Are you open? Here’s how to keep your holiday hours up to date
By Jim Marshall, President of Bluefoot Digital Marketing
During the holiday season, many businesses change their hours depending on the day of week when various holidays fall. This can be confusing and frustrating to customers.
Are you open on Christmas Day? Are you closing early Christmas Eve? What about New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day? Are you closing completely for the last week of the year?
Posting your holiday hours on the front door of your business is helpful, but not to customers who drove 20 minutes to visit you. A Facebook post is helpful, too, but too few people will actually see it.
The best way to let customers and potential customers know about changes in your hours is to update your Google Business Profile.
What’s a Google Business Profile?
When we search a business name, the first thing Google presents us with is that company’s “Google Business Profile,” which features key information such as the business name, category, address, directions, phone link, website link, hours of operation, reviews, photos and more. You can even see in real time whether the business is open and when it is busy.
As a result of all this information, Google Business Profiles have become more important than websites. And if you’re a business owner, your Google Business Profile is now more important than your website. Users trust that the hours of operation posted on Google are correct. That is why Google will often add a disclaimer around holidays, reading, “Labor Day may affect these hours” or “Christmas may affect these hours.”
This is Google’s way of saying, “Hang on, this business may or may not be open. We aren’t sure.”
Instead, you can and should regularly update your hours on your Google Business Profile whenever they change. At Bluefoot, that’s what we do. With our Local Search Marketing service, we make sure your information is correct and robust on your Goggle Business Profile and on 70+ other business directories. Having rich, updated information and photos online not only prevents frustrated customers, it also encourages Google to trust you, which improves your rankings in search results.
In determining rankings, the Google algorithm also relies heavily on your number of positive reviews. That’s why our digital marketing packages include Review Marketing, an innovative system that encourages customers to leave real, organic, positive reviews about your business.
By not claiming your Google Business Profile and properly managing it, your online business information can be wrong and can cast your company in an improper light. On the other hand, providing accurate, current and relevant content about your business gives Google confidence that you are exactly who you say you are. And that improves your rankings.
At Bluefoot, our goal is to help your business put its best foot forward by aligning your online and real-world reputations. The more your online presence matches your real-world presence, the more credibility you have.
For more information or to schedule a free analysis of your current online reputation with a Bluefoot marketing consultant, visit Bluefoot.com or call 330-763-2918.