5 Ways a Google Business Profile can help your Business Grow!

Google can help your Dietitian Business or Private Practice get more clients.

It is one tool that has helped many of my clients receive consistent requests for consults and appointments. People who want their nutrition services and need them! People who want to work with them!

But if you ignore some of the tools Google offers, you could be losing out on new leads. Losing out on clients. So, let’s bring you up to speed on how this can happen.

As an owner of a dietitian business or private practice, you may need to rethink your opinion of Google. Sometimes folks are not so trusting of Google. But you need to start thinking of Google as your friend.

Friends like this are needed in our lives, especially as the CEO of our businesses. We are often so involved in the business and growth, we need help from others.

Sometimes we need time away to relax and rejuvenate. Friends help with this. When it comes to business, there is also ‘someone’ who can be there for your business, supporting you silently in the background, just like a good friend. And this someone is often forgotten by many business owners, or never even considered.

Her name is Google. 😀

Now, Google cannot do everything a good friend can. Well, … if you are using “Siri” or “Alexa” a lot, you may have developed a relationship like this (hehehehe). But, in this case, I might suggest finding a human friend, and then work with your Google friend in the ways below because Google can help your business grow.

Google has two main ways to help your business.

The Google Business Profile and Google Analytics for your website.

Both of these are included in my recommended 10 Marketing Foundations needed for a business to thrive and save time marketing.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a way to get tracking setup on your website so that you can learn from this information to optimize your marketing and business. Analytics help you optimize to create more traffic, leads and from this you can convert more clients. As a business owner, the information you can get from the analytics can help you track your marketing activities and the growth of your business. Something a CEO should always be including in their plans.

Be sure to connect with your Website Manager and get Google Analytics installed and working. Then review them on a regular basis. They can help you learn what to do more of and less of. See this article to learn how your analytics can help you improve your marketing.

Google Business Profile

Google Business Profile is a variation of the former Google My Business, Google Business Page, Google + Local. In all iterations, this has always been a way to register your business with Google and their maps to include your location (even virtually), your website and information about your business.

A Google Business profile is a tool that lets you manage your online presence across the entire Google platform. Once you create your profile and claim ownership of it (very important to do this – more below), you can update and edit the information in your listing — info from what the business is, your business hours and location, as well as being able to add photos and updates about the business. (Think of these updates as social media blurbs and posts!)

Having this info on Google helps your business show up in Google Search results or Maps when folks are searching online for solutions to their problems. And, remember from last week’s lesson, Google assumes most people are looking for a business or solution close to them – location matters, even if you work virtually!

You really need to think of a Google Business Profile as the Yellow Pages in today’s online world. (And, if you do not know what the Yellow Pages are… Good Golly, Google it!)

When I Google the phrase, “Dietitian near me” … see what shows up at the top? The Google Business Profiles of several dietitians. Plus map locations, contact info, and even pics of their office! Google can be a friend to your business!

Now, this is important to know:

You need a separate Google My Business account to manage your Business Profile.

A Google My Business account is the way you claim ownership of your Business Profile and get the management rights to it – to make changes and updates. This will also then offer you more features to increase your visibility on Google.

And this is what it is all about — getting more visibility with Google — so your business comes up more often as the solution to those problems people are Googling!

Take the time to claim ownership, which may mean them sending a card to your address with a code on it that you register to your account. That is their way of confirming your location is valid and you have access to it.

There are 5 ways to use Google My Business to market your Dietitian Business or Practice:

1. Adds another element to your Digital Footprint for your business – connects your website to a place online that will lead people to you.
2. Optimize for Local Search and Search in General – having your profile updated will make sure Google has something to show online searchers about your business. Being registered in the system means you can get shown in the search engine results page and make it easier for people to find you.
3. Provide Social Proof by using Google Reviews connected to your Profile – people can add reviews to your business. More reviews can help you get shown higher in the results. They also allow others to see you are real and what people think of you. They even offer a short URL for you to send to clients to fill out reviews on your business.
4. Offers a place to add keyword rich content by posting regular updates to your Business Profile (just like a social media post) which adds more keyword rich content connected to your business for the search engines to register.
5. Gain Insights into people visiting your profile – which allows you to learn more about how people find your business to optimize what is working and do more of it!

Google really can be your friend. So be sure to optimize this option as much as possible – especially if you have a location where people come to work with you in person. It is a must have in these cases! If you work virtually only – then there is an option to say you are located here but work virtually with people.

How do you get started with a Google Business Profile?

a) Visit google.com/business and get started with your business profile – make sure there is not one there already – if so, then you are updating it.

b) Fill out as much information as possible but NOT the website one on the side menu. You add the link to your website in the main information, not here. Clicking this button has Google create a website for your business and you do not want that. Not if you have a website already.

c) Be sure to follow the steps to claim the business profile as yours in order to ensure you own and control it.

d) Add this to your marketing activities for review requests and your content planning calendar. Copy one social media post a week on your business profile – or more if it is relevant for your business – from your marketing content. I recommend posting a blog promotional post or a lead magnet post. (Learn more about these two types of content in my free Streamline your Marketing Guide that shares the ONLY 7 pieces of marketing content needed to fill your content calendar.)

e) Update your hours and information as needed. Keep it current!

Here’s what a Google Business Profile looks like – this is the link to my Google Business Profile for Pepper It Marketing: https://g.page/r/CT9gC3bxCUNwEBA

What is your action step today?

At a minimum, check your Google Business profile. To get maximum benefits, optimize this marketing foundation for your business. Get it up and running, and make it a piece of your marketing plans and activities.

This will get you on the path to optimize and streamline your marketing. When you do this, you will find yourself spending less time on your marketing – a goal for almost every business owner! And, it is a good goal to have as long as what you are doing is effective and works!

You can also grab my free Marketing Foundations checklist and review it with your own business or practice to know what ones you have and what ones you are missing.