Like a digital Swiss Army Knife, Google My Business offers a wide variety of tools to help market your business online. Whether you’re already using Google services for your business or are just starting out, an optimized effort can help your business stand out. Here are some of the reasons why and some tips that can help.

Benefits of Optimization

There are a number of potential benefits to optimizing your Google My Business effort. These include heightened brand awareness, an increased number of visitors to your page, and, ultimately, increased sales. While there are several moving parts to an optimized page, Google makes understanding them – and how they interact – easy.

Simply by having a Google My Business presence, you instantly open the door to a variety of potential prospect tributaries. These include:

• Web searchers googling the types of products or services you sell.
• Prospects looking for directions to your business using Google maps.
• Consumers interested in your Google+ page, included with Google My Business.
• Those who do all of this across a variety of devices, such as smart phone, laptop and desktop computers (Google My Business ensures compatibility).

To make sure these prospects find their way to your digital doorstep it pays to have a profile that is robust and accurate. This means including the basics, like your complete street address, phone number, website URL and hours of operation.

For an enhanced consumer experience, upload photos of your business or products – or include a virtual video tour. Some examples of effective business videos can be found at the Google My Business Success Stories page.

Your Google+ Page

As part of your Google My Business relationship, your Google+ page presents a host of optimization opportunities. For starters, it allows you to keep an ongoing dialogue by posting updates, offers and highlights that keep customers engaged. You can also bring your page to life with images and content.

Your Google Plus+ page is also a place where consumers can provide valuable insights by sharing their comments and reviews about your business. What’s more, it lets you respond – so you can leverage good feedback or respond to anything negative.

Additional Ways to Optimize

Making the most of your Google My Business relationship doesn’t stop with Google+. In fact, Google provides businesses with additional ways to optimize.

Google AdWords

AdWords is a paid service that lets you designate which words web searchers are most likely to choose when searching online for your product. When a word or phrase you pick is used, your business appears prominently. The best part is, you only pay when someone clicks to visit your website or calls you from their device. For information about Google AdWords, click here.

Google AdSense

If you’re running promotional videos online, your business can earn money with AdSense. It’s a free service that pays you for displaying targeted ads with your content. It’s a service that’s gaining in popularity with more than two million businesses signing on so far. To learn more about AdSense, click here.

Pulling It All Together

What makes all of this so easy is that all of your activity can be managed from your Google dashboard. It’s the hub that links everything so you can hit the ground optimizing.

If you’re not making the most of Google My Business, the good news is that optimizing is just a few clicks away. And the benefits – to your business and your customers – are many.