Google themselves explain it pretty well: “Google My Business is a free and easy-to-use tool for businesses and organisations to manage their online presence across Google, including search and maps.”

What does this actually mean? Well, this means that whenever you need to change business information, such as address, contact information, business hours, etc, all you need do is update your Google My Business information and it will update across all your Google touch points.

Google My Business also gives you the added bonus of a business profile on the search results page. For examples, when you search for a company, such as NetMaxRes Marketing Agency, you will notice a business profile on the right hand side (desktop) of the Google results page. This is your Google My Business profile, looks good doesn’t it!

What are the benefits?

Visibility

• Having a business profile appear on a search results page puts you in a significantly more prominent position than the other results (often your competition). It puts all your more key information front and centre, such as reviews, opening times, and contact details.
• You will rank higher on search engines. Bear in mind having contrasting contact information on your different Google touch-points can cause Google to penalise your SEO score. A Google My Business page can help fix this.
• People in the area will get location specific results, especially if you have multiple branches.

Credibility

• In an increasingly competitive world, brand credibility is everything. A business profile appearing in search results puts you ahead of the competition. Combine this with positive reviews and a well coordinated social media presence, and new business will flock in.

Accessibility

• Don’t have a great website? Hard to use on smaller devices? Having a Google business profile gives your potential customers a place to find essential contact information and reviews in a clear and accessible way.

How do I create a Google My Business page?

A Google My Business page is free to set up. You can find instructions on how to do this at: https://business.google.com

A Google My Business page is a must-have tool in your digital arsenal. If you need advice or help setting this up, or coordinating this with the rest of your digital strategy, why not give us a call, we’ll be happy to help.

Get in touch

The post Why you need a Google My Business page appeared first on NetMaxRes Digital Marketing in Guildford.

Feel like your social media posts are falling flat? With little to no engagement and no shares or retweets it may seem like all the effort you put into making your content is going to waste. Here is our advice on how to boost your content naturally without having to put a budget against it.

Remember your target market.

There are two main reasons why someone will want to read your content; because it’s entertaining or because it’s educational. For the vast majority of people your best bet is to create something dynamic and funny. However, if your content is B2B you need to make sure your content is something that will educate the reader but also not give away trade specifics. For example, if you were to post a step by step technical guide on how to set up a particular type of campaign for free – not only will it alienate the general public, other industry professionals will be unlikely to endorse it by sharing it. This brings me to my next point.

Realise the different motivations for people reading and sharing your content.

As I’ve said, people will read your content for two reasons: firstly, if it teaches them something, and secondly, if it’s entertaining. The reasons why they might share this for the rest of their friends to see are completely different.

People may click on your link, or read and ‘like’ or ‘favourite’ your post, but they won’t share it unless it’s something they want to put their name to. They may agree with the post or find it entertaining, but more importantly they want everyone else to know they agree with it too.

Ultimately, people share content because it makes them look good. Bear this in mind when thinking of a title and attaching a photo to your work.

Figure out what your objective actually is.

This sounds obvious, but it’s important. Although inextricably linked, there is a difference between posting content to promote brand awareness, content that takes people through to your website and, naturally a simple hard sell.

If your aim is simply to gain brand awareness, keep it light and funny. Visuals are great and people are much more likely to share them.

If your aim is to create web traffic your content has to be click through – such as a blog or something to entice people like a special offer. Again to get people to share it, there has to be something to make it shareable, vitally you need good copy. If you can’t sell your blog in one sentence what difference will an extra 500 or so words make?

BEWARE OF CLICKBAIT!

People will lose patience with you if you don’t deliver what you advertise, an enticing headline that doesn’t deliver.  People are less likely to click on your next post and much less likely to share it.

The post Nobody sharing your content? This could be why appeared first on NetMaxRes Digital Marketing in Guildford.

In the battle of the search engines, Google undeniably dominates with 81.42 percent of desktop browser traffic in the US and over 11 billion desktop searches per month. The statistics are even more astonishing if you take into account mobile usage, where a vast 92.91 percent of searches were done through Google.

This year marks the first in which mobile internet access surpassed desktop usage, and is predicted to increase even further, with estimates of mobile making up 75 percent of global search traffic next year. Google’s stronghold on the mobile market means that, if we combine this information with the fact that search engine queries ultimately generate 300 percent more traffic to content sites than social media, we can see how the curtains might not quite be drawn on Google+ yet.

By having your business on Google you too can benefit from this kind of traffic, as your SEO is improved just by having a Google+ page; as a completely free service it would therefore be foolish not to have your business represented on Google with accurate, up to date information.

Aside from increased SEO, filling your Google profile with correct information and pictures builds a level of trust with potential customers as it enhances your legitimacy.

For example, if an individual uses Google to search for “dry cleaner in Woking” and two suggestions come up – one of a dry cleaner with good Google reviews and details such as opening times and professional looking photos; and one with just a name and address – which one are they more likely to choose? With this example, we can see how minimal browsing on Google can lead to potential business, and conversely, incorrect or out of date information can lead to lost business and customer dissatisfaction, therefore anyone not taking the time to update their Google profile will almost certainly miss out.

On top of this, Google+ could potentially make a comeback having last year streamlined the concept to resemble something more akin to Pinterest or Twitter, rather than standing as a direct rival to Facebook. With their change of direction there may be a future for the platform as a whole and anyone with an established profile will already have a head start.

Whether this comeback will materialise can’t be foretold but in a world where marketing is becoming more and more holistic, it is important to have as many strings to your digital bow as possible, and Google is no exception. Even though its failure as a social network is undeniable (so far) Google is a vital platform for your business and, if nothing else, a great way to get traffic on to your other social media accounts.

If, like us, you’re serious about your business then you need to embrace all facets of social media, let us help you.

The post The Importance of Keeping Your Google Profile Up to Date appeared first on NetMaxRes Digital Marketing in Guildford.