How to Market Your Business with Google

Attract New Customers and Improve Your Online Visibility

Wouldn’t you love to know the secrets of using Google to help grow your business dreams? You’ve come to the right place. Here are five tools to help you improve your search friendliness, learn more about your target audience, and pump-up visibility.

Google My Business

Make it easy for your customers to find you online with Google My Business (Opens in a new tab). “About 65 percent to 70 percent of our new clients come from Google searches,” says Jason Parks, a certified Google AdWords Partner and president of The Media Captain, a digital marketing agency located in Columbus, Ohio.

Use Google My Business to share your brand story, upload photos, list your business address, directions, hours, telephone number, a Google search map and get reviews to help your business stand out.

Google My Business also gives you insights (Opens in a new tab) as to how customers are interacting with your page. “Be proactive in reaching out to all of your brand advocates for reviews,” says Parks.

It’s also smart to make sure your business’s information is consistent across other search engine directories besides Google’s, adds Peter Verlezza, managing partner at SMB Networks, an IT support and VoIP phone solutions and digital marketing/media company based in North Haven, Connecticut.  For example, if you use Inc. or LLC after your business name, stick to that. “You become less relevant the more inconsistencies you have,” Verlezza says.

How is your business listed? Find out by visiting this helpful SMB Networks website (Opens in a new tab).

Google AdWords

Targeting your audience with Google AdWords (Opens in a new tab) display ads can be a great way to attract new customers and drive them to your website. “While an SEO strategy can take more time to reap the benefits, PPC [pay-per-click] can generate instant traffic and leads for business owners,” says Parks.

Here’s how it works. Enter words relevant to your products or services, and when someone searches for related words, your ad will appear alongside their search results. You only pay when someone clicks on your ad or calls you.

For example, if you own a sports apparel store, your ad might show up near search results or on related content network pages for workout gear, sports clothing, active wear, and so on.

Google Keyword Planner

The Google Keyword Planner (Opens in a new tab)is a sub-tool of AdWords and it analyzes search trends to see which keywords receive the most search volume. It also generates ideas for ad campaigns.

“Get in the heads of your clients,” says Verlezza. He also recommends creating an “ask” campaign. “Ask people what they search for when they think about your business,” he says. The more you know about what customers are searching for, the better you can market to them.

Google Analytics

In just three easy steps, you can use Google Analytics (Opens in a new tab) to monitor and analyze your traffic trends. Is your web traffic coming from referrals, e-mails, organic searches, pay-per-click, or social media?

Knowing where your visitors are coming from, how they got there, and which browsers and keywords they used will help you strengthen your messaging and determine which of your marketing efforts are most effective.

“This tool also allows you to determine whether users are having a good experience on your site, if they are visiting multiple pages or if they have a high bounce rate,” Parks explains.

Google Search Console

In just 10 minutes or less, Google Search Console (Opens in a new tab) can give you access to the diagnostics you need to maintain a Google-friendly website.

“This is the official source of truth for your SEO (search engine optimization),” says Parks.

This free service analyzes backlinks, indexed pages, sitemaps, crawl errors and more. Essentially, it monitors the overall health of your website. "Check search console weekly or sign up for email alerts,” Parks recommends.

While these tools can help you with your online marketing initiatives, keep in mind that building an online sales funnel will take time and effort. But your business dreams are worth it in the long run!