The importance of your Google Business Profile 

Is your Google Business Profile (GBP) optimized to help you close more jobs? 

78% of U.S. consumers use online search to find a local business on a weekly basis, with 56% doing so multiple times a week. In fact, only 1% of consumers haven’t used online search for this purpose in the last year. And so, it is essential for businesses like yours to have strong search-engine visibility. 

This starts with a well-designed, informative and SEO-friendly (search engine optimization) business website. But having a fully optimized Google Business Profile is arguably just as important. That is because it is the most important factor to rank higher on Google’s Local Pack, the map that appears at the top of Google’s search results alongside three business recommendations when someone searches for a local business. 

Optimizing your profile can give you a competitive advantage, and the best part is that it can be done for free and without a huge time commitment. Let’s take a look at how you can make your Google Business Profile really stand out.

Review your reviews

88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, and 54% will only work with a business that has a 4.0-average star rating or higher. Good reviews are also a key indicator to Google that you are a reputable business, and they play a huge role in how high you rank on its Local Pack. 

The most important thing you can do to generate good reviews is — drum roll, please — to provide good service. It may sound self-evident, but it’s so important that we had to mention it. No amount of review-optimizing will work if customers don’t dig your services. So make sure you’re doing your part there.

You also want to consistently encourage your customers to leave a review after interacting with you. The quantity of reviews you have matters as much as your overall rating when it comes to solidifying your business’s reputation: a 4.8 rating is a lot more impressive to a prospect if it’s based on 800 reviews as opposed to seven. And 70% of customers will leave reviews when asked, so there’s no reason not to ask!

Lastly, make sure you respond to customer reviews, especially negative ones. All it can take for a prospect to lose interest in you is to read a poor (and potentially inaccurate) customer review. 

When replying to legitimate negative reviews, show accountability and how you’re willing to make things right with the customer. If you don’t believe the bad review to be fair, provide some context by (diplomatically) sharing your side of the story. Integrity is important to consumers, and how you react when something goes wrong can impact their decision to work with you.

If you want to take your review game to the next level, there are relatively inexpensive tools out there (like NiceJob) that will help you gather and manage reviews.

Make sure your profile is robust and professional

Fleshing out and polishing your GBP doesn’t take that much time, and it yields big results. 

In fact, consumers are 70% more likely to visit you and 50% more likely to use your services if you have a complete GBP. 

Let’s go over some of the most important things you can do to polish your Google Business Profile, with a few examples to boot — all from businesses that use Wisetack, of course ;). 

Reviews: Yes, we mentioned it already but we’ll mention it a second time — it’s that important. Your Exterior Pros, a roofing company out of Savannah, GA, has almost 400 reviews as of now, and a near perfect rating average. Plus they reply to a lot of the reviews, good or bad. This attention to reviews boosts their credibility, to prospects and to Google’s algorithm. 

Optional fields: When you create a GBP, some fields are optional and it might be tempting to skip them to save time, but don’t. It won’t take you that long to fill them out and your prospects will appreciate these extra details, such as service options, the areas you serve and a link to get appointments.

Photos: Photos are the best way to show off your work and they can also be effective in making your company seem more relatable (e.g., photos of employees). Both of those things are important to someone looking to learn more about your business. Modern Speed Works, which specializes in classic-car restoration, excels at regularly adding photos to their profile.

Consistent information: Conflicting information can confuse prospects, and confused prospects are less likely to convert. Make sure the story you tell via your GBP is the same you tell everywhere else, like on your website or when someone calls in. For instance, if you update your business hours on your site, make sure to do so on your GBP too. Schommer Dental, a dental practice out of Iowa, does a great job at conveying the same information on their profile as they do on their site.

Advertise that you offer financing

Did you know that 30% of Americans couldn’t afford an unexpected $2,000 expense?

Offering your customers the option to pay over time with fair terms (as low as 0% for qualified customers) can help them afford much-needed services — and help you close more jobs at the same time. 

But to get the most results from your financing program, it is important that you promote it well. That’s why we recommend promoting that you offer Wisetack financing in as many channels as possible, including your Google Business Profile. You can do so by creating an update, adding a photo, or mentioning Wisetack in your “About” section, as shown in the screenshot below. 

You can check out our Marketing Toolkit to get detailed instructions on how to talk about financing in your GBP. The toolkit also contains tips and assets to help you promote Wisetack financing through various other channels, including your website, social media platforms, emails and much more.

Not yet offering Wisetack? Contact us today to change that and start closing more sales.