“I get at least 50% of new clients from my website and they found my website because I show up when they are searching online for a reflexologist.”
When you search for a service such as “reflexologist near me” you’ll notice that the first results are typically map listings. Google and other search engines use algorithms to determine which businesses show up in the “3 pack” (aka the top 3 listings that are shown with the map) which is the most valuable place for your business to be. If you’re not there or not the top one, taking a look at the following can help you increase your visibility.
Pro Tip: The search results are impacted based on your location. To see where you show up for those in a nearby town or different zipcode, try the AccuRanker Live SERP Tool for up to 5 free searches per day.
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Take these 5 steps to get seen by more prospective clients on Google
1. Most importantly, have you set up a Google My Business listing for your reflexology business yet? If not, take 5 minutes to do so now. If you have that’s great! Use this time to review your content to ensure it is up to date and complete. Google has added some new options that might not have been available when you set yours up.
Whether you need to set up a new account or want to make sure yours is working effectively for you, this video walkthrough should help you get more traffic.
2. Content, Content, Content. Once you’ve got a listing, it’s important to add as much content to it as possible. The more Google knows about your business, the better! Not to mention that it’s easier for new clients to learn about you and decide to schedule a session.
- Add categories: assuming your primary focus is doing reflexology, you’ll select “reflexologist” as your primary category and you can list other categories that fit your service offerings in the additional categories.
- Link to your website: your website is very important to link to, if you don’t have one yet, we’ll get to that, in the meantime you can link to your Facebook page.
- Do you use a booking service to allow clients to book online? Some of these services will integrate with Google and let clients book a session from Google with prominent icons and buttons depending on the view. Making it easy for new clients (and repeat ones) to book a session means more feet on the table because there’s less of a chance of them getting distracted, side tracked, interrupted or they run out of time to finish getting it scheduled. If they have to think too much or work too hard, they are less likely to convert into a customer. (If you don’t have online booking software, down the road that’s something we’ll talk about and compare the benefits and ease of use of the top options out there.)
- Add a description of your business. Google uses the words you use to help determine which searchers are looking for what you offer, so be sure to include keywords that represent your business, but more importantly, write it for the people who will be reading it, not the search engines. Think about the benefits you offer people and make sure to communicate that clearly (using those keywords). This should not just be a place to list what you offer as you can do that under the services section.
- Adding photos (and video) is another important feature. If you don’t have any, at the very least take a photo of the outside of your business and a couple of your treatment room and any other public areas with your phone. If you can get some action shots of you doing reflexology, even better. While professional images are always great, any photo is better than no photos both from the perspective of Google (seriously they send me reports monthly on how many have viewed my photos and are always asking for more) and the prospective clients.
The first goal is just to get your listing up and running and provide as much information as you can with it. In the More Feet Club, we talk more about optimizing this content and other important factors that will help your listing show up in the top 3.
3. Encourage your clients to leave reviews on your Google listing. There’s some information on getting testimonials when you join the email list and get the “5 Quick Wins to boost your marketing” and more in the More Feet Club. When it comes to getting testimonial reviews, remember the easier you make it, the more likely they are to do it. So send them a link to the spot where they can leave a review instead of just asking them to find you and do it.
4. Be responsive! If someone asks a question, respond to it promptly. I am a local guide and it’s surprising how many people comment on the Google listing for a business expecting the business owner to respond right away. As a consumer we can’t answer the questions as well as a phone call to the business and the businesses often aren’t responding at all.
5. Work on your search engine optimization (SEO). Google says prominence is a factor in deciding which listings to show first… but for something like deciding which reflexology practice has more prominence, how do you think Google will determine this information? If you guessed based on things like other websites talking about you and linking to you and having a lot of social media followers, etc. you are right. This is all part of what we’re talking about with SEO. Learn more about SEO >>
So I’d love to hear what happens when you Google “reflexologists near me” or “reflexologist [insert your city]” — send me a quick email or comment below to let me know where you show up in the listing.
Here’s to more feet on the table coming from your google listing!