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What is Google My Business ? Google My Business (GMB) is absolutely a free tool that allows businesses to be discovered in Google Search and Maps. Why it is so important for your business ? GMB is extremely beneficial to your search engine optimization which determines how easy it's for customers searching for your services to find you online. Therefore, it is crucial to include complete and accurate details of your business name, address, contact details, and hours of operating times. GMB allows you to manage how you want your business to appear online by sharing photos, customer reviews, and provide opportunity to your customers to reach out you by phone or messages if they are browsing on mobile device, and provide insights on how people are finding you online and offline. Overall, it builds credibility with both Google and your prospective customers. This guide will show you how to get Google My Business profile up and running immediately and, get it verified by Google without much hustle and bustle. Set up Google My Business Account profile: It is important to have a Gmail account linked with your business. If not, first create Gmail account following this link: " Create Google account" Step 1: Head over to https://www.google.com/business/ and click " Manage Now" .  Step 2: Enter your business name to check if there are any other businesses with same name listed near your region. This allows you to avoid duplicate listing and override existing business details. Then, click on "Add your business to Google".  Step 3: Enter your business name to get it started and click next.  Step 4: Choose your business category. The category describes your business and helps to connect with potential customers who are searching for your services online. Here, you can choose the primary category and later modify or add more to the list. Keep in mind that you can't create your own category, therefore choose a category that closely fits your business needs.  Step 5: Add your business physical address If select "Yes" , enter physical business address and it will add it to maps section on the search engine page. Choose this option if you have customers come to your physical store or office,   If select "N0" in step 5 , then you will be prompted to this screen. For example, if you visit your customers locations to provide services, then you can choose this option.  Provide list of areas you would like to serve and your listing to be visible during the search.  Step 6: Enter your contact details. Tell your customers how they can reach out to you. Therefore, provide right phone numbers and active website so your customers can learn more about your services or products.  Once you provide contact details, you will arrive at this page. Hold on!! Not done yet, and still need to verify GMB account with Google. That's okay, only takes 2 mins (Easy peasy!) Step 7: Verify your Google My Business account. Choose a verification option as it is crucial for your GMB listing. There are few ways to get your account verified by Google depending on your business types. Not all options are available for everyone. If you are eligible for any of these options, you will see during the verification process. By Phone By Postcard ( will receive it mail) By email and some cases you will have instant verification as well.  Step 8: Final step to verification
Log into your Google My Business account and enter the verification code that you received in the mail/ phone under the location you want to verify. Once you completed all the steps, your business is officially online which means that is available for your customers during 24 hours 7 days a week search. Now, it is a time to flesh out your business profile online. In my next blog, i will explain how you can optimize your Google My Business profile to get most attractions from your audience and get it ranked on top of the search engine. Stay tuned. If you have any questions or help on how to get your GMB set up for your small businesses, please contact me.
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