One of the easiest ways to get new customers into your floral business is to make sure they can find you when they search on Google. That’s where Google My Business comes in: It’s a tool that lets you manage how your business shows up on Google Search and Google Maps, and it’s absolutely free. With Google My Business, you can add your business name, location, and hours, plus your website address and photos of your business. You can also reply to customer reviews, learn where and how people are searching for you, and more.
If you haven’t already set up a Google My Business page, it’s really easy to do. Just go to Google.com/business and verify your information. It takes no more than 5 or 10 minutes to set up. From there, you can add more information like your logo and business photos, and you can even create posts just like you would on any other social media app.
Google Reviews and Local Guides
Good reviews on your Google Maps page can have a massive impact. According to a 2018 survey by Review trackers, 63.6% of consumers are likely to check Google reviews before visiting a business. On top of that, 21% of consumers believe Google reviews to be one of the most important factors when searching online for businesses.
Once you’ve set up your Google My Business page, customers can review your business on Google Maps—and that means greater exposure for your shop. But there’s one more level to this that you need to know about: Google My Business Local Guides.
Local Guides are what you might call “power users” for Google reviews. They can add information to Google Maps, add their own photos, update information on businesses they are familiar with, even add new places to the platform. It’s all about enhancing the local experience for other online searchers. This isn’t just a few people: Google currently has more than 30 million users in its Local Guides program.
Since Local Guides are considered to be more reliable reviewers, their reviews are given priority when displayed on your listing. However, you can’t just pick out Local Guides from your customers: Treat everyone who visits your shop as if they were Local Guides. Provide excellent service to all and when a Local Guide does show up, their glowing review may convince many more people to visit.
How to Handle Good and Bad Reviews
You should encourage customers to leave reviews for your business listing in Google Maps, and check your listing regularly. If you receive a positive review, make sure to thank the reviewer and invite them to return. If the review is negative, make sure to apologize and offer to resolve the issue. By doing this, you’ll let people know that you care and that you want to provide the best product and service possible.
If you haven’t set up your listing in Google My Business, do it now—it’s well worth it.
