{"id":1511,"date":"2024-10-18T08:26:05","date_gmt":"2024-10-18T12:26:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/?p=1511"},"modified":"2024-10-18T14:25:27","modified_gmt":"2024-10-18T18:25:27","slug":"google-my-business-best-practices-workshop-google-business-profile-as-a-tool-for-small-business-owners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/2024\/10\/google-my-business-best-practices-workshop-google-business-profile-as-a-tool-for-small-business-owners\/","title":{"rendered":"“Google Business Profiles Best Practices” Workshop: Google Business Profile as a Tool for Small Business Owners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

By Avia Stoller —<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGoogle, what are the closing hours of this cafe?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Many of us use Google religiously to find store hours and reviews for potential restaurants we\u2019re
thinking of visiting. Given that, how can business owners utilize this common practice to
encourage business? The question was answered by the recent workshop, \u201cGoogle
Business Profiles Best Practices\u201d at Voice of America Learning Center and Clermont County Chamber
of Commerce. At this session, small business owners, and those aspiring to be, received insight
concerning the do\u2019s and don\u2019ts for managing a Google business profile: the information panel
that pops up after searching for a specific business. Leading the event was Google business
profile expert Rusty Allison, and business advisor Tim Bingman. This workshop event was
sponsored by the Miami University Small Business Development Centers (SBDC), which is a
program dedicated to providing free services and resources for upcoming small business
owners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Expert Rusty Allison started off the workshop with an overview of Google Business Profiles.
Profiles serve as a way that businesses can introduce and attract customers to the services and
products the company provides. A profile includes key information about the business, such as
the name of the company, operating hours, the address, products and services, ratings, and
photos of the location\u2019s premises. However, customers are not the only party a profile should
cater to. Allison advised that business owners should incorporate practices to optimize against
the algorithm of Google, increasing the visibility of their company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


What does a well-managed Google Business profile include?<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Mr. Allison stressed the importance of a well-maintained profile as a way to gain and retain
potential customers. He highlighted the importance of \u201cactivity, activity activity.\u201d Active posting
on a profile is a way to increase the business\u2019s appearance in the Google algorithm.
Profiles are a way to showcase and market to customers; therefore, such profiles should include
up-to-date photos. Rusty Allison called this practice \u201cat-a-glance marketing,\u201d which is a
technique many business owners utilize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Mr. Allison continued the workshop by providing more advice about what to do and not to do for
Google business profiles, some of it quite individualized to the attendees\u2019 businesses\u2014action
steps that these owners can take to improve their profiles. The workshop included a great deal
of discourse among all the attendees. They provided their thoughts and experiences to aid in
possibly overcoming specific obstacles each one faces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


If you are interested in beginning a business, you should not overlook the importance of a
Google business profile as a tool to market and boost your company. Furthermore, as a Miami
Regionals student, be sure to utilize the free services and resources offered by the Small
Business Development Centers. The SBDC will offer further workshops later in the year so be
on the lookout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SBDC: https:\/\/miamioh.edu\/regionals\/sbdc\/index.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Avia Stoller — \u201cGoogle, what are the closing hours of this cafe?\u201d Many of us use Google religiously to find store hours and reviews […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":9224,"featured_media":1512,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-around-campus","category-our-communities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9224"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}