You probably already know that making sure your business is discovered by potential consumers is not as simple as being listed in the Yellow Pages and Google anymore. In fact, there are a number of sites and apps that want to be the go-to guide for consumers looking for local businesses. It’s important to make sure you’ve got the right information in the right places to be discovered, and here’s how:
1. Do a Google search
The first thing you need to find out is what happens when you search for your business. So do a search on Google and make sure you can find yourself, because if you can’t do that, there’s no way your potential customers will be able to either. What you’re looking for specifically is the details of how your small business is listed.
Check everything—is absolutely all the info correct? Not only should your business appear at the top of the search listings, but you should also get a special box displaying all of your business details. At a minimum, your business address, hours, website, and phone number should appear. Ideally, a Google Map with your location — as well as some pictures that represent your business — should appear.
If anything looks off or isn’t appearing the way you want it to, go to Google’s Places for Business page immediately to claim and fix your listing.