How To Use Google My Business To Start Getting Music Lesson Customers

The previous article was How To Use Keywords To Start Your Home Business Teaching Music Lessons. After filling out the Keyword Research Spreadsheet, you know what search results you're trying to rank in. You also know who your top competitors are and how strongly they are competing for the same keywords.  That research will be useful as you begin the next step: competing for your keywords.

Google My Business

Google My Business (GMB) is Google’s free marketing platform for businesses.

GMB gives you an easy place to enter your business information, sales offers, and photos. Google uses the information you supply for the Map Pack and other special features. These show up in a prime location above or next to the search results. In many cases, all you need to do to get your business to pop into these features is set up your GMB account. 

When you see local buyer keyword results without a Map Pack, it’s probably because no nearby businesses have set up GMB. 

Once you set up GMB you will also be able to start collecting Google reviews. If you’re targeting local search through Google, these are the most powerful reviews you can get. They are a huge factor in helping your business outrank other businesses.

GMB also verifies to Google that your web pages are authentic. Always use the exact same name, address, and phone number (NAP) on all your pages as on your GMB account. Google uses your NAP as a unique identifier for your business. When your NAP is always the same on different pages and directories it shows Google you’re a relevant, trustworthy business. This is important for your local search rankings.  

If you want to be on top in local search, you have to have Google My Business. Always follow their rules. Google carries a big stick. If your account gets suspended, you will lose your position in the search rankings and it can be difficult to get it back. 

GMB is so helpful that if I had to choose between a website and a GMB account, I’d have a hard time choosing. It’s a free, low-hanging fruit for your business. You can do this right away, before you have built your website. It doesn’t take a lot of work. Once it’s finished you can pop in the Map Pack for low competition keywords almost immediately.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Business name
• Google account
• Address
• Phone number
• Category
• Hours
• Description
• Photos

Business name

For GMB and marketing in general, you will need a business name. To build your Google rankings it needs to be the same name on all your different web pages.

If you haven’t made up your business name yet, now is a good time. If you read the previous article and completed your keyword research it can help you make up a great name. 

You know what your competitors have chosen as their business names. Now you should try to choose a name that will stand out in the pack. But even more importantly it should say what you provide.

If you want, you can use one of your target keywords in your business name. This can help you rank in search. For example if you teach classical guitar and of your target keywords is “classical guitar lessons” you might call your business Amy’s Classical Guitar Lessons. 

Or you can use a place in your business name. This can also help you rank in local search. If you live in a suburb called Meadowbrook you might name your business Meadowbrook Guitar Lessons.

Google account

Set up GMB through your Google account. If your business doesn't have its own Google account yet, you can use your own. You can add user permissions later when you create a business account. I’ll show you how to set up a business email address for that purpose in the next article: How To Set Up A Website For A Home Business Teaching Music Lessons. If you want you can skip ahead and set up a Google business account now.

Address

To compete at the top level in local search you need to publish your address. Many home business owners do not want to reveal their home address publicly online. It makes good sense, and it’s a strong argument against relying on local search to get customers.

If this is your approach, you’ll need to do the best you can without revealing your address publicly. It will prevent you from having a NAP and make it more difficult to get your pages to rank. You can rely on place names and street names as keywords in your pages to help them rank. You won’t have some of the advantages of Google My Business working for you, like the Map Pack.

Phone number

You definitely want to publish your phone number or a business phone number on GMB and all your web pages.

Your phone number is one of your most important pieces of marketing content. People who don’t want to read about your lessons will call or text to ask for information. Many music lesson sales happen by text messages, even if you have complex booking software on your site.

Category & Subcategory

For your primary category in GMB, choose music instructor or music school. You don’t need an additional category, although you can add one if it’s relevant. Choose your category carefully because it can be difficult or impossible to get Google’s permission to change it later.

Hours

GMB gives you a place to post your hours of operation. Generally a good rule of thumb is: if Google gives you a place to enter information, enter it. Feed the machine. It will help Google validate that you’re a legitimate local business. 

Description

Your GMB description can only be 750 words. This forces you to boil down your marketing message into a concise offer. Here are four points of advice:

• Include your target keywords in the description. Use them in relevant statements but don’t overuse them. 
• Make a very compelling sales offer.
• Tell where you are located.
• Say, “Call or text.”

Photos

Google rewards local businesses who post their photos on GMB. These photos show up in local searches all the time. They make you much more competitive than other businesses who are not using GMB to post photos.

Make your best use of this opportunity. Post new exciting photos of your studio, your students, and yourself as often as you can. The more great photos you post on GMB, the better. 

Once you've set up Google My Business, it's time to start working on your own website.