Google has been a known friend by various businesses throughout its reign in the online world. With its vast options on how to improve online reach, business owners make sure to customize Google’s services according to their needs. This strategy has been helping ventures grow and accommodate several target markets over the years.
And this year, Google continues to provide assistance like never before.
Especially with the new normal brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, people are now online more than ever. Due to quarantine regulations, physical stores are now offering online services to accommodate the needs for efficiency and safety. Small businesses, especially, are making the most out of the convenience that Google features have to offer.
With the holiday season upon us, countless establishments are now getting ready to spice things up for their customers. But with physical stores getting fewer Thanksgiving and Christmas shoppers, it is now up to their online services to tend to the customers’ needs. But, would this be enough to cater to the increasing number of online customers? It really depends. But with the newly launched Google mini-site, small businesses now easily can.
So, what is this Google mini-site?
Getting to Know the Holiday Hub
This new marketing resource that Google for Small Business recently launched is called Holiday Hub. This brand-new feature aims to help small businesses become digitally-optimized for the busiest shopping season of the year.
The mini-site was designed to help thrust the marketing abilities of small businesses over the course of the holidays by putting together a hub of holiday resources. According to the Search Engine Journal, its main function is to assist businesses with reaching shoppers across Google Search, Google Shopping, and Google Maps.
According to a study by Google, 71% of US adults plan to do more than half of their shopping digitally. Adding more to that, these shoppers also stated that they are keen to buy from new retailers, especially small businesses. To be exact, more than half of these shoppers plan to shop more from local small businesses. With these data in mind, Holiday Hub is created to guarantee that customers can find small businesses online and purchase their services.
So, How Does the Holiday Hub Work?
Google’s Holiday Hub contains two powerful marketing tools:
- Grow My Store
- Local Opportunity Finder
These new tools are also partnered with new livestreams, lessons, and how-to guides to further assist business owners even better.
Let’s get to know our new tools.
Grow My Store
If you sell online only, the new tool from the Holiday Hub will analyze your site’s customer experience. After analyzing your website’s data, it will then display how your site performs compared to others in the same industry as you.
Simply enter the URL for your online store and Grow My Store will return tailored recommendations for improvement.
However, the results will not come to you in a flash. Google states that it might take a couple of hours to achieve your full report.
Check this video out to learn how you can use Grow My Store.
Grow My Store is an easy, convenient, and fool-proof way of assessing your site’s performance. With the help of Google’s cutting-edge technology, you can effortlessly design how your business performs online with the full report that it will give you. Google does not ask users to verify ownership of the site before creating a report, which means this tool can be used for competitive analysis, as well.
Local Opportunity Finder
Does your physical location need more visitors? No worries! Google’s Local Opportunity Finder can assist you.
If you sell in-store only, this new feature from the Holiday Hub is created to let small businesses get the most out of the Google My Business profile. Like the Grow My Site tool, Local Opportunity Finder offers personalized suggestions on how to improve your profile on Google My Business.
By using this free feature, small business owners can now boost their performance on Google Search and Maps.
Check out this demonstration on how to use the tool effectively.
Unfortunately, Local Opportunity Finder can only be used in the US as of the moment. So, let’s keep our eyes open for future updates regarding its availability worldwide.
Now We Know How the Holiday Hub Works. But, What Are Its Other Features?
As mentioned previously, the Holiday Hub does not only offer the new powerful tools: Grow My Store and Local Opportunity Finder. It also offers how-to guides, livestreams, and lessons that business owners can study and learn from. Aside from these, the Holiday Hub also provides links on how you can access the many features found on Google My Business.
To further improve their performance online and offline, the Holiday Hub offers various topics that anyone can access. Here are some of the lessons offered:
- How to list products in Google for free
- Making it easy for customers to find you
- Creating an effective social media plan
- SEO best practices
- Five options for getting your business online
You may access the various lessons and livestreams that Google for Small Business offers by visiting the link here. These helpful resources will prepare you by giving you quick and easy lessons to stand out from the competition for the holidays. According to the site, you will “discover how to build a digital presence for your business, from learning how to be found online and making it easy for customers to shop with you, to the basics of search engine optimization.”
The Takeaway
Small businesses can now do the most out of their online performance with the marketing resources featured in the Holiday Hub. Instead of flailing on how to effectively cater to your target market, you can now effortlessly reach out to them with the user-friendly tools that Google has to offer. You can enjoy free, comprehensive lessons from experts that will help you propel your business’ presence online, as well.
So, what are you waiting for? If you don’t have a Google My Business profile yet, then this is your sign to do so. And if you already have one, take advantage of the features that you can now use by visiting your profile right away.
For more information on how to make your own Google My Business profile, you can also avail of the assistance of Proweaver, Inc.
With 15 years of experience, Proweaver is an affordable, dependable, and fast custom web design company that offers more than just website creation. We also provide SEO and SMM services that will help your business achieve success. Our team of experts can help you set up a Google My Business profile aside from giving you a personalized website for your business.
Avail of our services today by visiting our website or by calling us at +1 (949) 242-9506.
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