plaid-bison-feb

Put Your Google Business Profile to Work!

chris@plaidbison.com (CHRISTOPHER OWEN) — Fri, 12 Jan 2024 20:31:53 GMT

How to Conduct an Audit of Your Google Business Profile

A Step-by-Step Guide to Auditing Your Google Business Profile

Performing an audit of a Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business) is essential for businesses looking to optimize their online presence and attract more customers through Google. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to conduct an effective GBP audit:

Step 1: Verify Profile Accuracy

Check Basic Information: Ensure that the business name, address, phone number, and website URL are accurate and consistent with other online listings.
Service Area and Hours: Verify that the service areas and business hours are current and reflect your actual hours of operation.

Step 2: Analyze Category and Attributes

Primary and Secondary Categories: Make sure your primary category best represents your main business. Add relevant secondary categories to capture the full scope of your services.
Attributes: Utilize all relevant attributes available for your category, such as accessibility features, payment types accepted, or other unique business characteristics.

Step 3: Optimize Business Description

Engaging Description: Write a clear, concise, and engaging business description that includes keywords relevant to your services and location.
Unique Selling Propositions (USPs): Highlight what sets your business apart from competitors.

Step 4: Review Photos and Videos

Quality and Quantity: Regularly update your profile with high-quality photos and videos of your products, services, premises, and staff.
Relevance and Engagement: Ensure that the visual content is relevant and appealing to potential customers.

Step 5: Manage and Respond to Reviews

Review Analysis: Regularly read and analyze customer reviews to identify areas of improvement.
Response Strategy: Respond promptly to both positive and negative reviews, demonstrating customer service and engagement.

Step 6: Post Updates and Offers

Regular Posts: Use GBP posts to share updates, offers, and news. This keeps your profile active and engaging.
Promotions and Events: Announce any promotions, events, or special offers through posts.

Step 7: Check Insights

Performance Metrics: Regularly check GBP insights to understand how customers are finding and interacting with your profile.
Adapt Strategy: Use these insights to adapt and improve your business strategies.

Step 8: Monitor Competitors

Competitor Analysis: Observe how competitors are using their GBP and note any strategies that might be effective for your business.

Step 9: Regular Updates and Maintenance

Frequent Audits: Conduct regular audits to ensure all information is up-to-date and to adopt new features or best practices.

Step 10: Seek Customer Feedback

Customer Input: Occasionally ask customers how they found your business and if your GBP was helpful. This can provide valuable insights for further optimization.

Conclusion

A thorough audit of your Google Business Profile is crucial for maintaining an effective online presence. Regularly updating and optimizing your Google Business Profile can significantly enhance your visibility on Google, helping to attract and retain more customers. If you'd like help with this or other marketing goals, please email me! Chris@PlaidBison.com

Make the most of the season by following these simple guidelines

chris@plaidbison.com (CHRISTOPHER OWEN) — Fri, 12 Jan 2024 18:44:30 GMT

The new season is a great reason to make and keep resolutions. Whether it’s eating right or cleaning out the garage, here are some tips for making and keeping resolutions.

Make a list

Lists are great ways to stay on track. Write down some big things you want to accomplish and some smaller things, too.

Check the list regularly

Don’t forget to check in and see how you’re doing. Just because you don’t achieve the big goals right away doesn’t mean you’re not making progress.

Reward yourself

When you succeed in achieving a goal, be it a big one or a small one, make sure to pat yourself on the back.

Think positively

Positive thinking is a major factor in success. So instead of mulling over things that didn’t go quite right, remind yourself of things that did.

Keep in touch with site visitors and boost loyalty

chris@plaidbison.com (CHRISTOPHER OWEN) — Fri, 12 Jan 2024 18:44:30 GMT

There are so many good reasons to communicate with site visitors. Tell them about sales and new products or update them with tips and information.

Here are some reasons to make blogging part of your regular routine.

Blogging is an easy way to engage with site visitors

Writing a blog post is easy once you get the hang of it. Posts don’t need to be long or complicated. Just write about what you know, and do your best to write well.

Show customers your personality

When you write a blog post, you can really let your personality shine through. This can be a great tool for showing your distinct personality.

Blogging is a terrific form of communication

Blogs are a great communication tool. They tend to be longer than social media posts, which gives you plenty of space for sharing insights, handy tips and more.

It’s a great way to support and boost SEO

Search engines like sites that regularly post fresh content, and a blog is a great way of doing this. With relevant metadata for every post so search engines can find your content.

Drive traffic to your site

Every time you add a new post, people who have subscribed to it will have a reason to come back to your site. If the post is a good read, they’ll share it with others, bringing even more traffic!

Blogging is free

Maintaining a blog on your site is absolutely free. You can hire bloggers if you like or assign regularly blogging tasks to everyone in your company.

A natural way to build your brand

A blog is a wonderful way to build your brand’s distinct voice. Write about issues that are related to your industry and your customers.

Tips for writing great posts that increase your site traffic

chris@plaidbison.com (CHRISTOPHER OWEN) — Fri, 12 Jan 2024 18:44:30 GMT

Write about something you know. If you don’t know much about a specific topic that will interest your readers, invite an expert to write about it.

Speak to your audience

You know your audience better than anyone else, so keep them in mind as you write your blog posts. Write about things they care about. If you have a company Facebook page, look here to find topics to write about

Take a few moments to plan your post

Once you have a great idea for a post, write the first draft. Some people like to start with the title and then work on the paragraphs. Other people like to start with subtitles and go from there. Choose the method that works for you.

Don’t forget to add images

Be sure to include a few high-quality images in your blog. Images break up the text and make it more readable. They can also convey emotions or ideas that are hard to put into words.

Edit carefully before posting

Once you’re happy with the text, put it aside for a day or two, and then re-read it. You’ll probably find a few things you want to add, and a couple more that you want to remove. Have a friend or colleague look it over to make sure there are no mistakes. When your post is error-free, set it up in your blog and publish.