Adding your local business to Google+ places provides a number of crucial benefits for a business’s online presence with Google. From the easy to use features on the Dashboard to the ability to track how many people visit your Google+ page, there are a number of options one can take advantage of.
Some of the key features include:
- Update and change information about your business on the fly.
- +1 Google features
- Customers can give reviews, feedback, and recommend your products to other users
- Track how often people are reaching your page
- The ability to link with Google Analytics
Once your business is verified on Google it will be found much quicker. Google will use this information for local searches as well, providing your business a greater opportunity to be found at the top of the search results.
To create local page one of the first qualifications is your business must have a physical mailing address that meet the guidelines specified by Google.
Step 1: Login and access Google My Business. If you do not have a Google Account you should go ahead and make one.
Step 2: You have to choose one of two categories that describes your business the best, they are, Storefront and Service area businesses.
- Storefront businesses are businesses that serve customers at the physical location i.e hotels, restaurants, movie theaters, retail stores, etc.
- Service area businesses are businesses that serve customers at their physical location as well as areas close to the business i.e taxi services, food delivery, electricians.
Step 3: Enter the name or address of your business; it should appear in a drop down menu.
Step 4: If you do not see your business in the drop down menu click on the option No, these are not my businesses or I’ve correctly entered the business. You will then have to provide the necessary details of your business such as the name, address, and phone number. Once you have completed the 4 steps, hit submit.
There are three ways to verify your business:
- Postcard: This usually takes 1 to 2 weeks. Make sure your address is correct and if necessary include an optional contact name on the top.
- Phone Verification: Make sure you can answer you businesses phone directly to receive the verification code provided by Google. Click Verify by Phone to have the code sent to you through an automated message. Enter the code in the dashboard
- Instant Verification: You can know instantly verify your business using Google Webmaster Tools.