When promoting your local business, you have to keep your story straight. I’m referring to your business’ name, address, and phone number. In digital marketing, we call this your NAP (name, address, phone). There are more ingredients to consider, but these three are the most important.
When you create a business listing on Google Maps, you will add your NAP alongside several other pieces of information. When creating a Facebook Page, you will also be adding your NAP. When you list your business on YellowPages…you guessed it. INCLUDE YOUR NAP!!
Why Including Your NAP Is So Important
All day, every day, Google is trying its best to understand what your business actually does for people. Who is this business? Where are they located? Do they make it easy for people to get in touch with them? At their core, they use your business name, address, and phone number to decide the answers to these questions.
Also, it’s not enough to simply tell Google who you are, but you have to tell every other website who you are as well. Now, we aren’t so concerned about what these other websites know. All you need to know is that Google looks at these other websites and cross-references the data. Does this business have consistent information across the board? Is the phone number the same on every website? Is the address the same on every website?
This kind of consistency is the key to winning Google’s heart. If your story is straight, then Google won’t be confused. Trust me, the last thing you want is for Google to be confused about who you are and what you do. If you don’t have an address for your business, just use your home address. Click here to read more about using your home address.
Other Key Ingredients
You should also be including any additional information about your business. Every tiny amount of information you can provide will help you tremendously. Where possible, be sure to include these pieces of information:
- Business Logo
- Photos of jobs completed
- Names of any brands/products you are selling
- Name of all services you offer
- Website address
- Established date