Becoming visible online with your cannabis business is a tricky challenge ahead – albeit not impossible. The online space is the most important source of traffic and medium in which you can become more popular, given that other forms of advertising are limited. Moreover, in an increasingly crowded market, it’s important to stand out from your competition even before they get to hear about your product.
The average business is found in over 1,000 Google searches per month. The key is to actually get your website accessed as well once you pop up on a Google search list. The advantage is that Google My Business (GMB) is a free tool destined to businesses of all sizes and there is no reason why one should avoid using it. It’s the equivalent of leaving money on the table. Because using GMB is the safest way to ensure you will be found by your potential customers.
That is why an optimized Google My Business account is crucial. In this article we’ll share some tips on how you can rank your business higher on Google.
Three Significant Elements
There are some key elements to take into consideration when setting up your GMB. The first is keywords: think about what your ideal customers might be looking for – that is the exact words they would be using when googling your product. Use these keywords when setting up your GMB account and even website.
Next, location is highly significant. If potential clients in your vicinity are looking for the sort of product you provide, you can pop up in their results. That is by linking your GMB account to Google Maps.
Lastly, but this is the engine that will keep your business high in the ranks of Google is prominence. How intense is your online presence, both on social media and your website. The more active you are, the more you feed the algorithm with the freshness it needs to keep you actual and relevant to people’s latest searches.
Keep Your Data Actual and Complete
It is wrong to think that once you create your business profile, your job is done. The challenge is to create trust. First of all, filling in all the details about your business accurately is a major step forward. These include your business name (similarly to how your street signage displays it to avoid unnecessary confusion), an active phone number, the address, your website (linked to your homepage), your business hours, and business category.
All these details can make the difference for how successful your presence on Google is – and we already established how important it is.
Then, updating these details each time there is a change is significant – you wouldn’t want people show up at your door based on an old opening time that was never updated. Say you decide to open one hour earlier – it’s crucially important to update this information on GMB so that people looking for a business open at that particular time know they are welcome to walk in.
Link Your GMB to Google Maps
Data shows that in the U.S. businesses get up to 26% of their views from Maps-based results. That figure cannot be very different in other places, as digitalization is increasingly a more significant part of everyday life. You can count that at least a fifth of your traffic could come from Maps – especially if you have a business with its headquarters open to the public.
Add Quality Photos to Your GMB
In line with strengthening trust in your business once people find yours on Google is to add quality photos to your GMB. Business listings joined by photos can get up to 355 more clicks than those that don’t. Photos such as the outside and inside of your establishment, photos of your products or other representative illustrations for your business are the type of visuals that would show what the customer can expect when they visit you. While surprises are nice, they don’t fit in this case – try to create a representation as accurate as possible to avoid confusion.Â
Manage Your Reviews
Reviews are the golden nugget when it comes to the client making up their mind. More than 54% of prospects read the review section before ordering a product. So make sure you find strategies for customers to leave you a review and them engage with those reviews. This demonstrates that somebody is indeed behind the business, they are active and show interest in what their client has to share.
Final Thoughts
Getting a high rank on Google for your cannabis business is not impossible. It only requires attention to detail, and a genuine interest to keep the GMB updated. Think of it as directly communicating to your customers, instead of feeding an algorithm. Many times, your clients’ first contact with your business will be via Google – so paying attention to this aspect can only bring you benefits. For all your questions about your Google strategy, the Clout Brands team is here to help you! Contact us today!
