How to advertise a cleaning business can be a bit overwhelming. Everywhere you turn you see a new cleaning business marketing strategy that promises amazing results. While many cleaning business advertising strategies can work, one we recommend that every cleaning business should use is to market your cleaning business with a Google My Business page.
What is Google My Business and how to advertise a cleaning business with it
First of all, you might be wondering what is Google My Business and how can it be used to advertise your cleaning business. The goal of a Google My Business page is to list your business and all of its features. Ideally, it will be how your cleaning business will appear across all of Google.
This is important to be congruent with the most up to date information on your company as likely it will be the first thing that is listed when people search for your company name. Another reason you should set up a Google My Business account is that when it is filled out your business will appear more professional and legitimate.
Success in business is highly based on trust, and having a solid online presence can help to establish that trust with people searching for your company. We’ll touch on this a bit further on in this post, but another important feature of setting up your Google My Business page is that it can set up your company to show up in Google Maps.
How to Create a Google My Business Listing for a cleaning business
If you don’t already have a listing on Google My Business for your cleaning business, the set up is rather simple. First, you need to head to google.com/business and log into the Google account you use for your cleaning business or create a new one.
The next step is to simply fill out the information about your business. This is an important step that many cleaning business owners skip through or only put the bare minimums in. The more this is filled out the better exposure you can get for your cleaning business.
Also, be sure to check the box that says “I deliver goods and services to my customers.” As your cleaning business likely doesn’t clean homes or businesses at your home office, you want this checked.
At this point, you simply want to continue to add as much information to your page beyond the basic set up steps. The more you have filled out the more credible your business will appear.
Verify Your Cleaning Business on Google
Another step you should do is verify your business on your Google My Business page. This step is just another way to have your business appear more legitimate.
Thankfully there are a variety of ways to verify your business on your Google My Business page. Not every verification process will be available to you, but one of the many options will be.
The most common options are mail verification, email verification, and phone verification. When you are asked to verify your business, choose a method that works for you and simply follow the instructions outlined to you.
If you’ve had your GMB listing for a while, it’s a good idea to log in and make sure it is still verified. There will be a notification in your account if it needs verification or re-verification.
How to set up Your GMB Listing to get cleaning clients
If you haven’t done so yet, be sure to fill out the categories of your business. Google explains this as what your business is, not what it does.
For example, you could choose things like house cleaning service, commercial cleaning service, or janitorial service. There are many options and you can have multiple categories for your business listing. Be sure to avoid choosing “cleaners” for your business category as that is typically referring to dry cleaners and not a business like house cleaning or commercial cleaning.
You can also set up your address, which you should have already done. One thing to keep in mind with this address option is that you want to make sure your address is the same across all mediums. This means your website, and other directory listings should all have the same address for your business.
Next, you’ll fill out your business hours, which is pretty self-explanatory, and then your service area. Putting your appropriate service area is essential, because you want to attract traffic and leads in the area you actually do business.
You can add in your business phone number, and make sure this is a number that when people call someone will be there to answer. Recently we talked to one of our clients and they said they were the only cleaning business that actually answered when a potential client was doing research and that had called multiple businesses.
It’s hard to generate leads and new clients if you aren’t there to answer when they call. You can also add your website and even a second website that is an appointment URL. This could go directly to your free quote page to start generating cleaning leads.
The importance of Google My Business photos to grow your cleaning business
Another means of legitimizing your business and increasing traffic is by adding photos to your Google My Business page. The more photos the better, but they should be actual photos and not just stock photos.
Strive to get photos of your happy smiling employees, and also photos of them on the job. One thing to understand is that people are often wary of letting strangers into their home.
If your potential customers can put a face to the people they are letting in their home, the more comfortable they will be and the chances of them hiring your cleaning company over someone else goes up.
In addition to these photos building increased trust with your potential customers, photos you upload can be geo-tagged to specific locations. When you do this for areas you service, it can help you to rank better on Google Maps.
Geo-tagged photos send a signal to Google that your business actually does business in the locations it says that it does. Often it can be hard to rank in the maps for other locations beyond where your company’s physical location is. However, with the aid of geo-targeted photos, your business can rank in locations where you don’t have a physical address.
Below you’ll see some examples of the kinds of pictures you should post on your Google My Business Page.
Why Google My Business Reviews matter
Social proof is a powerful driving force and should be something you focus on in your cleaning business marketing strategy. Positive reviews matter, and getting them on your Google My Business page can make a big difference in how your cleaning business ranks on Google Maps.
When searching for a local business many people type in things like “cleaning business near me” or “cleaning service in [city]”. Wouldn’t it be great if your cleaning business showed up first?
Well, that can happen when you have more reviews than your competition. With a simple search of cleaning business near Minneapolis, the top result that came up had the most reviews. This isn’t a coincidence. How to advertise a cleaning business effectively requires social proof like reviews and testimonials.
Google Maps shows preference to businesses that fill out the Google My Business page fully and that have many reviews. The majority of local search traffic will call one of these top businesses in the map pack first over scrolling through multiple listings.
To ensure your cleaning company comes up higher in the rankings, make sure you put getting new reviews as a priority. If you don’t yet have an automated system for getting testimonials and more online reviews, check out our service More Reviews Now.
Use Google My Business to rank higher in Google maps
You’ll also want to frequently put new posts up on your Google My Business page as it will keep your listing fresh and can attract new customers. These posts are similar to other social media posts, but they only last a certain length of time.
How to advertise a cleaning business on a Google My Business page consists of adding regular posts and new pictures. Doing this can help keep your listing active and can aid in your cleaning business remaining higher in the listings.
Overall, when you properly use Google My Business and fully utilize it, it can help your cleaning business rank higher on Google Maps and that will help you get more free traffic, leads, and customers for your cleaning business.
If managing and setting up your Google My Business page isn’t something you want to spend your time on, we suggest having a cleaning business marketing agency like us at Marketing System By Design, handle that for you. It’s one of many things we do for our clients to help them expand their online presence, increase their website traffic, generate cleaning leads, and attract new cleaning clients.
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