A Google My Business profile is a channel you can successfully manage on your own, with just a few things in mind. Details on how to create a Google My Business profile and verify your business can be found in our guide here.
Google Maps profile – what should it include?
The most important thing is to complete your profile with all the information that will help visitors decide whether to visit or contact your location. Therefore, it's worth providing a phone number, website, and opening hours (even if they aren't specified for your service). Additionally, fill your profile with photos, which supports local positioning on maps. Equally important—if not more so—is the issue of customer reviews. On the one hand, they signal to Google that your business is being visited and rated. The more positive reviews, the greater the chance that your business listing will be displayed to users for keywords that interest you and their interests.
Therefore, it's worth encouraging customers to leave reviews in which they discuss the specifics of your service, the advantages of choosing your offer, and tips for other customers on what to look out for. One theory related to positioning in local search results on Google Maps is that the use of keywords you're positioning for in reviews also plays a role.
How much does advertising on Google Maps cost?
In many cases, displaying on Google Maps is as simple as taking the time to properly optimize your listing. You can do this yourself by investing time in website and listing optimization, or you can outsource it to us.
Remember, however, that Google Maps reviews will always depend on the quality of your services and how you engage customers to encourage them to leave such reviews. You definitely shouldn't buy fake reviews, as they mislead potential customers, who are increasingly "read" as inauthentic. Furthermore, this is simply misleading. When it comes to reviews, it's always worth building them organically with the high quality of your services.
However, sometimes your Google My Business listing isn't showing up for all the keywords you want, or something's preventing it from ranking higher. In such cases, you can use local advertising through Google Ads.
One way to get your business noticed is by displaying it on Google Maps. As a component of local advertising—both on desktop and mobile devices—it's inexpensive and can cost several hundred zlotys in this channel. However, ad targeting increasingly depends solely on Google's advertising system, and it often selects the appropriate channels based on our goals and resources—both advertising and financial.
Is advertising on Google paid?
Advertising in local search results encompasses many activities. You can practically undertake all of them yourself. Local SEO, a Google My Business listing, and optimizing your website for local keywords, even running Google or Facebook Ads. However, with these last two, it's worth remembering that you'll still have to spend money to display ads there.
However, all of these activities require time and experience. Business owners typically have a multitude of other responsibilities related to running their business, so they outsource their advertising to specialists – for example, those at Verseo.
If you are interested in website positioning, search engine advertising, Facebook advertising, or business card optimization, you can contact us – each of these services costs PLN 599.
The cost of local advertising on Verseo is so low because, as a rule, it doesn't require as much specialist attention as national campaigns, for example, for online stores costing tens of thousands of zlotys per month. Seasonality, promotions, new products, new supplier pricing policies, etc., are just the beginning of the list of things that change much more frequently with e-commerce websites than with local service companies.
Additionally, it's worth remembering that the market for local services, limited to a specific territory, is generally much less competitive than when selling products nationwide or to multiple foreign markets. All of this means you can have a sensibly organized local marketing strategy for your company for a relatively small amount of money.
You also save time you'd normally spend exploring local business advertising options and then running the ads. Thanks to our work, you'll immediately gain visibility in local search results and on sites like Facebook.
What is local and hyperlocal marketing?
Local marketing is a way of reaching customers seeking services in their immediate vicinity. This could be a province, municipality, town, or district. Hyperlocal marketing refers to even more specific activities – limited, for example, to a block of streets or a limited radius from a service point – e.g., 1 kilometer. In reality, there's no significant difference between the two forms of local marketing discussed in this paragraph – by definition, both simply aim to reach geographically defined groups.
