If you don’t already have a web presence, your business is in the middle of nowhere. People looking for your products and services online can’t find you and will likely assume you’re not a legit business. That’s the last thing anyone wants to happen to a hard-working business owner.
Creating and managing your online presence for local businesses is easier with Google Business Profiles. One of the biggest steps you can take to manage your med spa business listings includes claiming both your Google Maps listing and Bing listing, two of the most common places for people to search for your business.
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When it comes to the internet and search engines, Google is king. An overwhelming majority of online searches are done through Google, if you want people to be able to find you, you need a presence of some sort on Google. Luckily, they do make this process quite easy and painless for you.
We want to get the process started by just going to Google Maps and searching for your business name. You can do this by either just going a regular Google search then going to the maps tab or going to Google.com/maps and searching from there. This will help you determine if your business location already has a listing for it, or if you need to create one from scratch. If you are already seeing a listing that means all you have left to do is claim it and be verified.
Start by just clicking on the name of your business and go to your listing. Since your listing has not been claimed, you’re going to want to click “Own this business” down underneath the location and contact information. We’ve grabbed a random Medspa’s unclaimed listing to show you what it will really look like.
Once you click “Claim this business” you’ll be walked through a series of steps including identifying and cleaning the business, correcting any name, address, or phone number errors, and adding in a website URL and contact information, then finally confirming your ownership. You do want to make sure all of this info is correct, but do keep in mind you can change it live as you need it in the future. Verification is quite simple thank goodness, but will go one of two ways depending on a few things.
TIP: Make sure to be logged into Google using an account that is controlled by the company yet staff can access it.
If you are the one who created the listing, then confirming your ownership is as simple as clicking “Claim this business.” Assuming you’re still logged in to your Google account, Google will recognize you as the creator and immediately validate you, giving you complete control over the business listing. This means you can make updates, edits, and changes as needed. Congratulations!
If the listing was done by someone else or added by some kind of third-party citation or business directory source, you will have to show Google some proof that you’re the actual owner. To do so you will have to get a PIN verification code from Google. Depending on the information they already have about your business, you will have a few different options for receiving the PIN.
Regardless of how it’s done, once you have the PIN you can verify and manage your listing!
You’re going to want to start out by visiting this link and clicking “get started”. You’ll then be taken to a screen where you’re asked to enter either your business phone number or business name and address. Enter your information and then hit “search” to see if anything appears. If nothing does, it will ask you to moderate your search or click “add new business.”
If you don’t have a Microsoft account, you’re going to need to create one. A Microsoft account is anything you use to sign in to Hotmail, SkyDrive, or Xbox LIVE. You can create a new account easily once you get to this page and click “get a new account.” Once you’re logged in, it’s time to start adding in all of your business details. Below is a screenshot of what you will see, and the map and photos on the right will change as you add in your business details. The left hand side shows you all of the different drop-down menus you should open and fill in to complete your listing:
After you fill in all of the details and hit “submit” it will ask you to verify your business and Bing will send you a verification PIN at your registered postal address. You can add your address in the box below, and then you will receive a mailer with a PIN at the address listed in 3 to 5 days. Once you have that code just go back to your listing and enter the code, and you should be good to go!
This is just the first step in medical spa SEO. Managing your listings is just a fraction of the overall picture. But it’s a good start and something you need to do as a baseline so people can find you when they look for you!
