Question About Google My Business...

Once you register Google sends a postcard to your registered address. That address becomes the official business address on Google. So if you don't own the business, and you put in the wrong address, whatever address you put in would become the official business address. Not sure how you would make money from that.

A postcard or a call - in BOTH cases it is sent to the business, or calling the business number.

in order to sell Google my business services you are relying on the business owner ( or person you are dealing with ) to give you the information needed to proceed.

That being said, there is a way(s) to getting the ball rolling and show an amount of results, that this is something worth doing. IE demonstrating the value. This very method is what I use DAILY.

The whole idea is to find a business that does not have a Google my business account, and the best way to do this is to open Google maps and in real time be at the location and not see a pin, From there you can use 1 of 2 methods. You can use the APP "Google Contribute" to ADD a location, OR you can in Google Maps do the same.

Once you are in there you are filling information out like Address, Phone Number, Hours of operation, brief description, website address etc etc You can then add photos of the location OUTSIDE and inside ( outside being important so google can verify the location ) and maybe do a video. And then you are out the door. I have been getting e-mail confirmation the listing is added in about 2 hours as of recently, but count on a few days.

I then do a follow-up visit a number of days later, and I would say 90% of the time the business owner will know there is a listing, and will have had proof positive feedback from customers that the listing works.

I will say for me using the APP is easier, you have direct access to each listing, and then you can see how many people have seen videos and photos etc ( you can do this with google maps from your browser but its a few extra steps )

I find, but it is not always the case, that once this listing is created that the business owner can use their phone to claim the listing, IF and I mean IF and only IF the business phone number is a cel phone, that phone can be used to claim the address and it can in cases be instantly claimed.

he important information that can be had by going door to door with this is #1 you ( well I ) offer to insert for free. You can leverage "Google" and say you are a Google partner and would like to ad you the business to Google maps and do it for FREE. This is usually a direct bypass to the owner directly. The information added in the listing IE the website is what specifically I am looking for. I personally do not say another word on the initial visit, I leave a card and walk out the door.

The return visit say a week later, I know the have or dont have a website, I know how their website is listing, I have followed up and looked at their social accounts etc. If the "prospect"at this point is at all interested in how you got them business in less than 10 minutes, they will have looked you up as well. I close on average 60% of these return visits for one service or another - and over time close right at 80% of all locations I visit.

You can literally spend 1 hour on a block and go from business to business to business and have 6 to 10 prospects to follow up on the following week.

I personally do not just do this in my home community - I goto communities around me, I do communities in other states ( close in proximity to me )

Hope that Helps!

No you cannot claim it and sell it back to them.

It's shitty to even think you could hold a company's profile hostage like that and make them pay you for it.

Fortunately, all they have to do is put in a request to claim it themselves and they would be able to take it right back from you.

Thanks for all the feedback.

Some very interesting comments.

I spent a little over 3 hours today on a video call with one of the brightest minds on this subject (mainly because of where he works), and I learned a ton of stuff that was overwhelming.

I took so many notes but I'll try and cover a couple of things. Some you may know and some are just rolling out.

This month Google discontinued Google My Business and they're now calling it Google Business Profile. So the name GMB is no more.

The GMB app will be discontinued next year. You can simply go to google search and either put your business name in or type "my business" if you manage multiple sites (if you're logged into Google).

I had said before that I thought this was something to look into, and now I'm more convinced than ever.

Some are thinking the whole GBP will become a paid service...but from what I understand, at the least, it will be free with maybe some paid upgrades if you wish (still debated).

The hacking of the Google Business Profiles is a big thing. I won't tell you how it can be done because I don't want to put the information out there (not that it isn't already probably), but just be mindful of your account.

If you have a GBP account and you tried to use a cover photo but find it's not the one you wanted that's showing...Google has the right to decide on the best photo that describes your company by using AI. They do it with their AI that you can use for free to run your photos through...

the tip here is to run any photos you want to upload through the AI and see what keywords Google is assigning to them. Photos help increase your ranking on the 3 Pack (which is rolling out to be the 5 pack).

Also, there's a workaround where you can use the free website they give you and use the photo you want as the lead photo...even if you decide not to use the website...Google still reads it.

There's a hack to have animated photos on your GBP...you just change the filename.

So much more but I'll stop there because I have to digest some of the stuff I learned.

So anyway, my mind was overwhelmed.

I'm thinking I'm starting to get this (maybe).

Highly recommend everyone learn about Google Business Profile. I really think there's a lot of money there to be made if you study it.

Thanks again for the feeback

Thank you for clarifying - I had the same reaction Mike had.

Just to further clarify... if you find yourself in a situation where your business is claimed you can follow this: ( https://support.google.com/business/...-my-page?hl=en ) Its about a 7 day process.

They have recently added a new "Complaints Page" as well you can find it here: ( https://support.google.com/business/..._3p_complaints )

All those phone calls you get promising things etc from Google like 1st place listings etc you can report them here. From what I understand Google is going to be taking a more proactive approach to stopping this stuff