Hey Boss,

Here’s secret number 1 to getting more leads, served up hot and ready.

Secret 1 – Set up and optimize your Google Business Profile (plus some other lesser known profiles). 

Yeah I know, not profound or especially unique on the outside but it’s the foundation to getting more traction.

Here’s the secret. There are multiple little-known tactics inside your Google Business Profile account that boost your business’ online presence, including utilizing local keywords. Getting to that in a second.

Here are the lead-producing steps to take action on right now. Do these to optimize and improve your search ranking: 

Step 1. Set up your Google Business Profile

This is one of the first steps to getting your business found online.

Follow Google’s instructions to set up your Business Profile while keeping the steps below in mind as you go.

After you’re done, check to make sure your Google My Business appears in the (search engine results page) SERPs. Especially for Google Search and Google Maps.

Step 2. Check Your NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) 

Make sure your contact information is correct in your Google Business Profile. It should be the same as your website and consistent in all online listings. 

Double check to make sure your business name, address, and phone number listed on your website is the same as its listed on places like:

• Nextdoor
• Yelp
• And anywhere else your company is listed

Add in business hours to let customers know when you’re available for calls.

Step 3. Check Your Business Categories

Double check your company is listed in the correct industry and select as many categories as are relevant to your business. The more categories, the better, as long as they make sense to what your company actually does

Step 4. Write and Review Your Business Description

Add a short and long Business description and think about some local keywords your customers might be searching for when they’re looking for your service. Add them in a way that sounds natural.

Ensure the description is accurate, clear, compelling for your target customer, sells why a customer should pick you over a competitor, and has clear formatting. 

Step 5. Upload a Business Logo 

Include a high quality 720 px tall x 720 px wide version of your business logo.

Step 6. Website URL and Business Location pin 

Double-check to make sure you’ve got the correct website URL, and Business Location pin. 

Now that you’re set up with the baseline expectation to get found on Google, I’ll get into some of the little-known tactics to boost your search results.

• Reviews
  • The best kind of reviews to get are ones with actual comments and photos. Better to have less stars and written reviews than all 5 stars with no written review.
  • You should reply to each review with relevant key words connected to your business categories and services
  • Ideally, your listing should show third-party reviews from Facebook, Yelp, etc (more on how to later)
• Posts
  • You have 300 words max to promote your latest offer or company announcement once a week ideally (but be realistic on what you can do)
  • Posts should contain links back to the website, content, and photos
• Photos + Videos
  • Include Before and After Photos
  • Have more high quality photos from your Business than user generated photos
  • If you have any promotional videos or high quality videos from the job site, include those with relevant keywords, titles, and descriptions to help your business appear in more search results 
• Q&A
  • Check and be the first to answer these before another customer does – can’t delete user generated answers
  • You can actually write your own Questions and Answers if you already know some of the most common questions you get
  • One benefit of answering questions is that you can use keywords to appear more often on search results
  • Upvote good answers that are not your client’s

Bonus Step – Audit Your Local Listings:

Besides Google, there are other online directories and sites your business is or could be showing up online. Check your website and match your contact information to other local listings, and social media profiles. 

Here are some more bonus places to build our your local digital listings to get found by more customers and get more leads.

• NextDoor Business
• Bing Places for Business
• Apple Maps listing
• Yelp Listing
• Yahoo Search

Next up is Secret #2 on the Leads Train, where we’re talking about Local Keywords and how that gets your business in front of more of your ideal customers.