How To Instructions Archives – Bird's Eye Marketing

How to Get Your Business on Google Maps

by David Bird | Jun 14, 2023 | Google Business Profile, How To Instructions

To get your business on Google Maps, you need to set up a Google Business Profile. It only takes a few minutes. This post shows you how.

It’s Free and Easy to Set up

Have you ever wondered how all those businesses show up on the Google Map in search results, and get a profile box to the right of the search results page? It’s their Google Business profile, a free listing provided by Google that can show when people search for what your business offers!

Getting your Google Business Profile set up is quick and easy. Below are step by step instructions for creating and setting up your profile. It only takes a few minutes.

What you’ll need to set up your Google Business Profile

Setting up your Google Business Profile is much quicker if you already have these items in place:

Gmail account (paid or free)

Google Business Profile requires a Gmail address. You can use a paid or free Gmail account. You can set up a free Gmail account here: https://accounts.google.com/ and follow the ‘sign up’ links.

A physical address

Google Business Profile will not accept a P.O. Box address, so you must provide a physical address. This business verification requirement reduces the number of ‘fake’ Google Business Profile accounts.

Businesses that deliver services or sell products from a store or office will want to show their physical address.

Google only shows your address if you want it shown.

There are many businesses that have home or private locations they do not wish to be public. As you go through the setup, there will be an option to display or not display your address publicly.

One or two pictures and your business logo helps your business on google maps

As you reach the end of the setup process, you will be asked if you want to load pictures. It’s a good idea to have at least one or two pictures relating to your business, as well as your logo, because your Google Business Profile is a visual media.

Creating your Google Business Profile – The Bare Minimum

This is a short, simple process. Go to www.google.com/business and follow the setup links. You will be asked for:

Your business name
Your business category. Choose the category that most closely reflects your business. This is one of the primary drivers for showing your business profile in search results. You can always change it later.
Show or not show your address.
Serving area. These are locations you target – cities, provinces (states), country. You can input up to 20 different locations.
Contact information. Input your phone number, email address, and website address.
Address information. Regardless of whether you choose to display your address publicly, Google will need a physical address so it can verify that your business is real.
Verify your business. This may happen instantly with a text message to your phone number, or Google may choose to mail you a post card with a code.

If you’ve only done the minimum, your profile probably won’t be widely shown…..

Your Google Business Profile is now available, but without more information about you and your business, Google won’t know when to display your information in search results. And since Google likely has dozens of other business profiles in your category, your profile will show less often. It’s kind of like you have ‘paid the ante’ in a poker game, but if you don’t place a bet, you’re not really in the game.

If you want your business to be displayed on user searches, fill in the rest of your profile. This includes hours of operation, description, products (including pictures) and services.

Getting Google Business Profile Working for You

There is a lot of information you can add to your profile. The more you provide, the better your profile will perform. It’s strongly recommended you complete all of the following:

Your hours of operation

Google will show your hours and if you are open / closed at the time of the user’s search.

Your business description

Be succinct but clear about what you do and why people should buy from you.

Messaging

Google Business Profile has an instant messaging feature. Careful, this can be a blessing or a curse.

Turn on Messaging if you can consistently answer messages within 60 minutes of receipt. If you cannot answer messages within 60 minutes of receipt, leave it off. You can be ‘penalized’ or considered unreliable if you are slow to answer.

Products and Services

There is lots of space to show products and services. Google displays them to users. Show a picture and include a brief description of your product or service.

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Getting Started with Google Remarketing Audiences

by David Bird | Feb 6, 2018 | Google Adwords, Google Analytics, How To Instructions, Marketing Campaigns, Pay Per Click | 0 comments

To get started with your remarketing campaign , you will need:

Google Analytics, to identify who will see your ads; and
A Google AdWords account.

Some Rules / Caveats of Google Remarketing (Check these Before you Start)

Google requires an audience of at least 100 users over a 30-day period.
Your Google Analytics and Google AdWords accounts must be linked together so Analytics can pass the audience members to AdWords.

Now, let’s begin by setting up your first Google Analytics remarketing audience.

Google Analytics Remarketing Audience Setup

By default, Google will display your audience to be ‘all users’ who visit your website. However, you do not have to enable this audience.

All Users Audience

Log into your Google Analytics account.
On the ‘Home’ page, follow the left navigation panel to the bottom and select ‘Admin’ (it will have a gear wheel icon next to it).
In the middle column (Property), select ‘Audience Definitions.’
From the Audience Definition drop down, select ‘Audiences.’
Create your first audience’ screen will open. By default, Google will create your first audience and name it ‘All Users.’ It’s an audience that captures every user that lands on any page of your website.
Open the dropdown menu under ‘Audience Destinations.’ If your Google AdWords account is linked to your Google Analytics account, you will see your AdWords account listed. Select it, and click ‘Enable.’

How To Set-Up Google Analytics Site Search Tracking

by David Bird | Jan 13, 2017 | Google Analytics, How To Instructions | 0 comments

Google Analytics’ Site Search Tracking is an invaluable tool that gives you greater insight into what people are looking for when they come to your website.

It does that by tracking what people type in your site’s search box. (more…)

How to Use AdWords Ad Preview Tool

by David Bird | Aug 2, 2016 | Google Adwords, Google Analytics, How To Instructions, Pay Per Click | 0 comments

Without Wrecking Your CTR…..

Every time you look at your ads in a Google search you risk damaging your own Google AdWords click through rate (CTR) performance. CTR is an important ad ranking criteria and a high CTR can your ad a rankings edge. The previous post, Stop Damaging your AdWords CTR describes why CTR is important and how searching your own ads damages yours.

Here’s how you can see your ad without harming your CTR.

Navigate to the Ad Preview and Diagnosis Tool

To preview your ad you have to get to the Ad Preview and Diagnosis Tool. There are two ways to get to there:

Tools menu (in the top navigation) Or,
Bubble in the keyword status

Here are the instructions for using both methods:

Tools Menu in the Top Navigation

From any AdWords screens go to the top navigation and click “Tools”. From the drop down menu select “Ad Preview and Diagnosis”

Bubble In the Keyword Status

This is convenient when you are already in the Keyword or Ads tab.

Choose the campaign you want. This takes you to the Ad Group screen where you will select the Ad Group you are investigating. Make sure you are on the Keywords tab.

Find the “Status” column and hover your mouse over the “speech” bubble for any of the keywords. The bubble opens up and shows your ad status. At the very bottom of the bubble, click “Ad Preview & Diagnosis”.

Using the Ad Preview and Diagnosis Tool

Once inside the Ad Preview and Diagnosis Tool you will need to do three things to preview your ad:

Insert your target location – Enter the specific location you want to check; a country, state / province, city, etc.
Insert your target keyword you want to be found for. Alternatively, if you came from the keyword tab, your term may already be entered.
Click the blue preview button

If your ad is showing it will appear exactly how it looks in a search results page. If your ad has the top ranking it will be first, if it’s ranked second, it will be second and so on.

If your ad is not showing the screen will have a message that it is currently not showing. Your ad not showing could be a function of the keyword, the location, etc. There are links provided how to investigate.

Ad Preview Tool Does Not Wreck Your CTR

By using the Ad Preview tool you see exactly how your advertisement looks without having impacting your ad ranking and click through rate. Let your competitor do keyword searches to see their own ads and drive down their CTR it helps you rank better.