“How To Maintain & Improve Your Google Business Profile”
A Google Business Profile, a feature previously known as Google My Business, is a vital but often neglected piece of online infrastructure for any business.
We’ve noticed that Gyms and Fitness Club owners aren’t always on top of their Google Business Profile and there is a very fine line (and amount of effort!) between a sleek and professional-looking profile and one that looks shabby and abandoned.
So for today’s article, we will be looking at what we can do as Gym and Fitness Club owners to improve our Google Business Profile and really stand out.
All Your Questions Answered (click them to skip ahead)…
What Is A Google Business Profile?
How Quickly & Easily Can Your Improve & Maintain Your Google Business Profile?
– The Correct Business Category
What Is A Google Business Profile?
Chances are that if you’ve googled a business in the last eight years, you’ve seen a Google Business Profile. Their success and omnipresence make them a powerful tool for communication and legitimacy.
Many people, even those who don’t really understand the concept of a Google Business Profile, gravitate to that box in the top right hand corner of their google search or those little pins on Google Maps.
But despite their status as one of the most well-known and efficient methods of business communication in the business world, it is often misused. Everyone can remember the time they came across a nonsensical or out-of-date Google Business Profile while looking for legitimate information. It is an instant turn-off and a quick indication that some aspects of the business in question need polishing.
And there are very few excuses for this. Google Business Profile is a free service for businesses, provided by, you guessed it,Google.
It is a simple and effective tool for communicating the nature of a business, including key contact information, pictures, and location, all within a succinct information box.
Having this box filled in is vital for driving business from the online arena, into your actual Gym or Fitness Club.
Too often we have found that Gym Owners have suboptimal or poorly filled in Google Business Profiles. It has reached a tipping point where many people within that key demographic of 18-34 will assume that the business may be in trouble or has ceased to exist if they can’t find a confirmation that it is ‘Open’ on the Google Business Profile.
This reflects a compounding consumer trend of reliance on the Google Business Profile to determine whether a business is open, or whether it even still exists.
As such, you can imagine the damage that not having a sufficiently setup profile can do to the prospect of converting internet interest into feet through the doors.
Not only that but due to the poor state that many Gym and Fitness Club’s keep their Google Business Profiles in, having a functional one can greatly increase your visibility in your area. A fully optimised Google Business Profile makes it more likely that it’ll be your Gym that shows up higher on the list when someone googles ‘Gyms near me’ or ‘Gyms in *your area*’.
So How Can You Quickly and Easily Improve and Maintain Your Google Business Profile?
So how can you improve your Google Business Profile you are asking? We’ve set out the immediate and impactful steps you can take to give your business profile a boost.
Visual Media (Photo and Video) are a MUST!
It has been estimated that businesses with photos and video are clicked on 30% to 40% more than those without. That is without the inestimable psychological effect that it has on the average potential customer to see what a business hasn’t even uploaded any pictures.
While it is a simple bar to clear, it is one that many businesses do not do successfully and it is an easy and effortless way to stand out from the crowd. Use the pre-existing photographs and videos that are on your Gym website, pick the most striking one first, as they will be the thumbnail that most potential customers see. Alternatively, pick the feature you are most proud of, or that you think makes you stand out the most from your local competition.
Be sure not to just put up pictures of an empty gym, wide shots of your gym or fitness club being used by many people are a must, as well as any classes that you hold. This will show people a snippet of what you have to offer, and psychologically it will be more appealing than just an empty Gym (even if said empty Gym is well furnished).
Add Keywords (or get your Keywords in order) and Make Them Relevant
While keywords are a kingdom unto themselves, we can simplify it for the sake of this section.
Make sure they are relevant! And understand that more does not equal better. Ten pertinent and powerful keywords will do more than 100 vague and meandering ones. Keywords are a tool to be used precisely and sparingly.
For anything more advanced, we recommend you visit a dedicated guide regarding keywords. But with just a thorough review and a refresh, you are guaranteed to be displaying higher than you were before.
Choose the Right Business Category
Much like with keywords, this is another case of less being more. Google will let you select up to ten Business Categories but it is not recommended to use your full allotment. For the average Gym or Fitness Club, it will only be necessary to use a few. For instance, if you specialise in combat sports such as MMA and Boxing, it might be pertinent to put ‘MMA Gym’ or ‘Boxing Gym’. From there, you could also put ‘Octagon’ as a sub-category if that is a feature your Gym has. Conversely, if your club has a Swimming Pool, it would be fair to say that that is a category unto itself.
Make sure your categories are distinct from one another and that each one is contributing something meaningful or adding a layer of specificity.
Overlap will only confuse the issue and too many will dilute the potency of the search terms and result in less overall hits.
Update Regularly
Because a Google Business Profile is free and low maintenance, it is often completely neglected. In our experience, a useful paradigm is to consider your Google Business Profile to be like your Twitter or Instagram feed. If you hadn’t updated or maintained those for a week, we would like to think there would be raised eyebrows.
As such, we recommend you dedicate a small amount of time regularly to the maintenance of your Google Business Profile. Whether that is responding to reviews, updating the circumstances of your business or just adding new pictures.
Given that many will use the state and circumstance of your Google Business Profile to determine the health of your business, make it look alive! Less than ten minutes of care a week can make a significant impact in the long term.
We hope you’ve enjoyed the article and you’ve learned something about this small but powerful and transformative piece of internet infrastructure.
Chances are you had seen it every day of your life and never questioned what was driving such a useful box.
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