In this blog post we’ll discuss the importance of Google My Business for your watersport and boat tour business. There’s a good chance that you found this article through Google or that you have searched for information in the last 24hrs using Google. Those are safe bets as Google controls over 90% of the entire online search market. Google is gigantic and playing in their sandbox is not an option, it is mandatory in today’s age. Whether you do or do not have a Google My Business account already, keep reading to learn the importance and benefits of Google My Business.
Signing up for Google My Business is easy and free, just go to https://www.google.com/business/ and follow their instructions for creating an account. We’ll avoid going into the details around setting up your account because, well… you can Google that. We’ll stick to discussing the benefits for your business and your customers.
We see Google My Business as having three important areas that have can have a positive impact on your business: Visibility, Sales, Pre/Post Activity. Let’s break these down a bit.
Visibility
We already know that everyone is finding information on Google. However, customers are increasingly making their purchase decisions based on information pre-website (i.e. Google maps info, social media sites, review sites etc.) so it’s critical to have that Google My Business presence to cover that side of search.
Another positive is that playing nice with Google in one area should have a positive impact on organic search for your website. So more customers will be able to find you and navigate to your website to book.
And finally, with mobile claiming the vast majority of all searches now, local search is a massive opportunity. Using Google My Business/Google Maps your business information will be available to all customers within a certain radius of your business when they search locally. This gives you excellent visibility with customers close to you and a leg up on your competition.
Sales
Visibility is great but it means nothing if the customers don’t or can’t make a purchase. The familiarity with Google for most people creates a general ‘ease of use’ that allows them to call your business or navigate to your website seamlessly. And that just means more bookings. The extra SEO help that your Google My Business page will provide your website with will also drive more traffic and thus more bookings. Additionally, providing your customers with business hours, relevant information, reviews, pictures, etc. through Google My Business will boost your brand/credibility and should increase conversions as well.
Pre/Post Activity
How a customer interacts with your company right before their scheduled activity and right after is a critical part of their experience. Google My Business makes it easy to see the directions to get to your location, shows your business hours and phone number, and allows customers to leave reviews after their activity has been completed. The easier it is for your customer to find relevant information relating to your business the better the experience they’re going to have. And having a breadth of positive reviews is one of the best ways to attract new customers. The importance of reviews can’t be stressed enough and there are multiple aspects you need to factor in for more reviews.
Using WaveRez you can easily set up an automatic review reminder email that gets sent to your customers after they have completed their trip. We find that many of our operators have the best success using this automated email to drive people to Google to leave reviews. Customers are generally familiar with Google reviews and it’s easy for them to login and leave the review on their mobile device. Auto sending review requests is a key step in building your businesses’ review count on Google and in general the more reviews you have the better you’ll perform both on Google and in business.
For the above reasons and many others, having a Google My Business page is absolutely essential in today’s digital world. They’re easy to set up and they’re free, so what are you waiting for?!
About the Author
Greg Fisher
