With Google producing up to 80% of local leads in Sydney, it only makes sense for businesses with an eye to connecting with the right audience to claim their own Google+ Local listing. And if you really want to cash in on this extremely useful search future, it’s only logical for you to do everything that you can in maximising the impact of your Google Plus Local listing.

Create your Google Plus Local account

However, before you can work on maximising the impact of your Google Plus Local listing, you need to create your Google Plus Local account first. If you’re a business owner and you don’t have a Google ID just yet, go to the new account page and create one. Only when you have filled in all the information the form asks for and verified everything with your email can you create your Google Plus Local account and claim it. To create your Google Plus Local account, the first step is to punch in your business phone number and let Google’s robots track your business down. When the search is over and you see that the information about your business is all wrong, there’s no need to worry. That is why you’re doing this in the first place: to make sure that every single data about your business is accurate. Just claim the business by clicking “Edit”, and put in all the necessary information such as your specific location, contact info and business hours. Putting in a brief description of what your business is also important.

Tips to maximise Google Plus Local impact

After you create your Google Plus Local account and make sure that everything about it is accurate, you can then work on maximising the impact of your Google Plus Local listing. To improve search results and keep Google happy, it would be great if you can include in the general information your authoritative and official website, if any. To further keep Google happy, always stay within its content policy and quality guidelines. Adding images and videos would also be great, because they can make your listing stand out. You would also do well to be really specific about the categories your business is going to be listed under when you create your Google Plus local account. Being listed under a clear and specific category will maximise Google Plus local impact in the sense that it will make your chances of getting noticed better. Opening a line of communication with customers is always a plus factor for any business, and doing the same to maximise Google Plus local impact is also recommended. If possible, always engage your customers and make them feel like there’s actually a human being behind that Google+ Local account. Also part of communicating with customers is asking them to write reviews about your business. Since they only have to click “Write a Review” right there on the listing, writing reviews will be easy enough for them to do. Lastly, you can manage your Google+ Local account while on the go using the Google+ Local app for the iPhone and iPod touch. That will give you a leg up on the competition. Hopefully, these tips to maximise Google Plus Local impact will help you get to Page One of Google searches and eventually get more potential business for your business.

(*Please note this is a fake business created solely for the screen shots. No such business will be open in shown address.)