There are several easy things you can do to improve the Google My Business (GMB) listing for your dealership at no cost whatsoever beyond the time it takes you to do it.
First, you’ll want to make sure you’ve claimed your business in Google. To be sure you’ve done that, go to google.com/mybusiness and sign into Google with your business’ Gmail account. If you haven’t created a Gmail account for your business, Google will walk you through the seamless process. From there, you can locate your business on Google Maps and verify it with your business’ proper address and phone number.
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- Determine a single form of your NAP (name, address, phone number) and use it consistently across every listing on every site in which your dealership is listed from this point forward.
- Pick five services you offer and use these consistently in your website text as keywords.
- Add business details to your GMB such as hours of operation, the geographic area you service, payment types accepted and additional services.
- Add five categories based on five services you offer. Take note that one of these must be a “Google Approved” category. The balance can be any keywords you think will help prospective customers find you. Do not list your city in these descriptions.
- Rename your website photos with a keyword and city in the ALT TEXT space. Your webmaster can do this easily.
- Find eight photos of your business — a mix of the shop, your staff and customer interactions — and save them on your computer. Then, locate a free tool to create a simple video using these photos and upload that video to YouTube.
- Now, upload those same eight photos to your Google My Business listing.
- Add the YouTube video you created in #6 to your GMB listing.
- Write a description of your business using the keywords you selected in #2. Do not over-use the keywords. Add that description to your GMB listing.
- Submit and verify your listing with Google, and get dozens of people to post real reviews to your listing.
Columnist and contributor Roger McManus is the author of “Entrepreneurial Insanity in the Tire Industry” (Amazon) directed at the owners of tire and auto service businesses who are trapped as the hub of their business wheel. The book can be ordered at www.TheTireBusiness.biz. He can be contacted via email at [email protected].
Check out the rest of the September digital edition of Tire Review here.
