Google is the go-to search engine for anything and everything. There are over 5 billion searches done per day. That’s right, 5 billion searches a day! And with people using it to find local businesses, it’s important to have your agency listed with Google for leads to find you.
Creating Your Google Listing
Registering with Google is a simple process. Your business is most likely already listed on Google. You would just need to “claim” your own agency to get control of the listing. If it’s not listed, you will need to create one. In order to verify the company, a postcard might be sent to your address with a code for next steps.
Get Started with Google
Optimizing Your Google Listing
It’s not enough to have your agency listed. You need reviews! When I search for a local restaurant, I look for one with the best reviews. I’m not content to go somewhere with 0 reviews. I’m also not eating at a place with bad reviews. I want to see 5 stars and descriptive details about the food and service.
It’s the same for someone searching local insurance agencies. If there is a list of 10 insurance agencies and yours is the only one without a review, who would want to take a chance on you? No one wants to settle for the unknown, especially if the other agencies have good reviews and thus more social “weight” to back them up.
Use Bee Referred to generate more reviews for your Google listing. This will inevitably lead to a higher rating on Google searches and an increase of inbound leads. Even better, you can post these reviews on your website and social media accounts to further market your agency.
As a word of advice, always respond to a review directly on Google. When you claim or create your listing, it will allow you to respond back to reviews. No matter the review, respond back. If the review is 5 stars, your nice response will strengthen their approval. If the review is bad, you can potentially fix the strained relationship. Even if a response to a negative review doesn’t bring that person back as a client, it shows professionalism and great service to other potential leads searching on Google.
Other Tips
Add Pictures. Pictures are more personable and more attractive than using the default image. Upload pictures of the building, the office, the staff, etc. Besides making your agency look more professional, pictures can help leads identify your location when visiting. Countless times I’ve used the pictures on Google for figuring out where exactly the business is located and where I should park (whether there’s parking there or a nearby street).
Add Categories. Google lets you create categories that act as “keywords” for user searches. Your agency will show up when a user searches for something pertaining to the categories you add. The more categories you add, the more results the search will generate. The first category is the primary one, so be sure to make that general. For the additional categories, make them more specific to the lines of coverage you offer.
Add Description. This is where you can give an elevator-type pitch to describe your agency. Use this part to share your history, values, insurance products, etc. It’s limited to a couple of sentences, though, so either make it general or capitalize on something specific.
Add Website. Include your website for users to have direct access to more information about your agency. This will also improve your agency’s Google search rating (SEO) by linking your listing and website.
Add Hours. Make sure your hours of operation are shown for visitors to know when you are open. The worst thing would be for someone to stop by when no one is there or the agency is closed. I doubt they would come back another time.