Our agency advocates all kinds of useful tactics to help enhance your local SEO for your regional small business customers, but how many of those techniques are Implementing Google Business Profile (GBP) to attract as many walk-ins as possible?
Now, We are sharing five GBP tweaks worthy of implementation to help turn electronic traffic into foot traffic.
1. Answer Google Q&A quickly (they are leads)
In case you’ve got automotive industry customers, chances you are familiar with Greg Gifford from DealerOn. In a current community search conference, Greg shared that 40 percent of the Google Q&A questions his clients receive are actually prospects .
40 percent!!!
Here’s what that looks like at Google’s Q&A:
From the above image we can see that the above customer is likely ready to come into their shop. However, as you can see, the question has gone awry. Note, also, that four people have thumbed the question up, which signifies a shared interest in a potential response, but it is still not putting it onto the radar of this particular dealership.
Nearly everyone could have overlooked leads sitting inside their Google Business Profile — Even other industries can be affected. Queries about dietary options at a restaurant, to if a retailer stocks a item, to queries about ADA compliance or accessible parking. Every question asked represents a possible lead, and in a competitive retail arena , who is able to ignore this kind of opportunity?
The easiest way for Google Business Profile (GBP) list owners and managers to get notified of new queries is through the Google Maps App, as notifications are not yet part of the primary Google Business Profile dashboard. This will allow you to catch questions as they arise. The quicker your client responds to incoming inquiries, the greater their odds of winning the foot traffic.
2. Post about your proximity to nearby Significant attractions
Imagine someone has just spent the afternoon at a museum, a landmark, park, or theater. After researching, perhaps they want to go to dinner, go clothing shopping, find a gas station, or a bookstore near them. A well-positioned Google Post, such as the one below, can direct them right to your Customer’s door:
This may turn into an especially powerful attraction for foot traffic when Google expands its experiment of showing Posts’ snippets not just in the Company Profile and Neighborhood Finder, but within local packs:
Posting is so simple — there’s no motive not to give it a try. Want help getting your customer began? Here is Google’s intro. You can also post directly from your phone using the Google Maps app.
3. Turn your GBP page into a Store front (for retailers)
With a bit of assistance from SWIS and Pointy, your retail GBP can grow to be the storefront window which dissipates in highly-converting foot traffic. Your Customer’s “See What Is In Store stock” appears inside the Business Profile, letting customers know the business has the exact merchandise they’re looking for.
Pointy is Google’s launch partner for this game-changing GBP feature.
Let’s reiterate our forecast that SWIS is the “next big thing” in local, and when last I talked with Mark, one percent of all US retailers had adopted his merchandise. We encourage you to register. This provides you with an amazing competitive edge on driving traffic!
4) Make your profile pic a selfie hot spot
When a customer has a physical assumption (and community ordinances permit it), an outside mural can turn through traffic to foot traffic it also will help to convert Instagram selfie-takers into clients . A modest investment in this strategy could interest the 43–58 percent of poll respondents that are swayed to store in places that are visually attractive.
When the you get the investment in providing a cultural experience for your community, they could try experimenting with getting the artwork placed as the cover photo in their Google Business Profile — anyone looking at a set of opponents in a specific area will see that this attractive, additional reason to choose their company over others.
Mark our words, neighborhood research marketers: We are on the verge of seeing Canadians, (or even North Americans) reject the constricted label of “consumer” in a quest to get a more holistic perspective of themselves as whole persons. Local companies that incorporate culture, art, and community life into their business models will be well-placed to answer what, in our opinion, is an increasing desire for authentic individual experiences. As a neighborhood search marketer, myself, this is a topic I plan to explore further this season.
5) Putting time on your side
Here’s a pet peeve of ours: businesses that serve working people but are only open 9 to 5. How do your customer’s foot visitors achieve optimum amounts if their doors are only open when everyone is at work?
So, here’s the task: Do a quick audit of the hours posted on your GBP page of your direct competitors. For example, We found three craft shops in a little city with these hours:
Guess which competition is getting all the business after 6 PM each day of this week, even when most folks are off work and ready to store?
It might well be that some of your smaller customers are already working as many hours as they can, but have they researched if their hours are actually ideal for their clients’ requirements and whether any time slots aren’t being filled locally by their opponents? Imagine if, instead of working under the traditional 9 to 5, your customer switched to 11–7, since no other competitor in the town is open after 5 PM? It is the exact same amount of hours and your customer will benefit from getting all the foot traffic of the 9 to 5-ers.
Alternatively, instead of closing on Saturdays, the company closed Mondays — maybe this is the majority of the weekdays? Being available on the weekend might indicate that the average employee can currently get said business and become a client.
It will require some openness to change, however if a business agrees to execution, don’t forget to upgrade the GBP hours and push out the newest hours into the major citation platforms via a service like Snap Local SEO.
Your turn to add your Very Best GBP moves
We hope you’ll take a number of these simple GBP suggestions. If you choose to forge ahead with your hints, make sure you monitor the outcomes! How great if a simple audit of hours turned to some foot visitors win for you?
In the meantime, services like our Managed SEO plans can help boost rankings to your Google Business Profile.
