If you are struggling to decide if you should make a Google business listing for your company, then you are reading the right article.

The answer is, more often than not, you should. Plain and simple. If that’s all you needed to know, then it doesn’t need to get any more complicated. However, if you have a bit more time to read, there are a few more things worth knowing about Google business listings. One is that there is an easy and a hard way to make a Google business listing. Another is, they benefit some types of business more than others. Lastly and most importantly, there are things you can do to make sure the listing helps your business. So, read on, and I will elaborate on why you should make a Google business listing, and at the same time, I’ll explain how to make a good one, quickly and easily.

What kind of business do you run?

Do you remember when I said a Google Business Listing is a good idea “more often than not”? I am going to explain what falls into the “not” category quickly. If you run a company that sells a service then you should keep reading. If you run a business that sells products, then you can continue reading. However, doing something related to Amazon would be a better use of your time. That’s because the majority of searches for products nowadays go directly through Amazon. However, for you service business owners, Google is still king. I’ll explain why.

Benefits of listing your business on Google

The options for places to list your business on the internet is infinite, but your time is not. For that reason, it’s good to know which business listing services give the best bang for your buck, or in this case time (a Google business listing is free). One thing Google has going for it is that people use it. A lot. Like, over 50 percent of all internet searches in the US go through Google, a lot. So how does a listing on Google get you closer to all those people searching? By putting your business information, including phone numbers, pictures of work, and even customer reviews directly in the search results.

How to make a Business listing. Fast

Creating a business listing can take a couple of minutes or several hours, depending on how familiar you are with the process. The time it takes depends on how well you understand what you are doing and if you have all the information you need available. Luckily, there are a lot of resources on the internet to help assist you through the process.

• If you are a visual learner, then choose from one of the many videos available. This one is full of great information.

• If you prefer to keep reading, then you are in luck because there is no shortage of step by step guides on the internet. Here is one of them.

Taking your listing to the next level

Of course, once you make a Google business listing, the next step is having it show up ahead of the other listings. The obvious place to start is by having a complete listing. Google is not going to display your business listing ahead of others if it is missing your company’s name, service area, or hours of operation.

Next, adding pictures to your listing makes it even more appealing. Potential customers like to be able to see your work ahead of time to get a feel for your level of quality. However, if you want to take your business listing to the next level, you are going to want to have more reviews than the other businesses. Nothing makes a business listing stand out more than having more 5 star reviews than your competitors.

Getting a lot of reviews might sound daunting, but it doesn’t have to be a big task, thanks again to software available today. There are many apps you can buy that will work automatically to get your more reviews. Here are just a couple.

• Another option is Verified Reviews.

• Lastly, Reviews.io. However, there are many options than the three listed here.

Summing it all up

A large amount of search traffic that goes through Google is looking for service businesses. A Google business listing puts you right in front of those potential customers searching for a service business. Therefore, one of the first business listing sites, you should add your business information to is Google My Business.