Running a successful business, especially one like a law firm, means that you need to have a steady influx of new business. Customers need to be able to find you online and get your help without a long, complicated search. Having the right online tools is a great way to ensure that you are able to connect with new leads and grow your business online.
A Google Business Profile is a powerful tool that you can use to explain your business to potential customers and showcase what makes you special, all while improving your online search rankings and showing up on search results before competitors in your area. In this article, we’ll give you some of the most valuable Google Business Profile tips for law firms and guide you toward success with the Surefire Local marketing platform.
What is a Google Business Profile?
Google Business Profile, formerly known as Google My Business, is a free online directory that you can use to manage your business information on Google and appear in Google search results. You have likely seen a Google Business Profile many times when searching online for things in your local area.
The profile will display as a box either on the side or at the top of the search results page. The box will include information like your map location, your contact information, your website link, reviews from former customers, and other essential details about your law firm.
The Google Business Profile is the primary way in which businesses are found on the Google search engine. Without a profile, your law firm won’t be able to control how you appear in search results and customers will have a very hard time finding your business. In order to get better SEO and show up in searches for law firms, you need to prioritize having your Google Business Profile filled out and updated.
Benefits of Having a Google Business Profile
There are many benefits to having your business profile available online, even more than just having a specified location to put your important business information. Here are some of the major reasons why having a great business profile is so important for law firms.
Increased Visibility
The Google Business Profile is something that the search algorithm takes into serious consideration when ranking businesses. The more complete and detailed your profile is, the more likely you are to appear at the top of search results. You can even get into the Google Map Pack, which is the top three results that display in their own arrangement. When you appear at the top of results, you get more business and more views from leads looking for a local law firm. If they have to search through pages of results to find you, they likely won’t bother getting low enough on the list to find your firm.
Makes it Easier to Get More Reviews
Another great benefit of the Google Business Profile is how easy it is to gather and manage your reviews. Reviews are an essential part of any business, including law firms. After all, who wants to hire a law firm with horrible client reviews? When you have a Google Business Profile, you can easily ask for reviews from satisfied clients, respond to reviews that have been posted, and even mitigate damage from negative reviews all through your profile.
Free and Easy to Use
The final benefit of using the Google Business Profile specifically is that it is free and easy to use. Other business directories might have a fee, or can be complicated and confusing to upkeep. Google Business Profiles are user-friendly and designed to make managing your important business information as easy as possible. And, if you do have questions or concerns, there is a whole community waiting to help you figure out your problem and move forward with your business profile.
How to Set Up a Google Business Profile
Let’s go through the steps of how you go about setting up your business profile on Google.
- Set up a Google account for your business if you don’t already have one
- Select “create a profile” on Google Business
- Enter the full name of your business or select your business from an existing list
- Select your business category
- Choose your business location and enter your address in the field or position a marker
- Enter the service area of your business based on city, postal code, or specific areas
- Enter your phone number and website address
- Finish and verify your business profile
After your account is set up and verified, you can go in and add more details and information to build out the profile and make it stand out from the competition in your area.
Optimizing Your Google Business Profile to Attract More Clients
Now that you know how to create an account within Google Business, let’s go through some important tips on how you can optimize your Google Business Profile to help attract more leads, improve your SEO, and rank higher in search results.
Complete Your Profile
In the initial setup of your account, you only fill in a few very basic pieces of information. In order to create a great profile, you need to go in and edit your information so that you have all of your important details clearly visible on the profile. Types of details to include are:
- Name
- Address
- Phone Number
- Location
- Attributes
- Areas of Service
- Industry
Making sure these information pieces are completely filled out will help your SEO improve and will let customers who find your business profile know exactly what your business is and why it can help them when they are looking for a local law firm.
Write a Great Business Description
The next step is to create a description of the business. The description needs to be short, but it should also be compelling and cleverly crafted to explain what your business does, why you are different from the competition, and why a customer should want to choose your law firm. By putting work into the description ahead of time, you can help drive more traffic to your website and get more clicks on your profile.
Upload Photos and Videos
Another important part of your Google Business Profile is the images and videos you have included. If your profile does not have any photos or videos, then there isn’t anything visual to display alongside your description. This can make your business look less than legitimate and unprofessional. Even a few photos of your building, your offices, or your team can go a long way in making your profile look more complete for viewers.
Answer Questions
Google Business Profiles have a section for questions and answers which can be a big help to both business owners and customers. If a customer has a question about your business, like if you work in a specific area of law or if you have a specific certificate, they can pose that question on your profile. Those questions and answers are then available for the public to look at. This is a great way to address FAQs and connect with customers.
Post on Google
Google can be used like a social media platform in that you can, and should, post on it. By posting details about your business, educational information about your area of practice, or even special offers or deals that you are offering to potential clients, you can drive more traffic to your profile and encourage people to engage with your business online.
List Your Services
Specifying the services you provide is another important tip, especially for law firms. Your business might only specialize in one area of law, or you may have lawyers on staff for many different practice areas. Having a list of what services you provide helps get qualified leads coming to your business rather than people who are looking for different services than you provide. Listing your services also helps improve SEO for local searches.
Attend a Surefire Local Marketing Platform Demo
At Surefire Local, we want to help you accomplish all of the important marketing goals you have for your law firm without charging an exorbitant rate. Our platform is designed to make marketing easy and allows you to edit information in your Google Business Profile, like responding to reviews and posting photos all from one location. To learn more about Surefire Local and how we can help your business, get a demo of the platform today and see what a difference Surefire Local can make to your law firm.