How to grow your small business online with Google

Google says: we don’t just “go online” anymore. We live online.

We’re checking our phone in the morning, while waiting in line, or in transit. If you’re not a digitally enabled business then you’re not going to be there in those tiny moments that matter – when customers are searching for you. Small businesses with high digital engagement are also 1.5x more likely to be growing revenue. So when it comes to growing your small business online, the Director of Google Marketing Solutions, Elizabeth Fox, is the woman to share the 101 in this month’s Masterclass Online. Have you ticked off everything on this checklist?

Get found when customers are searching for you with Google My Business

Get a free business listing on Google Search and Maps. Google My Business is the easiest, yet most important thing you can do to make it easy for people to find you online.
When creating your listing, take the time to go through the verification steps that happens via post. Why? Verified and well-maintained business pages are 5x more likely to get business through Google.
Make the most of ‘Insights’. How many people have seen your listing? When are people engaging with your listing? One woman always thought the best time to target ads to get people in her bar on the weekend was Friday afternoon. Through ‘Insights’, she discovered people were engaging with her listing on Thursday, moved her ads forward, and then what happened? 10x ROI.
90% of customers are more likely to visit a business that has photos on the Search and Maps results pages so add photos of your most popular items or perhaps your friendly faces.
Encourage your customers to give you a review and respond to them.
Utilise ‘Posts’, which appears directly on the search results page within your Google listing. Think of this like your social media accounts, except instead of only hitting part of your followers, your ‘Posts’ hit 100% of the people searching for your business. You can share discounts that month, upcoming events or any other updates. This gives you another way to connect and stay engaged with your customers.
Add Q&A to your listing and highlight FAQ from your customers. You can add flavour and personality here too.
Google is releasing new features all the time, so make sure you check ‘Stay up to speed’ to receive their news.

Reach new customers with Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords)

Quickly create a Google Ad by selecting your business goal, adding your business information, setting your budget, and voila – let Google do the rest. The more specific you are about your goal, the better the results.
When looking for your business search keywords, remember KISS. In this case, you could ask your friends, “What would you search if you were looking for my business?” Start there.
If you prefer to save yourself the time or would like to outsource for more complex campaigns, look for marketing agencies with the standard or Premium Google Partners certification badge. They’ve gone through stringent training to get the most out of Google Ads for you.

Get insights to help you grow

If you’ve got a website, use Google Analytics to track web performance. It’s free and extremely powerful.
Jeff Bezos from Amazon famously said that for every additional second their site takes to load, they lose $1B. So, you get that site performance is important. Check your mobile site performance here and Google will give you a low down on how you can make it even better.
Use Google Trends to explore what everyone’s searching. One global company saw a spike on “balayage” and “ombré” searches with no DIY hair products of the likes in the market. They created the product, then you guessed it, increased their market cap by millions of dollars. So whether your business is small or large, there’s so much to be gained by spending a bit of time looking at this. (Elizabeth says it’s also fun – “who’s still interested in ‘One Direction’”?)

Unless you’re a marketing expert who knows everything … And with the constantly changing digital landscape, who really does?

Check out Google Digital Garage. It’s a 100% free learning program that has over 100 modules not just on all things Google, but all things digital marketing. Everything from building a website and social media engagement, to e-commerce for beginners and SEO.