For a century, phone books were the ultimate source of retail information. So, how long has it been since you saw a phone book?

Today’s version of the yellow pages is Google My Business listings. That’s a quick and easy way to see local retailers, where they are, and when they’re open.

If you don’t have one of these accounts for your pet store, you’re missing out on an enormous amount of local business. 

Local Retail Searching

When today’s shoppers use a search engine to find the right store, they generally want to find something local. In fact, a whopping 46% of every search conducted is to look for local listings.

One of the easiest ways that they find these local locations is to pull up the local business listings. With many retail searching through Google, the first thing that comes up in the search is the Google My Business listings. These are all nearby and match some or all of the search terms. 

Local Maps

Because most searches are made through mobile devices, the map that shows the locations of local items that match the search terms will come up first.

The map is extremely useful for seeing the business names, their locations, their price ranges, and their operating hours all at one glance.

If you don’t have a business listing, your business may not show up on the map at all. Customers will instead see all of the competition right there on the map and can get to each of them easily. 

Building Community Trust

When your company is listed in Google My Business, customers can also give your business ratings and let others know about their experience with your business.

Today, virtually everything comes with ratings. It may be for dog walking, kennel services, retail pet supplies, or even the sale of the pets themselves.

All of these business types need ratings to show that people are interacting with your company and that it has generally gone well. Good customer services and a nice retail setting is enough to earn you high ratings that future searchers will see.

This begins the building of trust between your business and the local community. It also leads to better placement in business listings and better brand recognition.

Getting the Information They Need

Customers often want to know exactly what they can expect from a pet business before they get there. Can they buy fish? Does the store cater to dogs? Can they bring a cat in to size a collar?

Along with your listing in Google My Business is a quick link to your website. This makes it incredibly easy to just click through and see everything they want to know about your company.

They can see pictures, read any rules posted, see some of the inventory, etc. This makes them feel far more comfortable going to a new business that they’ve never been to before.

They see that others have liked it, it’s easy to find on the map and now they also know what goes on at your location. 

With everything made so easy for customers, you can expect a lot more of them coming in. This in turn leads to more ratings and more word of mouth.