 Do you want to know a super simple yet highly underrated tool out there that can actually explode your business with a ton of sales? That tool is called Google My Business, and more than 80% of the restaurants out there are underutilizing it. That means they don't pay enough attention to it, yet this tool can potentially bring in tons of sale. And that's the reason why we're shooting this video today. How do you optimize your Google My Business for your restaurant? So then that way you get more exposure and, ultimately, more sales. Make sure you guys keep watching. Friends, my name is Wilson, your friend in helping you build a profitable restaurant. Just want to give a major shout out to our friends over at Port Cake. Port Cake is a system that actually allows you to update your Instagram alongside with your Google My Business account, all at the same time with one click of a button. We're going to dive a little bit more into this later on, but thank you to Port Cake. Definitely check them out in the link below. And I also want to give some love to these two individuals for showing us so much love and support because that's the type of community that we would like to build. Now if you want to get featured, make sure you guys leave us a comment in the section below and let's dive right in. So why did I say that Google My Business is highly underrated? It is because there are more than 5.6 billion, billion with a B, searches on Google every single day. And a lot of these searches are highly locational specific. That means that people that are searching on Google, they're looking for stuff to eat within their neighborhood and a lot of restaurants oversee this platform. They focus on Instagram, they focus on Facebook and they focus on running ads. But rarely do they focus on Google My Business. And that's the reason why today we're going to be sharing with you five different tips for you to optimize your listing. So in that way you get more sales, more exposures and more ranking for your restaurant. Number one way to optimize your Google My Business listing is to keep it up to date. This is by far the most simplest way to optimize your listing. The last thing you would want is for someone to come to your restaurant and it is not open yet on Google it says that it is open. This discrepancy provides a really horrible experience for your customers and you will lose them for life. And that's the reason why keeping it up to date with your operating hours, with your contact info is super important. And a lot of times during today's world, people are always checking online to see whether you're open because of the pandemic or are you closed. And if there's discrepancy between different platforms such as your Instagram telling them one thing and your website is telling them another thing and Google My Business is also telling them something else. It is very, very confusing. So when you have all these three platforms aligned, that's when you're going to have a happy customer. The second way to optimize your Google My Business listing is to actually fill up the whole form. A lot of people see this form and they feel like it's super complicated and that's the reason why they just fill in the basic info and they neglect everything else. And that really pushes Google to not rank your listing as high and also it doesn't provide as much information for your customers. So for example, if you fill in the information and telling your customers that you take reservations on either Yelp or on Talk, or that you offer curbside pickup or delivery, or that you offer third-party delivery apps such as Uber Eats, DoorDash, Grubhub, Skip the Dishes, this provides a lot more information for your customers. So then that way they can make an informed decision to purchase and eat at your restaurant. Third way to optimize your listing is to fill in the Q&A section. What does that mean? This is what it means. It shows up on the listing of your restaurant and a lot of people neglect the section because they just feel like, hey, you know what, they just don't know about it. That's the reason why. And so when someone has a question, it is up to you as a restaurant tour so then you can actually answer it. Because if you don't, other people might answer on your behalf and oftentimes that answer might not be the one that you're looking for, nor is it the most accurate. That's the reason why you need to always jump on these questions. And on top of that, when one person has a question, most likely, other people have the same type of questions too. So then that way you can actually answer all these and actually take off all these concerns that people may have. Give you an example. If someone wants to come and dine in your restaurant, but then they have dietary restrictions, they are, they're vegan and they're wondering if there's a vegan option for them. Now, they probably don't want to call you and ask that question. And that's the reason why they would be doing research online. And if that question pops up and they see that the answer is a yes, we offer a vegan option as well, then most likely they'll call you in a reserved spot and voila, you have a customer. Whereas if you don't answer that question or if someone answers it in a different way or hey, you know what their vegan section sucks. Then most likely you're going to lose that potential customer for your restaurant. The fourth way to optimize your listing is to have your attributes. What are attributes? These are just characteristics. They're actually unique characteristics for your restaurant. So for example, do you have Wi-Fi available? Is it, are you selling drinks for cheap? These are all attributes that you can choose from. And Google, my listing has a list of more than 300 that you can actually choose from. So then the more you're able to choose that is relevant to your dining experience, the better it is. Because when your customers are actually searching, hey, I want to get some cheap drinks around my area, where can I go? Then you're more likely to show up on the top because you added that attribute to your listing. That's how you're going to get found more, more exposure equals more sales. The fifth way to optimize your Google My Business account is Google posts. This is also one of my favorite optimization tip for you out there. Because when you're thinking about Google posts, it is very similar to your Instagram, to your Facebook posts. These are short, concise message that updates your customers of what you're up to. So how can you actually update all these platforms at once? It takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of commitment because dealing with one platform is already headache enough. That's where Portcake comes into play. It is a savior because what they do is they connect your Instagram with your Google account. So every time you post on Instagram, automatically the same post goes on your Google post. Why is this even better than Instagram? It is because when people are searching for best sushi in my area, then when your restaurant pops up on Google, your customers that has high intent of purchasing and high intent of actually dining, they would see all your updates. They would see your personality. They would see your latest dish. And that itself allows you to have much higher chance of converting this potential customer into a paying customer. And the second reason why I love Portcake so much is because unlike all the clunky apps out there, Portcake allows you to actually give the access to your friends, your family, your staff to help you post as well. They can actually get connected to your Google post. So whenever they have their Instagram, they're sharing a story. They just have to put a hashtag and automatically that story on Instagram gets pulled onto your Google post. So then that way, you can utilize everyone on the team to help you update your Google post. And this just makes the whole process so much easier and so much more pleasant for you to have the most updated content all the time. That's the reason why I love Portcake so much. And if you guys want to, definitely check them out in the link below. The first three posts is completely free. No credit card required. Definitely check them out in the link below. The 6.2 optimize your Google My Business account is to care about your reviews. And this is something that I preach all the time is to care about your reviews because what other people have to say about your restaurant has so much more weight than what you tell other people about your restaurant. So that's the reason why you must care about your reviews. And according to the UC Berkeley report, a half star rating increase. So for example, from a four star to a 4.5 star has an effect of more than 15% in conversion. What does that mean? That means more than 15% of people will choose to dine in your restaurant just because of that half star rating. This could potentially mean thousands of dollars of revenue for you every single month. And that's the reason why you must pay attention to your reviews. Now, sometimes I know for a fact that you would have a ton of positive review. Great. Respond, tell them that. Hey, you know what? You may want to check out our other items that you haven't had a chance to try out. However, when you're dealing with negative reviews, there are two ways to deal with it. First, when you're dealing with trolls, troll them back, show your character. And because at the end of the day, you can't win all the battles. And the real customers that are wanting to purchase from you to dine in your restaurant, they would be able to see their trolls. And if you're not afraid to stand up for yourself, then they see that as character and is completely fine. Now, the second type of negative reviews to deal with are the ones that are warranted. That means that when people come and dine in at your restaurant, they wait it for an hour and a half for your dish. That's not acceptable and you need to own up to it. Own up to the mistake and also rectify the mistake. That's the way you deal with a warranted negative review. Tell them that you're completely very sorry because of the fact that it was the last minute thing that your chef was sick and is unfortunate. Unfortunately, you can just email me and I'm going to take care of you. So own up to your mistakes and rectify it. That's how you deal with reviews. And normally when people see that kind of service that you're providing owning up to it, it is completely fine because everyone's human and they understand. And ultimately, why you need to care about your reviews is because more than 80% of the people check out your reviews before they decide whether to dine in at your restaurant or not. And that's the reason why, whether it's a positive review or a negative review, you must take care of them, reply to them, be human. And that's how you're going to be able to have and win more customers. The seventh and final point of how you can optimize your Google My Business listing is to have great pictures for your business. Now, because your cover picture is the thumbnail and it is also the most prominent, you must actually choose the perfect image that tells your story and your cuisine for that slot. Now, according to Google, more than 42% of the people out there, because of the fact that the restaurant has a picture, choose and request a driving direction. That means that if you don't have a picture, people are less likely to have driving directions to your restaurant. Next up, more than 35% of the people actually click through their site to stalk the restaurant even more just because they have pictures. Now that just shows the importance of having pictures on your Google My Business account. And once again, thanks to Port Kick, which is a sponsor of this video, they make this whole process so much simpler by easily connecting their Instagram posts to your Google posts. And thus you're going to be able to see even more pictures on your Google listing, and thus even having more sales, more customers for your restaurant. So definitely check them out in the link below. Have great pictures because once again, pictures tells a thousand words. So there you go guys, seven tips to optimizing your Google My listing on your business. If you can just make these simple tweaks here and there, you would substantially increase your chances of getting more traffic to your restaurant, and thus even getting more sales. And thanks to tools like Port Kick, definitely check them out in the link below. They just make this whole process that much simpler. I hope you enjoyed this video because if you do, make sure you guys smash like button, subscribe along the whole journey. I'll see you guys in the next video.