When it comes to making the most of your business and the potential that the internet can offer, Google Maps can be a hugely useful tool to consider. For local tradies, this is particularly the case thanks to the local suggestions feature which is shown when potential customers and clients search for “tradies near me”, or anything similar and along those lines. As such, if you want to make the most of the internet for your tradies business, it is important that you take the time to learn how you can get yourself onto this exclusive list of local businesses that is sure to drive more clients your way!
Google My Business: What You Need to Know
When it comes to making a success of your business, you need to make sure your marketing is right – and for local tradies, there are few things better than Google My Business. Google My Business can be hugely useful tool for you to implement as part of your marketing and advertisement efforts; aside from word of mouth, making sure your website is performing well with Google My Business may even be the only thing that you need to do in terms of marketing for your tradies business, depending on the area that you cover and the number of clients that you are hoping to achieve.
So then, what actually is Google My Business? At its simplest, Google My Business is a free tool that businesses which operate locally can offer to help promote themselves, their products and their services. The tool is not only free, but it can offer you with the right position to promote your business to all of your local customers and clients, which makes it an important part of setting up your business and getting the word out about who you are and how you can help people with all of their needs.
Nowadays when you are looking for a business, you will likely head to the search engines and begin looking for local businesses and service providers who will be able to provide you with the work that you require. This is the case for pretty much all niches these days; from local food establishments to tradies and everything else in between, if there is a call for a local business then there is an important role played by having your business showing on Google Maps.
Getting Your Business on Google Maps
First of all, you’ll want to think about getting your website showing on Google maps. This is important as a first step as it will show your potential customers and clients where you are based, which in turn can help them when it comes to choosing a service provider.
For tradies in particular, most businesses work on a local basis and provide services for nearby customers and clients. This is why it is so important for your tradie business to be showing on Google Maps – as this will allow your local target market to find you if they are looking for a local tradie to help them out.
Now, getting your business showing on Google Maps really is a very easy process. To start with, head to Google My Business, and from here you will be prompted to “Get on Google”. Once you have clicked this link, it really is just a matter of filling out your business contact details and information. Once you have done so and have verified your business, you should soon be showing up on Google Maps!
Make Sure You’re Honest Here!
Now, a common mistake that many tradies make when signing their business up to Google My Business is that they are too generic with the services that they offer, or otherwise, they try and exaggerate what they can offer.
Many people assume that this is the key for ranking well on Google Maps and getting those spots as top suggestions when people search for a local service provider. However, doing this will actually impact your business’ ranking, as Google prefers businesses which are more specific about the services that they offer and which are providing all of the correct, relevant business information. Be honest and don’t exaggerate the services that you offer as this will actually harm your business’ position in the results for Google My Business.
Top Tips for Google My Business Rankings
So, your business is now on Google My Business, but it doesn’t show up when people search for “tradies near me”. This is pretty normal for newly signed up businesses to Google My Business, especially if you don’t have any past reviews on Google for your business. However, there are a number of different ways in which you can improve your standing on Google to make the most of your position on Google My Business.
First, try and make sure that you have an active and well made website for your tradies business. Not having this may put some potential clients off from choosing your services anyway, as having a business website is important these days for many people looking for the right tradie company. In addition to this, having a website attached to your business’ name is also an important way for you to rise up through the rankings of local business listings in Google.
For the best success, it’s also important that you make it easy for your customers to reach out to you. Provide them with plenty of different contact options if you can and always try to reply to contact requests promptly as this could mean the difference between getting picked over another team!
Finally, it is a good idea to request for your past clients to review your services on Google to help get those stars coming in. Customers naturally are more trusting of a service provider who has past reviews available online, so this is definitely something to consider – but don’t ever forge reviews! Google’s algorithm is quite good at being able to tell when reviews are fake, and this can damage your rankings. But get the good reviews flowing, and this will definitely help push your ranking positions higher.
Final Thoughts
If you want to make sure your business is performing at its best then it is important that you get yourself showing as a tradie business on Google My Business. While there are other strategies to help improve your rankings positions even further, what we have listed above is a very good start. This can help you to get more clients and customers and can be an excellent form of marketing for many reasons – and, best of all, it’s free and only takes a little time to complete!