Why should tree service companies use Google My Business? We can give you 10 reasons why. Google put it out there that 1 in every 3 searches has local intent. This means that millions of people look for services, products, stores, and businesses locally. If they need a haircut, a wedding cake, a mechanic, or a tree service, 33% of people will do a local search, an example would be “Houston tree service” or “tree service company in Atlanta”. Tree service companies, for the most part, service their city and metro area, so this local traffic is important when it comes to making your business visible to their local customers looking for your exact services in your exact area on Google.
Right now it's easier than ever for tree service companies to attract local customers, thanks to the internet and technology, you can target specific towns or cities. Tree service marketing on Google My Business should be done in a defined geographic location, such as a city that is far more effective than blanketing a larger area. If your goal is to target local customers in your city you need to fish in the small pond in your backyard.
One of the best ways to do this is why Google My Business, this is Google’s online directory basically, don’t get confused, it’s simple. Google verified businesses based on location and services, they want credible businesses to show up when people use their site to find local services, it's not complicated. Google My Business is the top local business listing platform because it’s Google, the world's most searched search engine.
Another big reason Google My Business is so important to tree service companies is according to Google, 50% of all the searches on smartphones are local even higher than the 33% on desktops and laptop searches. Conversion rates are much higher on mobile as well, Google stats show 18% of mobile local searches end up making a purchase.
Customers are the lifeline of every tree service business. Without new customers and sales, businesses cannot continue to operate. Finding new customers doesn't have to be a long-drawn-out process. If I told you there was a convention in your local area with several hundred to several thousand people that were 100% interested in your tree service in attendance, would you want a ticket to be 1 of 3 businesses that provide tree services? Of course yes! This is what’s happening with Google My Business. You would love to have your business name, pop up and be shown to these people to show your location, phone number, hours of operation, address, customer reviews and link to their website when someone does a local search.
Google My Business for tree service companies gives you a great marketing opportunity to attract hundreds to thousands of local customers every month. as it attracts over a billion unique users every month. Ignoring this platform is a mistake that no tree service company should make.
Let’s go over the 10 reasons why tree service companies should be using Google My Business to get more local customers and clients.
1. It’s Free
Google My Business is 100% free and it can dramatically increase the chances of your business being found online and generating more revenue, but it also helps your website SEO. Just having a business and phone number listing is not enough, it should be fully complete and optimized with keywords and photos in order to land near the top of the local map pack. When your tree service company is 1 of 3 companies listed on the map, it will forever change your business and calls will start to roll in.
2. Customers Know That You Are Local
With Google My Business, tree service companies can list their exact business or home address, either way, having a physical address will help customers and Google identify you as a local business. When customers need to find your location or hire you they don’t need to rely on a phone book or business card, if they Google your business name your Google My Business listing will pop up along with directions to your business if need be. This is great if you're a professional tree service company when it comes to hiring new employees or if customers pay at your location, etc.
3. Better Search Visibility for Tree Service Related Keywords
You’ve seen the Google map pack under the paid ads at the top and above the organic results. The Google map pack has 3 company listings, if you click more it can expand the map out to give you more local tree service companies, but people rarely click that. This is the Google My Business section. A complete and optimized listing can help your tree service business land in this section. If someone clicks on your business listing it expands into the rest of your content, like your website, business hours, reviews, photos, direct phone number, etc. Why not set one of these up if you haven’t already. The downside is most tree service companies don’t know how to properly optimize the listing to beat out the companies that are already listed in the map pack.
4. Displays Useful Information About Your Tree Service Company
This is important business information. It’s vital to keep this information up to date if your address changes are sure to change it in Google My Business if your phone number changes are sure to change that as well. Google likes your business information to be consistent across the web. Useful, up-to-date information about your business will be displayed on your Google My Business listing which allows local searchers to see your:
Hours of operation, people know when you are open for business
Busy Periods, when your company is most busy during the day
Directions, turn by turn directions to your location
Photos, pictures of your company, crew, trucks, etc.
The call now button displayed for mobile users, call to action
Description of your business, customers can learn prior to calling
This means your tree service business listing will be as easy to access on tablets and smartphones as they are on desktops and laptops, due to Google being fully committed to mobile and adjusting their algorithms to fit the mobile revolution.
5. Another Communication Channel For Your Customers
Google My Business allows for potential customers to message you right from your business listing on desktops, more importantly, mobile devices. You’ll be opening up another new interactive channel of communication that more and more people are using this day and age with your potential and existing clients and customers by using a Google My Business profile. In addition to that, you can promote offers, coupons, or promotions through your GMB listing.
6. Hangout with Customers
People are doing local searches on Google because they have questions, some are ready to hire. It’s in your best interest to host chatting sessions with your customers or answering their most pressing questions, Google Hangouts is another great platform to connect with your customers and it’s done through your Google My Business profile.
Google Hangouts allows you to communicate with ten to fifteen customers at once. This is a great way to engage and interact with customers to build relationships with them. Use Google Hangouts to let customers ask you questions, give your expert advice, then you can use this information to create content that you can share on multiple channels later.
To get to Google Hangouts go to the bottom of your Google My Business dashboard and click on Join a Hangout to use it, it will help if you do this every once and awhile.
7. Gain Customer Insight and Analytics
Analytics is being used in every major sport, let’s face it business is a sport. Some businesses are better than others. If football, basketball, and baseball use analytics why not use insights for your business. The Insights tab in Google My Business gives you access to a great deal of analytics that is specific to your business and the tree service industry. It allows you to customize the information you see, you can pick which stats you want to compare and they will show up on a chart. This is called Google Insights.
Visibility, engagement, and audience are the three main sections. The visibility section shows the number of views that your profile has got over a period of time that your posts and photos are getting. You can filter the data to show the last 7, 30 or 90 days in a report that will get put into a graph.
The engagement section shows how your people are engaging and interacting with your posts. +1 clicks, shares and comments are where you'll see these stats. You can also filter these stats within the last 7, 30 or 90 days, that produce graphs as well.
The audience section shows the breakdown of the people that are following you. Different age groups, genders, and even countries are what this breakdown shows. How great is it, Google has this information, gaining these insights gives in a behind the scenes view into your customers that competitors might not know.
This allows you to improve your engagement in Google My Business, but also you can use this data for other marketing purposes to crush the competition.
8. Track Website Traffic and Audience
You can use the Google analytic tool in Google My Business to get data not just from your profile on Google, but also statistics on your website traffic. Google Analytics is the master key when it comes to analytics. While Insights gives you a birds-eye view into your traffic generated to your Google My Business account, Analytics will provide a more in-depth look at your website traffic that is coming from Google.
9. Get and Respond to Google My Business Reviews
As a business owner, face the facts that your customers are going to write reviews online good or bad, the key thing to remember is these reviews have an impact as to whether or not potential customers choose to call you and hire you based on what people are saying about your business. Google My Business reviews show upfront and center in the map pack, if you have great reviews 4.5 stars or better along with many more reviews then you separate your tree service company from the competition. Would you hire a company with dozens of great reviews from people in their local community or a company that might have just a handful?
Google My Business allows customers to easily write reviews. Customers can add their rating just by doing a Google search on your company name once you register yourself with Google. Then, in your Google My Business dashboard, you can monitor these reviews and respond to reviews that will show up directly on your GMB profile.
Understand the importance of reviews, encourage customers to leave reviews. Make it easy for your customers to write a review, send them an email or put your Google review link on your website asking them to write a review on your Google My Business page. It is important that you don’t panic and respond in a professional manner in case you get a bad review, you aren’t going to make everyone happy. If you get good reviews or an occasional bad review, either way, thank your customers for taking the time to share their comments if you get positive reviews and then get feedback from customers on negative reviews to improve upon things.
10. Your Google My Business Profile Ties Everything Together
By logging into your centralized Google My Business dashboard, you’ll be getting access to all the best and greatest tools Google has to offer small businesses. Google has so much data on how your customers search, their ages, what they are searching for, as a tree service company you should harness the power of its suite of tools to attract more local customers to your business. This means as a tree service company if you are using multiple sources of marketing such as Google AdWords, Insights, Google+, Maps and Organic SEO. This makes managing your online presence much easier and it’s more data-driven to increase success.
Conclusion
In this post, I explained the 10 reasons why tree service companies should be using Google My Business to attract more local customers. This is free knowledge, at Arborists Near Me we believe in giving, being a giver allows owners to see value in what you do. If you need more local customers and want to separate yourself from the competition create a listing on Arborists Near Me. Every month thousands of people come to our site looking for reputable tree service companies in their area. It can be hard to set up a Google My Business listing then get it ranked in the map pack on the front page for your city, if you want more exposure online you should do this but in addition to that sign up for directories and sites online to help you website SEO and increase your credibility in Google’s eye online. I hope this helps you better understand the value that GMB will provide, those that just read and do nothing will stay the same, it’s those that take action that will see improvements in their tree service business.
