Most local business owners think they’re doing perfectly well since they still have their doors open and a few customers coming in. That should be great, right? What they’re failing to realize, however, is that for every customer that found them, three others just opened their wallets to a competitor. And none of it happened with their engines running. All of it happened online first.
It’s not a subtle shift, either. When someone needs a plumber, dentist, or a sandwich for lunch, they’re pulling out their phone. They’re searching on Google; they’re looking at reviews; they’re checking hours; they’re making decisions. Fast. If you’re not in that moment and, even more so, if you’re just like the rest of the businesses in your area that make do without effort or intent, you’re losing.
Most Owners Don’t Realize There’s An Invisible Gap
Ask a local business owner how their online presence is. They will tell you any version of “We have a website” “We have a Facebook page.” Sure they do. And sure they have presence on something – it’s like saying they exist within a phonebook that no one uses anymore.
The problem is that owners only see their own businesses from the inside out. They know how great they are. They know who their customers are because they’re loyal and repeat patrons. They don’t see how potential customers are too busy judging other businesses before they even get to them – they’re too busy choosing someone else after typing “best mortgage rates, best family lawyer” without ever having the chance to even see what’s behind the doors of their business. Unfortunately, there’s no notification for that. There’s no report card that says “Four customers were looking for your services this week but since you weren’t online for them, they booked elsewhere.”
Yet that’s exactly why businesses that invest in local lead generation continually outperform those who don’t. These effective businesses do the hard work and research of ensuring they land themselves in front of potential customers the minute they’re needed.
Visibility Replaces the Actual Business Presence
Consider how people used to seek businesses before the digital age exploded. They would drive around and see storefronts. They might ask a neighbor. Now it’s the Google search that serves as a storefront. The Google Business Profile serves as a window display.
When someone types into Google “plumber near me,” Google will show up three businesses on the map pack above the fold . If you’re not part of that selection, you’re invisible to most people – unless they scroll far down and get frustrated along the way.
Now consider how people get into that map pack. There are too many businesses in the world for it to be random, with everyone being ensured they’re all equally searched. It’s not proximity; it’s certain factors – how close they are to the searcher, how relevant their business profile is to what was searched, and how well known they are (which means reviews, citations, and how much Google knows about them).
The Average Local Business Owner Fails to Fill Out Even Half of Their Google Business Profile
Most local businesses only fill out about 50% of their own Google Business Profile. They have a name, address, and phone number. Maybe some aging photos. Their competition? They’ve got descriptions longer than bios and thousands of images from multiple years along with hundreds of reviews and posts and answered questions. Who does Google show?
Let’s take it a step further and say you manage to show up in Google searches anyway. Great! But now they look at your reviews – which show you have a handful with an average rating – and the business below you has way more reviews with better ratings, who now gets the phone call?
This is where it gets lost on business owners because they know how great their service is – for every happy customer they have, another one isn’t inclined to provide review because no one’s even asked them to. Reviews aren’t social proof anymore; they’re a ranking factor.
Google takes an assessment of quantity, quality, recency and diversity for what businesses they show now more than ever before-a business with up-to-date reviews from last week means they’re active, relevant, and worth the recommendation.
But here’s where it’s really faulted – it’s not just getting reviews; it’s responding to them all. When prospective customers see a thoughtful owner respond to reviews – with good and bad responses – it completely changes the picture painted for them.
Nobody Talks About Website Problems
OK, so you’ve secured your presence online enough where someone clicks on your link and it brings them to your website – the hard part is over! Not even close!
Most local businesses cannot have functioning websites for mobile viewing – small print, button failures on click-throughs and non-clickable phone numbers are rampant and since most searches are performed on phones, it becomes a huge problem. People refuse to pinch to zoom in order to read the text better; they just hit back to go with your competitor instead.
Then there’s loading speed – if it takes too long for people to view the website, they’ll reject it before even getting there. They don’t care if you run an amazing business; they’re busy, have connections elsewhere, and stubborn policies mean they won’t even give it another shot if it was delayed.
Most local business websites are remnants from years past and not reinvigorated since – the speed is dormant, access isn’t friendly enough or valuable enough for conversions.
Your Citations Need To Be Consistent Regardless of Where They’re Found – If Not It’s A Big Problem
It sounds boring but this matters: your business information needs to be identical everywhere it goes – name, address, phone number – everywhere.
But most of them are listed differently across hundreds of directories – maybe it’s “St” in one place or spelled out as “Street” in another. Maybe it has dashes in the phone number or not.
Google sees conflicting names and doesn’t trust what’s real so therefore none of it is ranked as high as it could be…which is why most owners wonder why they’ve failed dismally without any idea why this is happening behind the scenes.
Getting citations cleaned up – and consistently – is drudgery but one of the cornerstones of local search visibility.
When Your Competitors Work Harder Than You Do
This is often the toughest pill to swallow: some of your competitors take this stuff seriously which gives them competitive advantage. They don’t wait for customers to find them; they make sure of it.
Someone’s managing their online presence – review responses within hours; posts every week; adjustments made immediately; new photos regularly added; asking happy customers about reviews – these aren’t huge conglomerates but local businesses just like yours.
The difference? They’ve found out where most customers wander off without ever realizing – and that’s online – not waiting for foot traffic; thus they must be online as frequently as possible so customers find them equally as appealing as they’ve seen them in person.
Every minute that you’re not working on your online presence means every minute that your competition is working on theirs. Every week you leave your Google Business Profile static is another week they’ve made positive adjustments. The gap continues to get wider until catches get harder to initiate – even impossible at times.
What Needs To Happen Instead
Businesses do not lose customers online because Google does this intentionally or punishes small businesses – businesses lose customers when owners think that their online presence is an afterthought when it’s actually where most people do find and evaluate them now.
There doesn’t need to be one giant investment; rather small consistent efforts all along the way that make sense: keeping Google Business Profiles filled out and updated; getting reviews and responding; making sure websites are mobile friendly and load up instantly; consistent information everywhere it’s found online for citations.
This isn’t rocket science – it just requires regular attention like it should be prioritized at this moment because right now while you’re focusing on your brick-and-mortar or other business operations, people are searching for what you offer instead finding someone else – and you’ll never even know it happened.