Connie and I are talking Google My Business today! Yes! We have Google My Business Expert, Amanda Tento, sharing tons of gold nuggets on how to utilize Google My Business to land new clients and sales! This episode is so full of knowledge that can really help get your business to the next level! I’ve personally seen progress in my business thanks to Google My Business – so make sure you tune in and take notes. Lots to learn!
Episode Goodies: Google My Business Freebies & Resources!
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Episode Transcription
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
Good morning. Good morning, everyone. Hello, hello, hello. So nice to see the room filling up. My name’s Vanessa Cooper. I’m a Pinterest marketing expert and content creator and we are going to be talking today a little bit about Pinterest, a little bit about Instagram marketing. I’ll probably talk to you about attraction marketing because I love talking about it and my clubhouse bestie will be in here soon. She is a Christian mindset coach, and we’ll be… Also, we have a guest speaker who’s running a little late this morning. I’m going to reach out to her. She is going to be talking Google My Business. We’ve had her in here before. She’s amazing. I’m really excited that she’s going to be in here talking today. But for the meantime, Connie, if you want to go ahead and introduce yourself, I’m going to reach out to our guest speaker and get her in here. I’m done talking.
Connie@cltladoc:
Awesome. My name is Connie. I go by La Doc. I’m a Christian mindset stress coach and I talk all about mindset here every Wednesday in the marketing and mindset room. Today, I come to you with a bunch of new things that Instagram is doing, a couple of accounts that I think you should follow, some tips to start off the new year on a good foot. And of course, mindset is everything. If you’re in a good mindset, if you’re positive about what you’re doing, about your business, about how you’re reaching out on social media, then everything’s going to kind of flow. Remember your audience feels the energy that you have, even if it’s a picture or the content, the caption that you’re writing your content, they feel it. They kind of know where you’re coming from and where your headspace is. So always want to do stuff with positivity. And one thing that I always tell everyone in this room is don’t wait for it to be perfect for you to post it. Authentic, real, fly by the seat of your pants sometimes is what works the most.
Connie@cltladoc:
So thank you so much for hanging out with us. If you have any mindset questions or any Instagram questions, I’m more than happy to answer them, check out your profile or whatnot. And yeah, thanks for being here.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
Thank you, Connie. And like I said earlier, I’m Vanessa Cooper. I’m a Pinterest marketing expert. I’m here every Wednesday at 9:00 AM with Connie. And obviously, I talk Pinterest marketing, but I talk a lot more, I feel about attraction marketing because I feel like Pinterest is such a great platform for that. And with attraction marketing, it’s pretty much the concept that you create so much good value and valuable information and good content on your website for your target audience that you’re not chasing anybody down to get sales, they’re literally coming to you for that information. And while they’re in there, they’re building trust with you, they’re signing up for your email list and then they’re turning into conversions. And so I talk about that a lot in blogging because I feel like blogs are such a must have for websites and Pinterest really, really, really loves that good valuable content that you can create in a blog.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
But this morning we were going to talk Google My Business. I’m having a hard time reaching our guest speaker, but I know Connie remembers we’ve had her in the room before and Google My Business is something that we’ve completely, I feel like a lot of people have neglected. And it’s so funny because, because I am a Pinterest expert, I talk a lot about search engines because Pinterest is a visual search engine. You want to be found by search engines. People are searching for information on there and you can become a solution to someone who has a problem that can just so easily turn into a sale or a conversion. And so because I talk so much about Pinterest, I talk about Google a lot myself too when it comes to having a podcast or a video log or a blog on your website. I talk about it a lot because Google loves that good valuable content.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
Everyone goes to Google to find stuff, right? You’re searching on Google for information and you really want to be somebody that pops up when you’re looking for a particular subject. And that’s such a great way to land clients and get sales. It’s through Google, but I never knew, and I guess because my mindset was always blogging and growing and ranking your website on Google and stuff like that, I never thought about Google My Business. Google My Business was completely foreign to me before. And so we had Amanda, I think she’s been a couple of times in our room speaking Google My Business because it’s such a foreign topic for people. And she was able to show me and Connie how to easily set up the profile. And it’s really, really, really simple. I mean, you literally just look up Google My Business and start going through the steps. And so what happens is you can be found not just locally in your area for whatever service or product you have to offer, but you can be found in different areas as well, like other cities and stuff.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
So that if people search for certain things locally, you can pop up in that feed. Like when you’re searching for a restaurant or you’re searching for a doctor, you know those listings that pop up immediately in the search engine, that is what Google My Business does for you. And I think it’s excellent because now when people search for me, since I set it up, when people search for me on Google, when they search for like marketing or online marketing in my area, I’m one of the people to pop up. And so it’s really, really exciting. Connie, I don’t know if you want to go ahead and share a little bit about your Google My Business experience since having Amanda or if there’s any other insights you remember from when she last spoke in here about it. I’m done talking.
Connie@cltladoc:
Yeah. Google My Business is super awesome. It’s super, super simple. So I don’t know if you guys want to take some notes. Let me tell you why it’s really important. So everyone talks about SEO on the internet, right? Search engine optimization. So why do I want that to be optimized in order for people to find my business? Well, it’s much like having a billboard or neon signs around your business on the internet. So SEO is super important because it helps your listings appear in the local search results. So if you’ve ever Googled your business on Google and just searched either yourself or your business, your brand, you’ll see sometimes it’s easy to find and it comes out on the first page and sometimes it’s a little difficult to find if it’s not the exact name. Well, now if you Google your area or your niche, it’s going to be even more difficult to find what services you offer, your page, or whatnot.
Connie@cltladoc:
So when you use Google My Business, it enables your business listing to appear on local search results so that people who are specifically looking for what you have to offer will find your page. Google My Business is the first step is to claim ownership of your business profile. So if you were to go and just search Google My Business, you’ll be able to see that it says, get listed on Google, right? And there’s a button that says, create. You can create your business from maps or you can Google your business and if somebody’s already posted about it or has information on the net about it, you can claim that business as your own. So is it free? Yes, it’s definitely free to create your business profile on Google. You create that profile no cost. You can manage it from your desktop through Google My Business or Google actually has an app that you can download on your phone that you can then manage it that way.
Connie@cltladoc:
And why is it so important? Well, because you can add information to that Google My Business page that allows different areas to be able to find your services. So when Vanessa says, oh, when people search, they find me and it expands my niche. Well, yes it does because you can put on Google My Business either cities, zip codes, or entire states to show that you have and provide services in those areas. So what happens with that? Well, instead of just talking to your local market, you talk now to a bunch of different markets of individuals that are seeking your services. So one of the things that is really important is Google some of the top neighborhoods or salaries, annual salaries in the different cities that you want to present your services at. So think about your products and services and think about your niche, your following, and see who do you cater for? Who are your customers? And do a Google search and find neighborhoods of individuals that make a certain amount of money, or Google salaries within neighborhoods of individuals who seek certain service.
Connie@cltladoc:
Google has everything. The web has everything. So you can actually do a search and see how many people buy consulting services and how much do they make a year. How many people buy a certain product and how much money do they make a year. So you need to do a little bit of research so that you can decide which cities, states, areas you want to add to your Google profile. You can add, I believe, up to 20 or 22 different places. That will then show on the map that you service those areas. The wider your area in terms of specificity, the better it is for you because if somebody in Wyoming is looking for your services, but you don’t have that on your page or anything, but you’re 20, 30 miles away from that, then it’ll show up as this is somebody maybe outside your area that does offer this service. And then you come up ranking on there. So let’s talk about whether it’s worth it.
Connie@cltladoc:
So at the beginning when we first heard her talk about Google My Business, I’m like, oh my God, another thing I have to do. This is ridiculous. How many things do I have to do and now I have to be responsible for? And to be honest, the effort is completely worth it, okay? So what you want to do is when you create your account, you go through this questionnaire like Vanessa mentions. And then at the very end they tell you, you’re going to get a postcard at your physical mailing address that you entered in Google My Business and there’s going to be a code there. As soon as you get that postcard in the mail with the code, you’re going to go back to Google My Business, you’re going to put in that code and then Google’s going to say, okay, is legit. This address is really connected to this business. This person is really legit.
Connie@cltladoc:
And then you can kind of sit back and relax. It’s not like Facebook where you want to post stuff on there all the time. It’s not like Instagram, where you have to be on there every day and you have to create reels. Yes, you can post pictures, you can post video, you can post reels, you can post updates. You can do whatever you want in the Google My Business, but the most important part is that it’s already integrated with the Internet and it’s doing its own digital marketing campaign because Google My Business is growing. It allows people to see that your business is an actual business, it’s legitimate. And there’s a bunch of features on Google My Business that help you show up on maps. It helps the maps, pictures and videos come up and go through that neighborhood or wherever it is that your physical address is and they can actually put pictures of your physical address there. It can show listings of either your services or your products, and it displays really important information.
Connie@cltladoc:
But the most important is once people find you, they’re going to want to see more so they’re going to click on your website link. And so that going to help drive traffic to your website link or wherever it is that you push them to, whether it’s Instagram or Pinterest or whatnot. We always recommend that it pushes us to your web, your web address. And so there’s definitely a lot of things that you can do with Google My Business. It’s very simple to get started. It definitely gives you a lot of analytics in terms of who are these people? How many times are they looking at your website? It gives you a lot of information that your particular website may not look at because now you’re using Google as a search engine for your business and it’s going to tell you whether or not it’s working. So it’s been a really great experience. I think Vanessa, we’re like what, eight months in, nine or eight months in on Google My Business and I’ve seen a significant amount of people going to my website, a significant amount of traffic that I’m really excited about.
Connie@cltladoc:
And so it’s something that you definitely want to look into. I see that Amanda’s with us. Amanda kind of gave them a little run through about SEO and why is it important, what you can post and how simple it is to do it. I told them about the little postcard, but now that you’re here, introduce yourself and give them a little bit more information as to why it works and what you do with your clients.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
Yeah. And I have to interrupt, Amanda. Before you do that, I just want to say kudos to Connie, Amanda. She took notes the last time you were in the room. So she’s been able to give the room a good rundown on Google My Business and get them warmed up to the topic. I do not have her attention span so I’m like relearning today and I’m so excited that you’re here and I’m very excited to learn and really take notes this time so I can be an expert like Connie the next time we’re in a room talking Google My Business. So go ahead, Amanda, like she said, introduce yourself and let us learn something. I’m Vanessa, and I’m done talking.
Amanda Tento:
Awesome. Thank you, Vanessa. Connie, great job on taking notes and actually implementing. So that is the biggest part that most people miss with Google My Business because it’s like one of those things that’s a back of mind. So you might know that you’re supposed to be doing it, but should I do it? Yes, you should. So thank you ladies for having me here. And my name is Amanda Tento, and I am the owner of TDM Marketing. We are a Google My Business agency, which I should now say a Google business profile management agency because Google has recently changed the name of the actual tool itself again. So I really, really am excited to be here and just to talk about Google business and the power of the Google business profile. There is so much that you can do with it. I know Connie already gave a little overview of that, but starting out with what it is and why it’s important is the biggest thing. So especially for any type of business that serves a client in a local area.
Amanda Tento:
So even if you don’t necessarily have a physical location, but you’re a coach and you want to target specific cities or a specific area where your clients live, this is an absolutely perfect thing for you to use. You don’t have to show your home address contrary to popular belief because you can actually hide it and say that you’re a service based business only. So what you can do as a coach or as any type of business owner, you can actually claim your listing or create it. If it’s already there, you’re going to claim it. If it’s not, then you’re going to create it from scratch and you’re going to fill out absolutely every part of your listing. This is something that’s really, really important because if you don’t fill out every part of your listing, then Google is not going to see it as complete and it will probably not show it as often or if at all when someone searches for your search terms.
Amanda Tento:
There are certain parts of your Google profile that I like to call a gift from Google, and that is your description. So this is probably one of the most overlooked portions of the profile. You have 750 characters to describe your business. And a lot of people will typically describe themselves and their experience and things like that, but what you really want to describe is your keywords. So you want to use the keywords that people would actually use to find you, because again, it’s a gift from Google. So you have direct input into their systems and algorithms and putting those keywords in there in your description are going to help people find you. So the, three things that I would say you should include in your description is what you do, who you serve and like the, these are all things that you can use keywords for and then also the locations that you serve people. So if you are, I don’t know, business coach in Philadelphia, for example, you’re going to want to say that you’re a business coach for women who are type A personalities in Philadelphia, and then use those keywords that they would be searching for in the description in a conversational, written format.
Amanda Tento:
That’s the best way to explain it, I think. So, I think those are some of the most important things that I’ve noticed. Oh, one extra thing that has become very, very important is your descriptions or, I mean, your reviews and responses. We already talked about descriptions. So reviews are somewhere that Google is actually starting to pull keywords out of when people search. So if you were to do a search right now for a specific spa service in your area, what you’re going to notice is when you do that search, there are going to be a lot of things that come up, that have a little highlighted part that has your search term, and it’s going to be an actual review for that business. So Google is pulling search terms out of reviews, and they’re also going to be pulling search terms out of your review response, which is pretty cool. So if you have reviews, you must respond to them and you should also be responding to them and using keywords. So-
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
I’m so glad that, not to interrupt, but-
Amanda Tento:
No, go ahead.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
I set up my Google, my business account. I actually reached out to a few of my clients and I asked them if they wouldn’t mind writing a review for me on my Google account. So that I could get some of those reviews, because I realized that when I popped up in the search compared to the other businesses around me, a lot of them had reviews and I didn’t. And I know for sure that when I go to find a service or a product or a restaurant or something, I’m always looking at reviews. So I did not know to reply to those reviews and then incorporate the keywords in there. So I appreciate you saying that, I’m definitely going to do that. I’m done talking.
Amanda Tento:
Yeah. Thank you, Vanessa. That is a huge kind of missed opportunity for many businesses because while you may be getting reviews and one of the most common things that happens with customers that leave reviews is they’re like, great service, will come again or something. Something really generic like that. But that review is a missed opportunity for the customer to give keyword rich feedback. But what you can do to counter that is to give keyword rich responses. And then that way you are kind of automatically inserting those keywords where the customer forgot or, they don’t think about the fact that you need to have keywords in your reviews and more detailed reviews and things like that. So it is a very important part of the whole process. So, and Vanessa, if you have any questions or if anyone has any questions or you have anything in particular that you want me to cover, please let me know.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
Yes. Thank you so much, Amanda. That information is so good. I’m definitely taking notes today, but anyone in the audience, I just want to remind you and Connie will be back soon, guys. She’s had to step out for a little bit. I just want to remind you guys if you’ve been in our rooms, Wednesdays 9:00 AM Eastern, that we are not one of those rooms that just stays up here and talk. We’d love for you to come up here and ask questions. We’d love for you to come up here and add value to the conversation. We really want you to grow. That’s our purpose. So if you literally want to come up here and just share your business and let us know what you do, just because you’re in front of an audience, we totally support that as well.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
But we just say that we can’t promise we won’t give you unsolicited advice for your business anyways, but you guys are welcome to raise your hands. If you have any questions about Google My Business, I know I had a hand raised a second ago. Let me go ahead and bring them up here and make sure you guys, when you do come up, to stay muted until we call your name and then the mutes on the bottom right, just in case. And that way, if we have people waiting to talk, we don’t hear the background noises. And then also, if you could introduce yourself, when you go to ask your question, who your question is for, what your business is, and then let us know when you’re done talking or when you’re complete. Thank you so much. Go ahead. Is it Cuatro, and introduce yourself. I am done talking.
Audience Member 1:
Hi. Thank you. Yes, I go by Cuatro Mom and thank you for calling me. Sorry, I’m not sure if I’m in the right place. This is my first time asking a question on clubhouse. I’m pretty new and thank you Vanessa for moderating and Amanda, I’ve enjoyed hearing all the information. My question is in regards to the location. My business is supporting caregivers and parents who are raising children with opioid drug exposure in utero. And I am raising myself some adopted children who were exposed to opioids in utero and trying to create awareness about the supports that those kids are going to need throughout their lives. But I’m keeping myself as anonymous as I can because obviously I don’t want the world to know that my children are suffering from this. And so the location, I’m in south Florida, and I don’t mind saying that, but my people that I want to connect with are going to be worldwide. Will I still get the same benefits without using the location feature of Google business? That’s it.
Amanda Tento:
Hello, Cuatro. Yes. You can get the same benefits. There are some very specific things that you’re going to want to do. And I understand the need for kind of more privacy, I wouldn’t say anonymity, but privacy in the area of work that you’re doing. And what you can do is go into your info settings and there is a way to add 20 different service areas. So although you want to work with people worldwide with Google My Business, what you can do is actually pick the top 20 service areas. So for you, it would make more sense to pick major metropolitan areas in United States. That’s my thinking. And there might be specific zip codes that are going to be maybe where I’m not sure exactly what the demographics usually are for the parents that are raising children that were exposed to opioids in utero.
Amanda Tento:
I’m not sure, I’m sure you know that there’s kind of more of a common demographic there. So if you figure out what the most popular zip code in each of those major cities are that they live in, those are the zip codes that I would put in. And I always stress putting zip codes because if you put an entire city in, if you were put, for example, Miami, that is such a huge area for Google to try to figure out, should I be serving this listing to this person that’s searching for this or not?
Amanda Tento:
It’s such a huge area, but when you really kind of narrow it down by zip code, you’re going to be able to really specifically say, “these are the people that I want to know that my listing is here. These are the people that I want to help.” So my recommendation is going to be not necessarily focusing on the worldwide for your Google business listing, but definitely narrowing it down by the city and the zip code that you would like to serve and putting those 20 areas in your service areas. I’m Amanda and I am done speaking. And let know if that helped you by the way.
Audience Member 1:
That was super helpful. Thank you so much, Amanda.
Amanda Tento:
Awesome.
Audience Member 1:
I’m done speaking.
Amanda Tento:
You’re welcome.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
Awesome. Thank you so much for coming up here and asking your question. There’s somebody else with the question, I’m trying to bring them up right now. And again, anybody in the room who’s interested or wants to add to the conversation or ask a particular question about their business, feel free to raise your hands. I think it’s Patrick. I’m trying to bring you up here. So I don’t know if it’s being glitchy on my end, but I’m trying to get your question answered. In case your new to Clubhouse, when you do get called up this a little alert, pops up on the top of your screen, going to let you know that they’re inviting you on stage. Connie, welcome back. It’s good to see you, but yes, just trying to get this question answered and just let me refresh the room and just let everyone who might’ve just popped in let you know that this is the Marketing and Mindset room that we do Wednesdays at 9:00 AM Eastern.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
My name’s Vanessa Cooper, I’m a Pinterest marketing expert and content creator. Connie is a Christian mindset coach and also does Instagram marketing that teaches us every week about, and then our guest speaker today is Amanda, who is sharing about Google My Business. And so if you guys have any questions about Google My Business, feel free to raise your hand and ask some questions and I cannot get this person up here to have this question answered. But Amanda, I know that Connie had spoken a little bit before you came in here, but what I guess I wanted to ask you, what is one of the very first things and forgive me if you covered this, very first things that somebody should do, if they’re completely clueless about Google My Business, like they have no idea where to even start. I guess what’s one of the very first steps and things that they need to think about? I’m done talking.
Amanda Tento:
Yes, Vanessa. That is a great question. So definitely just going into from the home dashboard of your, the back end of your listing is to go to that info section and make sure that absolutely everything is filled out. So for example, you do need a phone number. That’s something that a lot of people, especially people in like a coaching field or service based business, they feel like, okay, well, I don’t really talk to people, but you really should have a phone number in there because people need a way to be able to reach you.
Amanda Tento:
And Google wants to know that you’re a legit business and that you actually have a phone number. So you can get a Google voice number or there’s a million different ways to get a phone number for your business, so that’s something that is a non-negotiable. Also adding your hours in there is going to be really important as well, and pretty much, just…so that is going to be the best way to get started and also to make sure that you’re using all 750 characters of your description like we just talked about and making sure that you…there also [inaudible]
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
Sorry, Dennis, do you mind muting your mic for a second till we call on you? It’s on the bottom of your screen, just so we don’t hear any background noise while Amanda finishes, if you don’t mind. Thank you so much. I apologize, Amanda, go ahead. I apologize.
Amanda Tento:
That’s okay. No problem. And you can add a cover photo, which is going to determine how your listing shows up and you can also add your logo on there, a picture of yourself. I’m not sure if I just got kicked out or not. Yeah. You can add a logo in there, a picture of yourself and those types of things in order to make your listing look more complete. You can also add your products and services, which I think is a really important thing to do. If you have any type of product you can add, I would say, just start with your top 10 products and add those and link to where people can purchase them. And if you have services, I would go ahead and add your top 10 services, if you have that many. Most people don’t have that many services, but just add those in on there as well.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
And you said something and I hate to interrupt again, you said something about making sure you have your full 750 characters. That’s in like the main description of your profile in Google My Business?
Amanda Tento:
Yes. That is exactly where it is.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
Okay. And I don’t know if you’re allowed to share this. Obviously you do this for a living. So, if it’s more information that you’re allowed to share, and I know you spoke on it a little bit earlier, but if I’m looking for the best keywords, I don’t know if you’re allowed to share, if I’m really looking for the best set of keywords and if you shared earlier, if you don’t mind kind of going over it again for anyone who just popped into the room, how do you find the best keywords? Do you use long tail keywords for your Google My Business profile? I do blogging and copywriting. So I always do try to incorporate some long tail keywords and things like that when I do SEO. Is that something that you would try to include in the profile? Do you want to pack it with keywords like that? I’m done talking.
Amanda Tento:
Yes. So you’re not going to want to over-pack it because obviously 750 characters is a very small amount of information, but you can use long tail keywords. And what that will help you with is, especially if it’s a very popular long tail keyword with a high search volume, it is going to really allow Google to kind of say, “okay, this is exactly the listing that should be showing up for this particular search term.” So definitely keeping that in mind, I personally love using a tool called Keywords Everywhere and it’s super inexpensive, so anybody can purchase it.
Amanda Tento:
It’s more of an SEO kind of industry tool. However, anybody can purchase it. It’s just a Chrome extension. And I think it’s $10 for a hundred thousand search credits. And so anytime you do a search, there’ll be a little box that comes up on the side of your Google search and it will come up with a whole list keywords. And then once you load those, then it’ll charge you credits. But I do this for a living and I talk to many business owners every day and I help them with keyword research. And I’ve never used a hundred thousand credits in a year. So just saying, I think that’s a great tool.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing that. I’m definitely writing that down. That’s pretty affordable actually for keyword tool. When I do Pinterest SEO, it’s a bit of a different approach than when I do Google SEO, for blog posts and copywriting. So is the same SEO that I would be incorporating into my blog post, the same type of keyword searching them that you would use for your Google My Business profile?
Amanda Tento:
Yes. The one thing that you want to actually remember is that you’re trying to sell a product or service most likely. So you’re going to want to actually use the keywords that people use to find that product or service, for example, a medical spa or so if I want to get Botox near wherever I live, I’m going to be searching for Botox near wherever the city is. So you want to make sure that those are the terms that you’re including and not just general terms about your business. You want to think about those actions that people are calling your business for, the problems that you’re solving for example, Pinterest marketing, that would be a term that you would want to have in there. I would say Pinterest marketing help is going to be probably a better term for your listing because you’re going to be able to show up for those people that are looking for help with their Pinterest marketing if that makes sense.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
Yes, it does. So definitely really putting yourself too, in like the mindset of your target audience, which I talk a lot about when it comes to Pinterest SEO, what will they be at adding into the search engine? When you pop up, you’re their solution. So I totally understand that for sure. And again, anyone who’s in the room that has a question, feel free to raise your hand. We’ll get you up here so you can ask Amanda your question.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
I did want to ask Amanda, you mentioned that you can to add your products like you can add your top 10 products. So in my website and, and I’m sure this is a question for anyone who’s got an eCommerce business, I actually have a group of products that I personally sell that are like t-shirts and stuff like that and then I also have a group of products that are actually affiliate products that I don’t sell I just I’m an affiliate for.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
So when it comes to those products you can add on Google, do they have stipulations? Does it have to be products that you’re physically selling yourself or can it be affiliate products that you add up there? I’m just curious. I’m done talking.
Amanda Tento:
Yes. That’s a great question Vanessa and you could technically link to any product on the internet. I would be a little bit cautious about it if it’s not a website that you own, or if it’s consistently different than any of the other URLs that you’re using for your products. I would be a little cautious about that but you can technically put any product up there and link to it.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
Okay. I appreciate that. I just wonder because I’m definitely affiliated with a handful of products that I recommend, but they’re mostly courses though. So I don’t know if that’s something that you would even recommend me putting up there?
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
There are courses that I’ve taken that I grabbed a lot of value from, copywriting courses and blogging courses that I’m never going to teach blogging myself, but I do recommend it for people who are interested in Pinterest and don’t have a blog, these courses. So is that something that would even be considered a product for Google?
Amanda Tento:
Yes. I would say probably skipping those would be better because it’s not necessarily particularly… Unless it’s like a Pinterest course for your business, I would say… I wouldn’t necessarily say that it would be relevant to your particular business. So I would try to stick only to those things that are relevant to your services or your business or things like that.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
Okay. Awesome. I appreciate that. We did have a question. Let me refresh and see if I can get them up here. Okay. It disappeared. I don’t know if you see any questions Amanda, because I feel like it’s being glitchy every time I try to get somebody up here they either disappear or it doesn’t bring him up. So I don’t know if it’s-
Amanda Tento:
I have noticed that. I actually, after you said that you couldn’t bring I think it was Patrick up, I tried to bring him up as well and it just didn’t work so.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
Okay. All right. Well just a refresher for everyone. We are talking Google My Business today with Amanda who’s an expert at this. She’s always adding great value on this topic. I love it. Google My business is such a great thing for your business to have and it’s definitely… I’m getting more leads to my website ever since I started getting on there. Now I’m Vanessa Cooper, I’m a Pinterest marketing expert and content creator, and I’m here every week with Connie who had to step out.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
She’s a Christian mindset coach. She might be popping back in here later on before we end the room. But we have Amanda here talking Google My Business. So if you are completely clueless about Google My Business or you’re unsure if your business is something is to be on there or any questions you have at all by all means, raise your hands.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
We are not one of those rooms that just wants to talk the whole time. We’d love to have you guys ask questions and give you knowledge. Something that I like to do personally is check out people’s Pinterest accounts, check out your website and just kind of give you some general advice on that.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
But also if you want to just come up here and talk about your business or pitch your business, we are more than happy to have you do that. I do have a question that I’m trying to bring her up here. I’m just not… Hopefully it’ll work because it’s… Kandyce. Hi. Welcome. How are you?
Audience Member 2:
I’m good. I’m good. Can you hear me okay.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
Absolutely. Go ahead and go ahead with your question.
Audience Member 2:
Thank you.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
You’re welcome.
Audience Member 2:
My name is Kandyce and I own a small business. I design and make little girls clothes and I sell them online and I have a really quick question about Google My Business. I am familiar with that but if you don’t have a brick and mortar store, is that still something that should be filled out for Google My Business because I sell everything online. So I thought that was only for a brick and mortar store. So that’s a question for Amanda. Thank you.
Amanda Tento:
Thank you Kandyce. That is a great question. And yes, you can still have a listing. So what you’re going to do is you’re going to enter your address initially for verification purposes and that is just basically for them to mail you a postcard, they need to make sure that you are a legitimate business and that’s how they actually do that verification. So they’ll mail you a verification.
Amanda Tento:
It’s not even a postcard. I always say postcard but it’s just like a little perforated kind of mailer, almost like a check if you will. And you’re going to verify your business through that and as long as you have it set to a service based area business, which means that you just delete your address out and then it will become a service based business that does not serve clients in person. Then you can actually have a listing.
Audience Member 2:
Thank you so much.
Amanda Tento:
You’re welcome.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
That’s a great question. So even though her business technically isn’t service based, I guess she’s not offering a service more so she’s offering a product, in order to expand her reach she would have to click it that it’s a service based business and that’s okay with Google, correct?
Amanda Tento:
Yes.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
Okay. Awesome. We had another question. Again, they pop up and go away.
Amanda Tento:
Yeah.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
I know. We had another question down there. Again, you guys are welcome to come up here and ask any questions that you have. Kandyce, thank you so much for coming up here and asking your question.
Audience Member 2:
Thank you. I’m not normally up here but I was so intrigued by what she said I had to get my question answered.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
No worries. Do you have any other questions for Amanda?
Audience Member 2:
No I don’t. Thank you.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
Okay, awesome. Awesome. And so Amanda, I think you spoke about it a little bit early in the room or maybe it was Connie actually that was talking about it and it kind of went over my head, but Connie had mentioned and I’m sure it was in her notes because she started spewing, Google My Business information that I was like, “Whoa, she really paid attention.”
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
She mentioned something about looking up, something about what people were, what people search or how much they make in a particular subject. So I’m not sure if there’s any extra tips when it comes to maybe filling out your profile or looking for keywords or what areas? Maybe that’s what it is. Exactly what areas and what cities you want to target. Is there any tips and tricks?
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
I know talked a little bit about it before, so I just kind of want to refresher on how do I choose what cities to target when it comes to where you serve your customers? When you’re looking at the whole United States, touch a little bit more on that, how do you pick your city, is there any kind of research that you can do in order to pick the right areas? I’m done talking.
Amanda Tento:
Sure. That is a great question. And this is something that is really very specific to each individual business but there is kind of a basic guideline that you can go by. And one thing, one mistake and I actually had a meeting earlier this morning with someone with a coach and I can see first thing immediately that I know that she has her service area set to the entire United States. Because on the map it circles the entire United States.
Amanda Tento:
So when you do that, you’re not giving Google any real information about who you want to be serving or where they live. You’re just like, eh, anyone in the United States and Google has a lot to sort through. So they’re most likely not going to be showing your listing to anyone because they don’t understand what area you’re going to be serving. So if you’re a location based business, obviously you’re going to want to put in… And I always say the 20 most affluent zip codes in your area, because you want to be showing up for people that are able to just afford your products or services or whatever your location based business is.
Amanda Tento:
And then that same philosophy usually works for most other businesses. So I’m going to use the example of again a coach and for any particular coach… Well, how about I use, I actually have a client who is a fractional CFO. So what that means is he is a part-time chief financial officer for businesses. So what we do to target his ideal client, who is a kind of a business owner that’s reached a certain financial goal, but they’re still kind of running the show themselves.
Amanda Tento:
So what we have done to target his is we’ve gone into specific for example, Seattle. And we will target the business districts of those of Seattle for example. So we have I think maybe three zip codes in Seattle, three zip codes in Houston, three zip codes in New York. And those zip codes are where most of the corporate offices for businesses or there’s a lot of office space for rent, business districts, because that is where his ideal client has their office, that’s where they’re working from.
Amanda Tento:
And that will help him to kind of get targeted. Now you can’t obviously with only 20 locations, you can’t target everywhere. So you do just are going to have to pick your top and you could do five cities and four zip codes or four cities and five zip codes. But that is the best practice that I found, that is going to expand the reach and actually get the phone ringing and website visits and all of those actions that we want people to take. And I’m done speaking.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
Thank you so much. That’s so… That’s great information. I mean that’s… And it’s so genius to really think where is your target audience? You know, that’s where you want to reach, that’s where you’re going to reach to be for sure. So refreshing the room again, trying to get some questions answered. Tara, business, you have raised your hand several times but I can’t seem to get you up here. If you could try un raising your hand and raising your hand again.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
I’m going to try to bring you up and just make sure you pay attention to the top of your… Oh, you’re up here. Okay. Awesome. I have been trying to and it just hasn’t been working for me. So let me go ahead and bring the other people up here. Remember to keep your mics muted until your name is called and then we will get your question answered. So Tara, I know you’ve had a question for a little bit, go ahead and ask your question and tell us a little bit about your business. I’m done talking.
Audience Member 3:
Hi, good morning you guys. So my name is Tara and I own a cute little gift shop based here in Chicago. Well, it’s an eCommerce store so I do drop shipping and I do curate some of my items for the local Chicagoans for delivery and so I guess my question is, because when I go to the website part of Google My Business, it kind of brings up… It doesn’t seem like, even though I see the website’s business, and I don’t know if that it just appears that way because I am the account holder but it doesn’t seem like my website is linked to Google My Business.
Audience Member 3:
And I just kind of wanted to know any insight with that. If I’m missing something or the website and the website views that I’m actually seeing on the account, if that’s from Google? I don’t know. Like the products that I’ve displayed on there, is it like their generic version of my website if that makes sense? And this question is for anyone, Amanda, Vanessa, thank you both for creating this space and taking the time out of your busy lives to help the rest of us.
Amanda Tento:
Yes. Thank you, Tara. I think I understand the question and I’m going to repeat it and then you tell me if I am correct? But I think I understand the question to be that you’re not seeing your website displayed on your Google My Business listing. Is that correct?
Audience Member 3:
Yeah. It doesn’t seem like visitors are actually coming to my website. It looks like it’s Google’s generic version of my website based on the products that I’ve posted. Now, I’m so grateful that you guys have created this space because I’ve sort of neglected Google My Business and just hearing how helpful and what it has been for you all in your businesses, I mean I think I need to direct my attention a lot more here, so yeah.
Amanda Tento:
Yeah, definitely. So one thing that you’re going to want to do is Google can automatically create that website that you’re talking about and that is, and it is confusing, because what it does is when you click on that button and then you say publish, then it’s kind of creating its own website for you and it’s going to display that.
Amanda Tento:
What you can do is actually just go into your info section and drop your actual website link in there and in the website URL and that’s going to override displaying that kind of already made website from Google if that makes sense.
Audience Member 3:
Yeah, it does. Because I was a bit confused on if I was able to… If I could at the website, where would I go, so you definitely help me out a lot. And again, thank you guys so much.
Amanda Tento:
You’re welcome, thank you Tara.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
Thank you Tara. I’m so glad you finally got to ask your question. I feel like I’ve been trying to get you up here the whole time, so glad you were able to come up here. We had another question and he’s no longer up here. So again, if you guys want to ask any questions at all, feel free to raise your hands. Very, very excited that you’re here Amanda again. We’ll probably periodically have Amanda back in this room, as long as she’s willing to come here and pour some value into the room because it’s such a great topic that I think it’s just not talked about enough.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
And it’s so funny because when I talk about Pinterest marketing, I find that a lot of people do not even have their business on Pinterest yet. A lot of people have no idea that Pinterest isn’t just for recipes and DIY projects and like mood boards but that is actually a place where you can place your business. And I feel like Google My Business is something that also goes over people’s head where they really don’t even think like, “Oh wow, I could actually have my business come up in a local search for the servicer products that I have to offer.”
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
So I just think it’s awesome that we are covering this conversation. I do have a question. Let’s see if I can get them up here so that they can ask their… I think it’s Kiara Mitchell. Trying to bring you up. Go ahead and let us know what your question is and what your business is. I’m done talking.
Audience Member 4:
Good morning. Good morning. And thank you all as everyone has already indicated for holding this space. It’s kind of serendipity for me, I literally just sent out or filled out rather, my Google… Excuse me, my Google profile information and [inaudible].
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
You’re cutting out, Kiara. We can’t hear you. At least, I can’t hear you.
Amanda Tento:
Yeah, I can’t hear you either, Kiara.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
And well, you’re muted now, but maybe if you try unmuting again, I don’t know if it’s the area that you’re in, and try asking your question, but right now you are muted, just in case. I know sometimes you start talking with the mute mic on, so go ahead and unmute and see if you can ask-
Audience Member 4:
Uh-oh, I’m sorry. Did you guys hear any of that?
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
No. We did not.
Audience Member 4:
Okay. Very well. We’ll start from the top. Good morning, ladies, and thanks so much for holding this space. It’s a little serendipity for me. I actually just sent out my, or filled out rather, my Google profile information and I’m waiting for the actual postcard, but you all indicated it’s not a postcard, it’s just a code or whatnot. I say all that to say, I do own a small business. It’s an app that is dropping and launching soon. But my question is, when I completed the profile, there was no opportunity for me to register as a social media or anything of that nature. Do you have any guidance for someone who is registering, again, as moreso not a brick and mortar business and not even a service, but just an app? I hope that makes sense. Any guidance for me would be appreciated.
Amanda Tento:
That is a great question, Kiara, and I am not 100% sure how that would work, to be honest, because you are an app, so you’re more not a physical product, not a service. Yeah, I’m not sure, to be honest, I’m not sure how that’s going to work. And there is the potential for Google to, if they realize that you’re not offering a product or a service … But technically, your app could be the product, I’m not sure if they’ll consider it that way, but if that is the case, then technically your app could be the product and that could be the way to think about it.
Amanda Tento:
The main aspect of Google, the Google business profiles, is that there is a local element to it. So, for example, a coach, even though they can work with anyone around the world, or for example, Cuatro for serving her target audience can work with anyone around the world. There is that local aspect. So, if she has a neighbor, for example, that she can serve, then that is what would be a qualification for her to be able to have a listing. So, in your case, I’m assuming that that would be the same for the app. I am not 100% sure, to be completely honest, how that’s going to work. I think it’ll work just fine, as long as you promote the app as your product. And I am Amanda and I’m done speaking.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
Kiara, does that answer your question? You’re muted, just in case you’re talking again. I just wanted to make sure you know. That’s so strange, it seems to be being glitchy, I believe. We cannot hear what you’re saying, Kiara, but hopefully she did answer your question.
Audience Member 4:
Yes, ma’am, I apologize. It wasn’t letting me unmute, but thanks a ton, guys.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
No problem. Again, anybody who has any Google My Business questions, we are here talking Google My Business today. Amanda, I wanted to ask you, because we are getting a little closer to wrapping this up today. Do you have any offers for us today? So, I don’t know, honestly, I have some guest speakers that are on Clubhouse all the time and some that aren’t, but if you have any offers, any courses, anything that you sell or maybe just your website, if you go to the top right, you push those three little dots. You can pin a link up there. I would love for you to go ahead and pin a link to any links or resources that you might have for the audience today, that really wants to dig into Google My Business, and learn a little more from you.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
If you do so. And if you can’t figure out how to pin the link, you’re welcome to send it to me directly and I’ll pin it for you. But yeah, any offers that you might have, any freebies, any courses, anything that you want to share with the audience today, go ahead and share with us. I’m done talking.
Amanda Tento:
Sure. I have a free PDF guide that is basically 10 things that you should be doing on Google My Business to get clients from Google. And it’s a very concise, easy to follow download and it’s basically five things that you can do right away within in your profile. And then also, five things that you’re going to do on an ongoing, consistent basis. So, I will put the link for that in that little area that you said.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
Awesome. Yes. If you could put it up there for people, that would be great. That way they can check it out and learn some more. I know for sure, for me, Google My Business was totally positively foreign. I think it’s funny just how it really is just not something that a lot of people know about or touch on. So, I think you’re in a great industry. That’s probably in high demand, honestly, because it’s just really not touched on. And Amanda, you mentioned earlier and I just wanted to touch on this, that Google changed their stuff and now you have a Google My Business management service. Is that correct?
Amanda Tento:
So, they actually just changed the name, it’s no longer called Google My Business. It’s actually now called Google Business Profile Manager. So, they’ve changed it probably a handful of times over the years, since 2014, when it was brought to life, brought to digital life. So, this is just the latest change in that.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
Okay. And then for the audience, what services do you offer? Do you teach people, do you manage their Google My Business account for them? Do you set it up for them? What are the services that you offer?
Amanda Tento:
Yes. So, we offer one-time listing optimizations, which is a way to make sure that everything on your listing is optimized. We also geotag photos, we rewrite your description, including those keywords, and we will basically make sure that absolutely everything is filled out. We’ll research your locations and put those in and just overhaul your listing. And then, we also offer monthly management services. And typically, these are for location-based businesses, but we do have, like I said, some service-based clients, like a fractional CFO and a couple other coaching type clients.
Amanda Tento:
And with that, we actually include the one-time optimization, because we can’t not include that, because we need to have a baseline for where we start from. So, that is included in the monthly management and then will do 12 geotagged posts every month. And that way we’re keeping your profile active, we’re giving more information to Google through those keywords in your posts, and we’re getting your listing seen by as many people as we can. So, those are our two main services. I also do pick my brain calls, which are a one-on-one call, where we spend an hour together and you can basically ask anything. And I do a lot of marketing technology outside of Google My Business, so I absolutely love working with people to get their automation set up and just make sure that their email is talking to their Clickfunnels, or any of those super nerdy things. I love doing that as well. So, that’s another thing that we offer.
Amanda Tento:
So, the newest service that we offer, which is absolutely amazing, is called Review Generation Services. So, what we do is we go and we set up a profile for you in our backend of our software. And you will have a link that you can now send to clients automatically, after their service, or you can email it, or you can have it texted to them. And we can actually delay the arrival of that text or email by a certain time. Like for hairdressers, we want to do it the same day, for example, because that’s when everybody’s hair looks the most fabulous, but for a chiropractor, maybe you want to wait a couple days. So, then that way people are like, “Oh yeah, I feel great after that service.” And then, they’re going to be in that, I guess it’s the purchase high. So, whenever that purchase high is, we will send it.
Amanda Tento:
And it also allows you to do some review gating. So, if someone’s about to leave you a one, two, or three star review, it’s actually going to send them to a form to fill out, to describe their experience. Instead of sending them to your actual listing, to leave a review. If they’re leaving a four or five star review, then it’s going to take them directly to the listing. So, that way they can leave the review and you’re going to get a lot more positive reviews and a lot less negative reviews. So, those are our services.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
That’s amazing. Thank you so much. And if you can’t add that link up there and if you are struggling, I know we had a guest speaker last week that couldn’t get it up there. She could not find the pin a link option because she had not updated her Clubhouse app in a while. So, if you’re struggling to find it, feel free to send it my way and I’ll pin it up there. And while we figure out how to get your link up there, anybody else, I’m going to be closing down questions soon. So, anybody else that has a question or just wants to share their business or has another Google My Business question, feel free to raise your hand. Now is your opportunity, and we’ll get your question answered.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
So, I’m just going to give you guys a few minutes to ask any last minute questions that you have. And Amanda, just let me know about your link. I want to try to get it up there, so that way people can easily find it and connect with you for sure. But again, just a refresher for everyone who’s here … Okay, I’m getting that link real quick. Let me go ahead and put it up there, because I know that it’s a newer feature. Let me get this up here.
Amanda Tento:
Yes. I definitely do not have it. So, I haven’t updated my app in while, for sure. And I just sent it to you via Messenger.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
Awesome. I went ahead and added it up there, guys. Amanda, if you could just refresh on what they’re going to find there at the link that we posted.
Amanda Tento:
Sure. So, it is a guide to 10 things you should be doing with your Google My Business listing, to get more clients and customers from Google. So, it’s going to break down five things that you can do immediately to your listing and then five things that you’re going to be doing on an ongoing basis in order to get those optimizations and make sure you’re doing the right things to grab some more clients.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
Awesome. Thank you. Thank you so much. Everyone, the link’s up there, if you want to grab it, and just dig in and learn some more about Google My Business. It’s been an excellent room. We are going to go ahead and shut down the room. Amanda, please let people know where you hang out the most, if they want to directly message you, where they can find you.
Amanda Tento:
Yes. If you want to send me an email, you can send it to amanda@tdm, like The Determined Mom, TDM, -marketing.com. And I also have a podcast called The Determined Mom Show, where we talk about everything parenting, mom, business. And I’d also talk a lot about Google My Business there. So, if you’re looking for resources, you can find a lot of them there. And on my website is where you can find, we actually have a newly created Google My Business resource page, where you can find every article we’ve been featured in, every podcast episode, not every podcast episode, actually, because I’m still adding them, but there are a ton of podcast episodes there. There’s vlogs, there’s webinars that we’ve been featured in. So, all of those things are there and that is just tdm-marketing.com.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
Awesome. Thank you so much, Amanda, for being here today. Guys, if you love what Amanda had to say, give her a follow, follow her on Instagram, give her some support as a thank you for her just adding so much value to the room today. I am here every Wednesday at 9:00 AM with my Clubhouse bestie, Connie, who had to leave today, unfortunately. But we’re here every Wednesdays at 9:00 AM Eastern, sharing Pinterest marketing, Instagram marketing, and every week we have a guest speaker who adds value and extra knowledge to the conversation. We’ll have a guest speaker the next couple weeks as well on different topics.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
So, if you guys have any questions for Amanda, feel free to reach out to her. If you guys want to stay in touch with this room and hear from us and the guest speakers and new knowledge every week, make sure to give me a follow and you’ll be notified when I’m on, which is Wednesdays at 9:00 AM Eastern.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
And if any of you in the room is interested in becoming a guest speaker in a future room, feel free to reach out to me as well and we can make it happen. And I just wanted to thank you, Amanda, again, for being here today, I learned so much. I was able to really dig in this time and take lots of notes. So, I’m very, very excited that you were able to be here today, and just thank you so much for being here. And thank you guys who have been here listening. I appreciate you guys being here today and I’m going to go ahead and end the room here in just a few seconds.
Amanda Tento:
Thank you so much, Vanessa. I appreciate it. I appreciate the opportunity and I just love sharing about Google My Business. So, I hope that it brought value to anyone, someone, everyone.
Vanessa Cooper@networknessi:
Absolutely. Oh no, this room was so awesome. Thank you so much again. And again, all of you guys who’ve been in here listening and taking notes and learning. So, if you can, grab that link up there, guys, before I shut down the room, but I’m going to shut it down in five, four, three, two, one. Bye, everyone.
Episode Goodies: Google My Business Freebies & Resources!
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