279 – Confused About Google My Business? with Jessica Totillo Coster of Ecommerce Badassery

Gift biz unwrapped episode 279.

Google maps Business is really for physical locations,

physical businesses,

or if you deliver to the customer attention,

gifters bakers,

crafters, and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.

Whether you have an established business or looking to start one.

Now you are in the right place.

This is gift to biz unwrapped,

helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.

Join us for an episode,

packed full of invaluable guidance,

resources, and the support you need to grow.

Your gift biz.

Here is your host gift biz gal,

Sue moon Heights.

Hi there,

Sue. And I'm so happy we're hanging out together today.

If this is your first time listening to the show,

welcome. I'm thrilled that you're joining us.

And if you're a regular listener,

let me remind you,

even though I say it often,

I so appreciate you.

I want to start with one reminder about the Q and

a sessions happening over in the Facebook group.

Gift biz breeze,

I go live in gift biz breeze to answer all of

your questions about starting and growing your business around your handmade

products. There are three different ways that you can submit a

question. One is right there during the live.

You can also put your questions in the comment section under

the pinned post over in the group or through this super

fun audio link that you'll find at gift biz,

unwrapped.com forward slash ask.

You can record your question right on the fly.

So no send in an email or even needing to show

up live.

Just let me know what has gotten you stuck and let's

get you moving forward.

That link again.

If you want to record your question is gift biz unwrapped.com

forward slash ask.

Can't make it at that time.

No problem.

There's always the replay today.

I can't believe we've already reached the final episode of our

six part series covering online sales platforms.

If you've missed any of the prior episodes,

we've got all the biggies covered from eBay,

Amazon handmade,

and Facebook shops to Shopify and Etsy.

And today we're talking about Google my business.

You're going to find out what role this platform plays,

how to set it up and clear up all the confusion.

I know exists around Google my business.

I get it.

I've been a little bit confused to Google.

My business is not for everyone and bet.

There are some of you out there who have a Google.

My business account are confused to how it even appeared and

really shouldn't have it.

Or you've gotten notices about claiming your business.

Should you shouldn't you You'll find out right here.

And right Now Today,

I'm so excited to welcome back Jessica Custer of e-commerce bad-assery.

So, as you might recall,

from just a couple of episodes ago,

Jessica is an eCommerce and email marketing specialist for boutique owners

and product business owners.

She supports scrappy female entrepreneurs with actionable strategies and tactics to

grow and scale their eCommerce businesses.

She worked in corporate retail for over 20 years,

owned her own multi-six figure brick and mortar clothing boutique,

and spent three years as the only employee of a seven

figure online store learning from the top experts in the digital

marketing and eCommerce industry.

Now she's sharing everything she's learned the hard way,

so we don't have to doesn't that feel great.

You guys.

So I wanted to bring Jessica back because she did such

a fabulous job walking us through what there is already to

know about Facebook shops,

because that's evolving.

So if you haven't caught that episode,

it's just a couple of podcasts ago.

So definitely go check that out.

But today we're talking all about Google,

my business,

Jessica, welcome back to the gift biz on repped podcast.

Thank you so much for having me again.

It's a pleasure to be here so well,

I love that you're here again,

because I know that,

you know,

so much about a lot of these online platforms and Google.

My business to me is kind of a little bit funny

because we know about Google obviously,

but when it gets down to doing business and the change

from Google plus,

and like all the craziness that Google loves to bring into

our lives,

it can be really confusing.

And so I think maybe that could be a good place

to start.

Can you share with us just your experience of the progression

of Google over the last several years?

I guess I'd say so those of us who have been

in the dark and aren't sure what has happened up to

this point,

we can all ground ourselves there,

For sure.

So Google has one goal and that is to help its

users. So whoever searching for something on Google,

get the result that they're looking for the fastest way possible.

So Google my business is sort of their answer to Yelp,

right? And if a customer or a searcher comes to a

regular Google search and for something near me,

hair salon,

bakery, something like that,

Google my business will serve up their local results.

So Does that mean that Google my business is specifically for

local based businesses serving a local community?

Yes. So Google my business is really for physical locations,

physical businesses,

or if you deliver to the customer,

let me say that over.

So Google my business is really for local physical businesses where

a customer can go to,

or if you deliver to the customer.

Now that's not to say that there aren't online businesses who

have Google my business profiles,

but it is technically against their terms in Interesting.

Okay. So let me think this through,

in my head.

So the obvious one is a brick and mortar shop,

who their customers are,

local people who are coming into the shop and having some

coffee and picking up cupcakes or buying clothing and gifts or

whatever. So a traditional what we think of as a brick

and mortar shop,

but then you say also delivery to customer.

Are you talking about now,

like the new day and age,

like curbside pickup or delivery,

like a florist would deliver to a customer?

Is that what you mean?

Yes. So what then about online delivery?

Like if someone comes in and buys a piece of jewelry

from you online and your shipping,

but you don't have a physical location,

you're shipping from a home studio.

For example,

If the customer can't come to your location or you are

not going to them with a local delivery,

then you are technically should not have a Google my business

profile. Whoa.

I think that a lot of people are going to be

stopped in their tracks with that.

So here's what I want to do.

Let's talk about that as Google my business and specifically that.

So now write this portion,

everybody who has a physical location and is under the parameters

that Jessica has just described.

Let's talk about that.

And then what I'd like to do is talk about how

do we use Google as a business if we don't have

that physical location.

Okay. And I think that's where a lot of the confusion

comes because everyone is saying,

Oh, Google my business and the stats and the insights you

can have in all of that.

But they may be,

shouldn't be using that service or there's something better for them

to be using.

So would that be a right way to say that Jessica?

Yes. So Google my business.

If you have that brick and mortar piece to your business

that works for you,

if you strictly online,

then you're really just going to be focused on overall search

engine optimization.

All right.

So we're going to say that to later.

So, okay.

I have a brick and mortar shop.

I'm a gift store,

let's say.

Okay. So I sell all different types of artisan products and

people walk into my store,

pick out products.

I do have an online presence because people also can order

online. So if you're double-duty,

you're fine.

It's just the point of having the brick and mortar shop.

Right? Correct.

Okay. And so if I've never considered Google my business before

we now know that it's specifically for brick and mortar,

retail owners serving their immediate vicinity,

what's the value of Google my business for them.

So if you've ever done a Google search,

when you are looking for something local to you,

you have seen a Google my business listing that comes up

on the right hand side of your screen.

If you're on a desktop,

for instance,

and it's a very large panel,

it's probably like four listings tall,

if that makes sense.

So it takes up a lot of visual real estate and

Google serves those results first because it's their own listings.

If you think about it like that.

Right. So having the Google,

my business profile gets you more visibility and it allows you

to control more information that you're putting in front of the

customer. So it's very valuable.

Okay. Even over and above just regular search results.

Like if you're optimizing an online website.

Yes. Okay.

That's a benefit,

obviously. So if you're in a local area and there are

several people who have similar products to you,

if you have a Google,

my business account and others,

don't, you're going to most likely be seen first if people

are looking for what you have versus the other people in

the area.

Correct. Okay.

So that makes sense.

What else would you say about what's the value?

If you were trying to sell someone on having Google my

business, It gives you an opportunity to communicate all the things

you need to communicate to your customer about your physical brick

and mortar location in one place.

So you have your hours,

you can talk about your business,

right? You can actually write free form text.

There, you can,

all of your contact information.

If you have special holiday hours,

you also have the ability to do posts.

So think of it sort of like a feed of maybe

like Facebook posts,

right? You kind of have a wall on your Google,

my business listing.

So you can update that regularly with whatever promotions you have

going on.

If you have events going on,

it's a really great way to get all that information in

front of the customer and entice them to come to you

and choose you over whatever other results they're seeing in their

search. Okay.

So you know how you walk into a room and you've

got that light switch that you can slowly turn up a

brighter. That's how I'm feeling right now.

I'm just getting it because what I'm thinking as you're describing

this is,

it's almost like an online front window of your store.

Like if you have a brick and mortar shop,

you know how you change out.

If you have a display area you're changing out your front

window all the time,

right? And if you're open or closed,

you have a sign that says open or closed.

And if there's a special event,

you probably have another sign that says this weekend only.

So it's almost like your front window of your physical location,

but online.

That's a great analogy.

I love that.

So I'm thinking now that everybody who has a physical location,

even if they don't sell online at all,

should have Google my business for just that purpose.

100% so that it would be,

Be directing people in locally.

And particularly now,

too, we all know.

Well, brick and mortar right now is an entirely different animal

because it just is because we can't go there right now.

But we all know that as an evolution of retail and

physical retail shops,

having events,

providing an experience in store is everything now.

And so Google my business allows you to help promote those

events also to people who may not have known before.

Right? Exactly.

Okay. And I'm guessing there's also an advertising component to this,

where if you want to be broadcasting something special,

that's happening through your Google,

my business account that you could do that as well through

Google ads.

So you can advertise through Google ads.

Yes. There's nothing specific about the Google,

my business listing.

That is advertisable,

that's not a word.

It is now.

I'm sure it is.

That's funny.

Let me clarify that.

So you can't take a Google,

my business posts that you created,

let's say you have an upcoming event.

Like there's no way to do any advertising from within Google.

My business is kind of what I was trying to get

at. Okay.

So the posts that you refer into aren't posts like blog

articles or anything like that,

they're more the announcements,

like I was saying before,

like that you'd put on your front window,

Right? Exactly.

So you can put a photo,

some text description,

more like a blurb versus like a long form piece of

content. And they have a few different types of posts that

you can create,

whether it's a sale announcement or an event,

things like that.

Okay. I'm just thinking this through.

Cause there's a little bit of a disconnect to me on

the value of having it to help push out information.

It, there really isn't,

it's mostly just Google search,

finding your location,

which is why it's solely a physical location play.

Right. It's valuable in that if I'm searching for a hair

salon near me,

and I see this Google,

my business listing that comes up and it shows me a

post that the hair salon made that said,

Hey, we're doing this special right now.

That's going to show to me when they come up in

the search.

So that's where the post posts become valuable is when the

potential customer sees your listing,

they will see whatever you posted recently.

Okay. Then there's the power of the Google search bar.

Right. Right.

Okay. So keywords then have to be really important too,

or some type of tagging that you're doing on your account.

So you will show up in that search bar.

Right. So when you create your account,

there's a lot of information that you're going to put on

those listings.

Okay. Okay.

So that's perfect.

Let's go there.

Let's circle into,

I have a physical location.

Just feels to me like this is one of the things

that you should have as a physical location,

no matter what,

it's just part of your group of things that you use

to promote yourself,

have a Google my business account.

If someone is just now starting out and going to create

an account,

can you walk us through a little bit of that process

and what we should be looking to do For sure.

So the first thing is you need a Google account in

order to do this.

So pick whichever account you want to use to manage the

Google, my business listing,

the good news is you can also assign other users to

the account with different permission.

So you don't have to worry about giving that Google account

information away to anyone else on your team that might be

managing this question.

I'm coming back from the Google plus day.

And I had a Google plus account and there may be

a lot of inactive,

Google plus accounts.

Like I have out there.

Is that what you mean by a Google account or Gmail

account? Right.

So if you have a Gmail account,

for example,

that is just a Google account.

If you had a Google plus account,

that is just a Google account.

So the Google account,

Google sounds funny when you say it that many times is

sort of the umbrella over everything else,

right? So it's one log in that you can use for

Gmail. You can use for Google docs and Google drive.

You can use for Google my business.

Okay. Got it.

So the first place people can go if they were in

a position like I was am because I have multiple businesses

and I have a personal account,

I've got a million Google accounts,

right. So I have my personal life.

One for one business.

I have one for another business and I've got multiple emails

under different things.

Some people may be able to consolidate and just work all

under one account.

Yes. If you have one business.

Yes. So you'll want to do one business per Google account,

or let's say Google email,

because it would really be the same thing you're using your

email to log in.

Right. And that should be your business email then too.

Not your personal one.

Gmail. Yes.

All right.

And I get that because when I go into my emails,

I can go up on the right hand corner and I

can click and then I can see all my different things,

like going to YouTube,

going to docs,

Google drive all of them.

Right, right.

Okay. So that's an account.

So most likely,

even if people don't know it,

they probably already have a Google account,

but I'm glad we clarified what it is.

But if you don't then create Right.

For sure.

And that's why it seems like such a simple little thing,

but that's why I mentioned it because we all end up

with so many of these accounts.

I have multiple some,

I'm not even sure when I created that,

but it's definitely a thing I'm with you.

That's why I asked.

And that's why I think this is so confusing with Google

too, because their hands are into so many different things that

it can get a little confusing.

Yeah. They really are all connected.

Okay. So you start a Google.

Yep. So once you have your Google account,

there's a specific URL that you are going to go to,

to set this up and it's google.com

forward slash business.

Okay. And when I go there,

what do I see?

So that is where you start creating your Google,

my business listing.

So it's going to ask you for things like the name

of your business,

your address,

and if you have delivery,

it will ask you for your delivery area.

So it's getting really granular into what your business does,

where you are,

what your products are,

because it's also going to have you choose a category and

that's, what's going to start to help you show up for

different queries.

Okay. So that's kind of back to what I was referencing

about keywords or tags or something like that.

Right? Exactly.

Okay. And are the categories pretty self explanatory?

Will we know which category we fit into for them?

Yes. I'm looking at an updated list because they change it.

Of course they do.

That's why we need people like you because they change things,

but they either don't tell you or they tell you,

but they don't tell you how to use it.

We're right.

And I'm thinking also of when you're filling out your account,

now that we understand where Google my business stands in the

whole realm of all the different types of things you do

to get visibility again,

think of it as your front window.

So what are the types of things?

People would need to know if they were walking by Right.

Talking about categories and when you're open and any information that

you're going to put.

Right. And there are a lot of them,

a lot of categories.

You mean a lot of categories?

Yeah. So coffee shop give store a school.

So this is also works for schools or service providers that

have a physical location,

like a lawyer or an insurance agency,

something like that.

So it's really for anyone that can have a physical location.

So as you can imagine,

the categories are a pretty wide list,

big list.

Okay. Let me ask you one other question,

just for point of clarification on this.

If I am a local business and my audience is primarily

local, they cannot come to me to buy,

but I can deliver to them.

Is that a borderline?

A yes or a no for Google?

My business.

That is a,

yes. That is a yes,

because you've got the delivery end.

They just can't come to you,

but you can go to them.

Right. Okay.

Good. Even if they order online because they'd have to,

if they can't come to you.

Yes, that is fine.

Okay. All right.

So we've got our category and then is it pretty self

explanatory in terms of all the setup?

Yes. Once you get in there,

it's a step by step where you will like screen by

screen, fill out your information,

hit the next button,

et cetera.

So it is pretty self explanatory once you get in there.

And when you get to the page where you start putting

in all your information,

this is where you'll finally break down and put in your

hours. You'll put in your website,

link your phone number,

a description,

your header,

photo, things like that.

So I would take a little bit of time to think

about what you want to say about your business in that

description, because that's,

what's really going to help Google understand what your business is

all about and match you when someone Searches for a business

like yours.

Okay. So this is where we put ourselves in the mind

of someone who's in front of their computer at that Google

search bar.

And we want them to find us,

right? So we're going to say in my case,

Highland park,

because that's where I live,

Highland park florist or whatever your specialty is.

But you think of the keywords that kind of like SEO.

We've been talking a lot about SEO,

Jessica. So people who are listening to multiple podcasts,

but kind of like how that is.

Yes. That's what you put then into the description of your

business. So do your,

putting it in a different place than you might on your

website necessarily.

Right? Exactly.

And Google,

my business is a part of what we call local S

E O.

So that's what your listing is about.

So if you've already been talking about SEO to your audience,

which yay,

I'm so happy you're doing that because not enough people are

talking about it,

Google my business is part of it to help you do

that. Search engine optimization in your little local area.

That's what it's really all about.

Okay. So there's no separate spot for local SEO,

but you just want your mindset targeted in when you're thinking

of how you're wording everything,

it's totally local,

right? Like you almost want to even forget that there's the

computer, even though you're working on the computer and just think

of the olden days when you were just trying to get

someone to walk in your front door and that's how you

talk. Right.

I love that.

Yes. Okay.

Got it.

And so a header photo,

I'm assuming that that's across the top.

You want to make sure,

you know,

it's the worst when you go to someone's website and there's

just that default image there.

Right? So definitely put something in for that.

What about other photos?

We'll continue talking about how to set up your Google,

my business account right after a quick break.

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So you can add Other photos and customers can add photos

as well.

So here's where it gets a little tricky with Google my

business. And you're going to want to make sure that you

are monitoring this regularly is users or searchers on Google can

make suggestions.

If they think your information is incorrect.

Ooh. Yeah.

Keep talking.

So this is not a set it and forget it type

situation, right?

You have to keep monitoring this.

You will get alerted if someone makes a change and it

will ask you to verify it before it actually changes your

listings, but they may suggest an edit on your hours or

they could suggest an edit on your categories.

So you want to make sure that you're monitoring this and

rejecting any edits that are incorrect.

Okay. Then give us some guidance on the type of photos

we should be putting up.

Cause it doesn't sound like you should be putting up a

catalog of things so that people go over on your website

to buy.

It's almost sounds like it's supposed to be a teaser type.

Yes. It should be a teaser.

And if you do some searches for companies near you to

get a little inspiration,

cause it's going to depend on your business,

but we'll talk restaurant.

Cause everyone could wrap their head around that.

You want a picture of your delicious mouthwatering,

beautiful presented food to be the thing that someone sees right.

When they first see that listing,

would that be your head or photo?

Right? Maybe you are a multi chain retailer.

Maybe you're just going to have a picture of the inside

of your store.

Maybe you're going to have a picture of the outside.

That's not super enticing to me as a potential customer.

Right. I want to see what that experience is going to

be like.

Sure. In a hard to find location,

like there's some trigger point or something.

If someone's coming to find you.

Yes. That's very true.

Okay. So that's your header photo.

So I guess the point is what's the first impression that

you want to be presenting.

If people say they have a lot of trouble finding you

for some reason,

maybe you take a picture and you're right next to something

else that's really well known that would make it easier to

find you or what you're providing,

what the experiences to your point.

So we need to think about that,

but then what about other pictures?

Cause I know you can put lots of pictures up if

you want it to.

Yes, you definitely can.

So it really depends on what is the personality of your

brand and what do you want to show?

So if you do have a physical brick and mortar location

where the customer can come in and shop,

you definitely want pictures of inside.

Of course,

maybe there should be some pictures of you.

It depends.

Do you want them to feel like,

Oh, this is like a fun,

friendly place that I can come into.

How can you convey that in photos?

Okay. So I would start with the personality of your brand

and it's no different than how you would think about photos.

You want to post anywhere,

right on your website,

on social media.

You want to try and convey that experience as best you

can through photos.

Okay. Would it be right to say that you don't want

to put too many photos up because people aren't going to

take the time to scroll through all those photos.

If they're interested,

they'll jump over to your website.

So limiting your photos to a certain amount.

So that they're the photos that you would want people to

see. Does that make sense?

Yes. Maybe it's like five different categories.

So you obviously want to have your storefront,

right? Especially if you're a little bit difficult to find the

question there is whether or not you want that to be

the cover photo.

Right. But you still want to have them in the group.

Okay. Definitely have something inside.

And if you can then also have a better representation of

the products that you do offer.

So you kind of have maybe think of like a wide

shot and then maybe you have some specific product shots,

things like that.

Okay. Also thinking then for a restaurant you might have,

it would be obvious,

maybe one or two of your signature dishes.

Then you might have a picture of a couple of people

at a table enjoying themselves over dinner,

a couple or something.

Right. And then also potentially like a group event.

If you host events,

if you have like a back room or people can rent

out your place for anniversary parties,

engagement parties,

you know,

weddings, bat,

mitzvahs, whatever it might be.

So then you'd have that too.

So just by a picture,

you're getting a,

kind of a montage of all the types of things that

are available through their services,

The restaurant.

Right. And maybe you have your chef while he's back there

cooking and preparing food just to add a little something different

to that.

Oh, I love that.

Yeah. Yeah,

yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Okay.

Do you know how,

like on your website,

it's smart to rotate out pictures and to add things regularly.

Cause that kind of helps with the SEO just to show

that it's an active site right here.

Is it valuable to change your photos out from time to

time too?

For the same reason?

Yes. And that's also where the posts come in.

Okay. Okay.

So let's talk a little bit more about these posts.

So you were saying that the posts are events,

maybe a menu or a new menu for the month.

I like things that are routine,

you know,

a restaurants perfect.

Like this month's specials.

That's really obvious what you're going to do or you're going

to change it up every month.

So that's super easy and people then might come back to

say, Oh,

it's a special this month got to go.

Right? Right.

Yes. Okay.

So photos also announcements.

And this is where I guess other people,

if other people were going to post photos would come in,

right? So if you're a gift basket business and you take

photos of deliveries that you're making,

maybe you could post a couple of those to show that

you're delivering.

If people can come in and make selections that are put

in a gift basket,

you could maybe take pictures of that.

Yeah. Love that.

No, we can be creative,

but the point is,

this is not the place to put up your whole category

listing of all your products.

Right. Cause they're not going to buy from this.

So you just get them to take the next step.

Okay. Let's talk now about reviews,

Google reviews.

Are those attached to the Google my business site or are

they attached to your account or where does that come in?

Are attached to the Google?

My business listing.

Is that right?

The only place where people could you'd leave Google reviews.

So technically yes,

but you can also,

there's a way for you to request Google reviews on your

website, but that gets a little bit complicated to explain.

And there are some limitations on that.

So I can give a link to put in the show

notes, if you want to talk more about that.

Okay. That would be great.

The other thing I'm talking a lot about with the community

right now is getting something into your regular system to routinely

request reviews.

And so it is a hot topic for us right now.

So that would be interesting to know because I've had a

lot of people be like where I don't even know where

the link is that I would share with people to request

reviews. You know,

it seems very hidden.

Right? Yeah.

And here's the other thing too,

is it's going to depend a lot on their business because

if you have more evergreen products,

let's say you have your eCommerce website and you have more

evergreen products that you sell for a long time.

You're going to want to really focus on getting product reviews

on your website.

Whereas Google reviews are really more just general business reviews.

What the experience is like buying from you and they live

on Google and they serve two different purposes.

Okay. Alright.

But you can also bring over,

that's what I'm doing for one of my businesses.

I'm bringing over both Facebook and Google reviews onto my website

as well as just direct show up Too.

Right. But in terms of actively trying to get those reviews,

it's like,

where do you focus your time first?

Okay. That makes sense.

Okay. So we've covered the reason to have a Google my

business account and whether you should or not,

we've talked about the value with search and local SEO specific

how to set up the account,

making sure that you're filling in your listings with the idea

of the front store window.

Like you don't consider this,

your online store.

It's almost like a yellow page listing,

like you said in the beginning,

Yelp like just like yeah,

Yeah, exactly.

Right. Okay.

We talked about where reviews sit in in the whole scheme

of things.

Anything else we should cover?

So like I mentioned,

you definitely want to be active with this and monitor it

because you also,

there is a place for people to ask questions about your

business and there will be local experts,

right. Who are very familiar with the local area who will

come in and answer questions a lot of the time for

you, which is kind of nice,

but you want to make sure that they're answering them accurately.

Right? Good point.

Definitely making sure that you're just sort of setting aside some

time. Maybe it's just once a week on Monday morning,

you just kind of go in and see what maybe you

need to update.

Just don't forget about it.

Well, and I'm kind of thinking if you're a brick and

mortar shop and you have people who work the floor for

you, you know,

sales, associates,

this could be a nice project to assign them to add

some more depth to what they're doing.

Let's face it.

It would be nice if people were in our shop the

whole time we're open every single moment the door is open,

but that's not always the case.

So this could be a nice thing in downtime when you're

straightening up the shelves or,

you know,

making sure all the displays look nice,

cleaning things off,

whatever. This could be another task,

not necessarily for you,

but for one of your associates to do,

just go in and take a look.

Definitely love that idea.

Get it on the calendar is the point,

make sure someone's covering it Right for sure.

And if you have multiple locations,

you would set up a listing for each individual location because

it is local,

but then you're managing all of those through the same place.

So it's one Google account.

It's one business,

multiple locations.

And I believe the threshold is 10 locations,

but 10 locations or less,

you can host to Google my business once for all 10.

So it will post to all 10 locations.

So you don't necessarily,

if you have a sale for instance,

happening in all three of your locations,

say you only have to post that once and you can

have it post to all relocations.

Okay. Perfect.

And I think strategically either there might be some things that

even if your locations are a little further,

apart from each other to still post that and show that

it's at a certain location because you know how people are

with driving patterns,

we find ourselves all over the place.

Except right now when we're home.

Yes. But you know,

if you're dropping your kids off at school or you're going

to play tennis,

we're drive normally all over.

And some people who visit you right near their home may

not even know you have other locations.

Yes, definitely.

I think a lot of people,

unless you are like this big,

huge retail chain,

they often think that the one that's right next to them

is the only one that exists.

There's even in my area,

there are some restaurants and there's actually this little local pet

shop around the corner from me.

And I didn't realize that pet shop has like three locations

around other little cities in my area.

And I had no idea about that and restaurants that have

multiple locations,

I didn't even know.

I thought it was just like my little one off next

to me.

Yeah. Yeah.

And this is another great example that comes to mind is

if you love this little restaurant right next to you,

and you're going to have dinner with another friend who lives

10 miles away and it's like,

where should we go?

Where should we go?

She may not know about the location near her.

Right. Right.

And then you can say,

well, there's a place I love.

I know they're they have a spot right near you.

Let's go there.

Right. Okay.

This is becoming a lot clearer to me now.

Okay. Anything else?

We talked about the questions we talked about the listings and

gosh, you know,

if you put a listing like a new Google account for

each one that would just be to try and keep control

of that would be crazy.

So I'm glad you told us that.

Just keep it all in one place.

Anything else we should know about that or any of this

as we're filling everything out and getting it all put together,

Just go back to what Google's goal is.

This is how I kind of talk to people about SEO

in general is it's not about how do I work the

algorithm? How do I trick it?

Right. It's really about how do I help Google give the

searcher what they're looking for?

And if you come from that way where you're really partnering

with Google to help them serve up the most relevant results

as quickly as possible,

it will help you figure out exactly what information you should

be putting in there.

Sound right.

Perfect. Yes.

It's a totally different approach than a lot of the things

we talk about online with website development,

social media platforms,

all of that,

that clarification is hugely valuable.

Any mistakes that you've seen people make on Google,

besides what we've just talked about,

you were just talking,

don't add a product catalog of all your products,

things like that.

But any other overarching mistakes we should be aware of?

I think The biggest mistakes that I've ever seen are one

kind of setting it and forgetting it.

Right. So definitely don't do that.

I know we already talked about it,

but it's worth mentioning.

And again,

because then your listing can get all sorts of screwed up

and to,

to really just follow Google's policies because they are very strict

about their policies.

If it's in their terms and conditions,

they mean it.

And while it is possible to get around that for a

little while,

it will eventually catch up with you and you don't get

to just pick up the phone and call Google for help.

Why not?

So it can be very difficult to navigate if you lose

your listing,

for example,

things like that.

So really just take the time,

invest that little bit of time in the beginning to really

understand what Google my business is about,

what the expectation is,

why they created it,

which you can see in all of their documentation and follow

their lead.

Okay. All right.

So what if I'm a business?

I have a design studio out of my home.

People can't just show up any time of the day and

look at my things,

but I have an online business and I sell all over

the country,

but yeah,

I've had a couple of people purchase and I've mailed out

to them or because they're local,

I've gone by and dropped it on their front porch.

Then I would set that up as offering local delivery,

but be committed to doing it if somebody finds you.

Okay. So I only want to fulfill orders online.

Then a Google,

my business account is not for me.

Right? It is technically against their terms.

Okay. So that gives us a clear line over which not

to step,

right? So,

but Google then still offers other things.

If we are a strictly online order and a mailing shipping

business. And that would be what we've talked about before,

right? SEO on our website.

Right. And all of those things that we cover in other

episodes, Google,

my business is not something that's going to serve you.

But Google overall has other options for you in their whole

big repertoire.

100%. Perfect.

Okay. This clarification is key and no one should feel like,

Oh my gosh,

like, how come I can't use it?

You know,

all of that because there are other things that are then

for you for your business.

And if this isn't for you,

then guess what it's lifted from your shoulders.

It's one thing that you don't need to be doing.

Right? So that way you can double down on other things

that are more appropriate and more in line,

it's kind of like trying to sell your product to someone

who really doesn't have a need for it that using,

or trying to use Google my business when it's really not

a fit,

even though you could maybe tweak it so that it kind

of makes sense.

I mean,

there's no reason to be on the platform if it's not

going to serve you in the way it was intended.

Right. Exactly.

Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. This makes so much sense.

Oh my gosh,

Jessica, I've learned so much.

I feel so much better in terms of where it's positioned

in some of my client's businesses and some should have it,

some shouldn't,

but I guarantee you,

a lot of people are not using it in the way

we just outlined they're using it as another place to upload

all their products be found in search.

But with the idea of selling directly from there,

I guess is what I'd say.

Right. And I find that too a lot because it's also

tied in with Google maps,

right? If you have that physical location.

So there are times when it will sort of create a

listing, even if you haven't created it.

And then you have the opportunity to claim it as the

business, just like how Facebook will create those pages based on

people's interests.

So the,

I do know there are a lot of physical businesses out

there who may be,

there is a listing and they're not actively managing it.

And so they're really just missing an opportunity to communicate with

their customer.

I think this is where a lot of the confusion came

up too,

because it's like,

well, how did that business get created?

Right. It could be that it was created from a Google

maps location.

So what if you have your design studio out of your

house connected to an address and Google maps decides that they're

going to create an account for you and you keep getting

those, I will say annoying messages,

claim your account,

claim, your account,

claim your account.

And you know,

you shouldn't because if this isn't right for you,

based on what we've just talked about,

do you just keep ignoring it?

Do you try and get them to stop doing it?

Do you eliminate your address so it doesn't show up?

Or What do you do?

I guess it depends.

If you think that you are ever going to offer a

local delivery or maybe that is a chance for you to

think about if that's something that you would do or would

you take in person appointments then create it?

Could you just say by appointment only?

Yes. Okay.

Because for me,

for the ribbon print company,

we have a Google my business account because I was told

years ago that I should have Go back and look at

it now,

based on all that I've learned from you today.

But yeah,

we have some local people who will come pick up product,

but we don't initiate or want people to be coming up.

This isn't like a storefront,

it's more of a headquarters we do fulfill from here for

the most part.

But so I'm kind of a borderline with the ribbon print

company, but I could still have a Google my business because

I could qualify with that.

But I don't want people showing up,

like, even from a safety issue,

we don't want all these random people showing up if there's

only one person here.

Right. And in that case,

you probably don't want on Google my business listing.

So in that case I would try and get it removed,

which I believe the only way to do that is by

attempting to contact Google,

Whoa. Or do I just say by appointment only what you

can do is if you just have no hours step on

your listing and maybe in the description,

you talk about how it is by appointment only.

There's no like native feature to set that up,

but you can obviously get that message across.

You can put something in your cover photo and sort of

make that happen and then just put a phone number for

them to contact you or,

and your website address.

Okay. I think there is a lot of confusion all around

because Google plus served a different purpose than Google my business

does. And a lot of people I think,

thought that,

okay, when Google plus goes away,

then it's Google my business.

Like it just morphed into that.

And then with maps,

initiating claim,

your claim,

your business claim,

your business,

that could also be where some of the confusion on this

end came out.

But this has been fabulous because you've really clarified everything for

us. So I'm going to suggest,

and Jessica,

I'm going to ask you if you would add in anything

after I'm done with this.

So everyone who's listened.

First thing to do is decide in your mind if you

should have an account or not,

If you shouldn't be And you do either try and get

it to go away or adjust the information at least so

that it's more in alignment with what we've talked about here.

So I would do that.

And then if you don't have an account or if you

have an account and you've treated it as I had just

described, like it was like a second website for you almost

with all your products,

all of that go in and tweak it so that it's

in alignment with what the purpose of the platform is.

And I think it's going to serve you much better.

Would you suggest anything different from all of that,

Jessica? No,

totally on board with all of that.

And always coming from a place of this is like enticing

them to come and learn more about me.

Right. And then the other thing we haven't really talked about,

but I think it is pretty self explanatory is you can

go in then to Google my business and see a lot

of different insights.

Who's looked at the account,

who's placed phone calls.

I'm not sure all of it,

but it is very clear and self explanatory.

So that's another value.

If you have a Google my business account and you haven't

looked at that,

take a peek and see what's happening.

And if you make some changes to your account,

like Mark down,

everything, the way it looks now,

make your changes and in about a month,

go back and look and see if you've seen an increase

in people coming because of the changes that you've made.

That would be really interesting.

Yes, definitely.

And if you are a location,

a multi location business,

or even just one location,

you want to have that information on your website as well.

And let's say you have three locations.

So ideally you would have an individual page on your website

for each of those physical locations that you actually linked to

from your Google,

my business listing,

instead of your general website link,

it's actually that specific page.

And that helps Google make the connection.

Okay. Good point.

So you go down as deep in your website as you

possibly can,

based on what you're talking about.

Right? Got it.

Jessica, thank you so much.

I feel like I said a minute ago,

I feel so much more informed.

It's so much clearer to me who it's for who it's

not for what to use it for the whole reason it

exists. And I just go back to,

I almost feel like that old fashioned friendly right in the

center of town,

brick and mortar shop that everyone loves to go to.

So that's what you want it to look like.

Your Google,

my business online should look just like that.

Right? I love that.

Yes. Wonderful.

Well, again,

like you've given us so much time,

Facebook shops a couple episodes ago now Google my business.

Thank you so much.

Just huge value to the community.

And I really,

really appreciate you Jessica.

Oh, I am so grateful.

And it's my pleasure.

So thank you so much for having me.

How can people reach you real quick?

We did this on the last episode,

but not everyone's listened to both yet.

How could people reach out to you if they wanted to?

Sure. So I hang out a lot on Instagram.

I'm at e-commerce bad-ass Surrey and I have the same handle

on Facebook and that is my website address.

So you can find me by that everywhere.

Thank you.

Thank you again so much.

And I'm hoping we'll chat with you again soon.

Sounds great.

Have a good one.

Thank you.

Bye bye.

Bye. Bye.

I feel like there's a weight lifted now that I'm clear

on Google my business's role in the world.

Hopefully you're feeling the same way.

And with this clarity comes your option.

If you're a brick and mortar shop use this platform as

your Google search storefront window.

You now know how to set it up and draw people

in just in time.

Since the holidays are soon going to be approaching.

I can't believe it,

but this our six part series,

if you've missed any episodes within a few days after the

airing of this show,

you'll be able to find all the episodes in one place

by going to gift biz unwrapped.com

forward slash online sales platforms.

So that's three words with dashes in between online sales platforms.

The goal here was to present the top channels that are

out there.

So you can decide which one or ones are right for

you. Not all at once,

but pick one,

get it locked in and working and then move on to

another multiple channels of income is the path to a solid

sales foundation for your business.

And you're on your way with this podcast series.

So you want to know where we're going from here.

I'm going to address a question that comes up a lot.

Should I?

Or why should I have a blog?

If I'm a product based business,

you'll hear all about that next week and to make sure

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