Does anyone dial the phone anymore?

By Jim Marshall, President of Bluefoot Digital Marketing

At the end of almost every article in each edition of Mimi, you’ll find an italicized paragraph providing contact information for the featured business, often including a phone number and a website address. But these days, that’s hardly necessary.

When is the last time you actually entered a telephone number on your cell phone or typed in a web address with all those slashes and dot-coms?

Instead, we are far more likely to enter the business name into Google which will bring up the business’s profile. Then we’ll click either the “call” icon or the “website” icon. There’s no longer a need to know 10-digit phone numbers and complicated URLs.

Your Google Business Profile is more important than your own website.

When you search a business name, the first thing Google presents you 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 typically 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 that your website. That’s why it’s essential that your online reputation reflects who you are in the real world.

Google owns your business profile (they can even sell ads on it) and they can present your business in any way they want. Google is constantly asking its users to provide information about your business, including your product offerings and photos. Often this information is wrong and can cast your company in an improper light.

Here at Mimi—with support from our digital marketing sister company Bluefoot—we help local businesses claim their Google Business Profiles and manage them appropriately. Our services include crafting a strategic narrative for your business and providing professional photography.

We also update your Google Business Profile regularly, including when your hours of operation change due to holidays. When Google says you are open when you are not, disappointed customers don’t blame Google; they blame you.

With Local Search Marketing, we provide accurate and relevant content about your business to over 70 different business directories, giving Google confidence that you are exactly who you say you are. And that improves your rankings.

At Bluefoot, our goal is simple: 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 Google and potential customers trust you.

In addition to Local Search Marketing, Bluefoot—which is located right here in Northeast Ohio—offers Review Marketing, analytics and no-money-down website development.

If you’re a local business owner, you can schedule a free analysis of your current online reputation with a Bluefoot marketing consultant by calling 330-220-8610 or emailing Mimi@MimiVanderhaven.com.