post similar information a week later.
6. Add Services To Your Profile
One of the most important parts of your profile involves explaining to future customers what you do.
If you paint kitchen cabinets but it’s not mentioned on your Google Business Profile, future customers might skip past your listing.
When someone finds your Google Business Profile listing, the services will stick out to them.
If you have your best services listed out front and center, you’re more likely to grab their attention.
Showing off your services on your Google Business Profile is a good way to get more customers.
Here’s a basic tutorial on adding your services to your Google Business Profile:
7. Answer Customer Questions
Lastly, keep a lookout for customer questions — and in a service based business like yours, there are bound to be many.
The important thing to remember is that when customers ask questions, you don’t let them sit unanswered.
Doing this would show other possible customers that you aren’t paying attention to your Profile page.
Instead, what you should do is to check in on this page regularly and see if anyone has asked any questions.
There’s nothing wrong with writing your own questions and answers to this section, by the way.
Doing that will help future customers learn more about your business and what you will do for them.