Does your Farm have a Google Business Profile?
In this episode, we sit down with Barn2Door Farm Account Manager, Richard, to learn how Farmers can access more customers and benefit from increased local visibility with a Google My Business profile.
Google My Business (GMB) is a free tool to enable small businesses to become more discoverable in local search results on Google. With a GMB profile, Farms create a listing for their business, which, coupled with a Farm website, helps boost local Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and helps improve the discoverability of your Farm through Google Search and Google Maps.
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Rory Loughran: Welcome to the Direct Farm Podcast. I'm Rory, your host for today's episode. We've got a great conversation with you today with one of the members of our farm account management or FAM team.
Our FAMs are dedicated to helping farmers implement tactics to help drive sales access more customers and save time and money. So today we are joined by Richard. Welcome back, Richard. It's great to have you on again.
Richard: Hey, Rory. Well, I always appreciate being on, so thanks for, uh, taking some of my time today.
Rory Loughran: Yeah, you're, I feel like you're one of the few Barn2Door employees that's had a few repeat appearances.
Richard: Yeah, I love it. I, [00:01:00] it's a lot of fun.
Rory Loughran: So to start out, can you, um, for those that haven't met you, could you introduce yourself and just tell us a little bit about your role at Barn2Door?
Richard: Yeah, absolutely. Um, well, as Rory said, my name is Richard. I'm one of the account managers here at Barn2Door. I've been with Barn2Door for well over two years now. Been a, a ton of fun and we've learned a ton, but yeah, I love it.
Rory Loughran: And as far as, I know I kind of broadly laid out what a FAM is and what a FAM does, but you maybe give us a little bit of a breakdown of your day-to-day and what your job is, how you work with farmers?
Richard: Yeah, absolutely. So basically, the responsibility of a FAM or a farm account manager is twofold. One, you know, the farms that we have the privilege working with, we wanna make sure that they have a solid understanding and handle of their Barn2Door account, how to get the most out of their web store platform.
But we do spend a considerable amount of time working with farms in terms of marketing best practices. You know how to use the tools available to them online, primarily social [00:02:00] media and email and um, other tools like the Google Business, profile. That way, once they have a solid understanding of how to use these tools, they can take their business really in any direction they want to go.
Rory Loughran: Yeah. Awesome. Well, I know that farmers are always raving about, the support they get from FAMs and especially you, Richard. So I'm glad we got you on here today.
So for today's episode, we are gonna kind of be diving into those, one of those things that you do work with farms on helping them get set up. And it's a really valuable, asset to farmers for their business. And that is the Google business profile. So as a farm account manager, this is something you get to work with a lot and help farmers get 'em set up and optimized. But taking a few steps back, what is a Google business profile and what exactly does that do?
Richard: Yeah, well, first and foremost, the Google Business Profile is a free business tool that farms can plug into just using a Google business account. Now, the nice thing about it as well is having a Google Business profile not [00:03:00] only allows you to create a little profile on the web searches, having some details and there's some information about the business for potential customers, but it, it actually connects to all Google assets.
So if you have a Google Business profile, you'll start to show up on things like Google Maps. Um, so it's, it's a must to make sure you have biggest visibility out there, especially when it comes to specific geographic areas.
Rory Loughran: Yeah. And, and that is huge. The fact that you're kind of being able to, to register once, and then kind of get plugged in across a lot of Google's different platforms.
Mm-hmm. and, and just increased visibility is great. Um, you touched on like, that Google search aspect, what does that look like once a profile is set up? How are farms more discoverable, in that perspective?
Richard: No, great question. So, most of us have taken some time to Google a business, especially, we're just hearing about them or, you know, in probably one of the more popular cases, are they open, we got winter storms rolling in.
What are their hours looking like? [00:04:00] And when you search a business on the Google search engine, you'll usually see a little popup or little window on the right hand side of your search that has business name, hours of operation, location, sometimes the areas they serve. And very importantly, customer reviews.
So, in short, I mean the Google business profile is a great way to have that first impression of first touch on folks that are searching for, farm-fresh products in their areas or by the farm name.
Rory Loughran: Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I feel like even especially having photos in there, it's something that really grabs your attention when you hit that search in Google, is really helpful to getting people over your website or so on.
Richard: Yep. Absolutely.
Rory Loughran: So, at what point should a farmer think about setting up that Google business profile? Are there any kind of requirements or anything like that that should be taken into account beforehand? And can anyone set up one of these profiles?
Richard: Yeah, great question. I would say anytime that a farm is looking to advertise in their area, [00:05:00] Set up a Google business profile.
As I mentioned before, it's free and it's a really, really good way to increase, visibility in certain geographic areas. I know, I use Google Maps all the time, even when I'm coming into work. If anything, just to get when I'm supposed to arrive, right? Mm-hmm. When I'm looking at my map, you'll see little pinpoints of businesses that have registered on the Google Business profile.
And so even when I'm just navigating the world around me, I'm getting more aware of the businesses that are located around me. So Google Business Profile, I don't think there's really any reason to wait. It's just takes a few moments to verify your business on Google. Flesh out some information that your potential customers can learn a little bit more about.
And in today's day and age, Google's usually the first place that people go look when they encounter a new brand and they wanna learn a little bit more. You Google it, you know, it's become a verb nowadays. So creating a Google business profile, never too early to start, and it's a great way to increase the visibility.
Rory Loughran: Yeah, [00:06:00] I think that's a great point too. Like if you're at, farmer's markets or maybe if, even if you're selling swag or things like that and people might see Yeah the name of your farm somewhere out in, in the wild,
Richard: Great example!
Rory Loughran: A lot of times the first thing they'll do is probably hop on Google and search that.
Richard: Yep. That's a terrific example as well. You know, it lends itself to, building your brand familiarity online.
Rory Loughran: Mm-hmm. Yeah, definitely. Kind of going back to that, are there any kind of requirements or anything that should be taken into account, beforehand?
Richard: You know, not off the top of my head it's usually better to make sure that your Google business profile has more information on it than less information. Mm-hmm. And so, you know, that would be one consideration I would think about most of the time when the farms have come to Barn2Door. By the time they reach a farm account manager, they have a web store that's operational.
They're hopefully growing their customer list or they have an established customer list and by the time they reach a farm account, Ima, excuse me, manager, they should have all the necessary [00:07:00] information to create a really well-built Google business profile.
Rory Loughran: Mm-hmm. . Yeah. And I was thinking too, a lot of farms probably if they're going into the step already have this, but having things like a website maybe already set up Yep.
Would probably be a good one. And the other one that I think comes up sometimes is the address of the farm. Mm-hmm. Um, I know some folks might live in a different location than where their farm is at. So that would be another one I think could maybe be important, is just figuring out where do you want those customers to be? If you're putting your address out there and you're wanting people to be able to actually see the physical location of your farm mm-hmm. , where do you want that to be tied to? Would be another one I would think.
Richard: Yeah, absolutely. Now that, from my understanding, that's not necessarily important.
You can set up a Google business profile, if you don't have a storefront that, or, you know, a pickup on the farm, for example, that folks can swing by. Um, it is helpful. You know, in terms of creating that local visibility. Mm-hmm. But, from my understanding, you don't necessarily have to display a location that folks can come to as a storefront.
Rory Loughran: Good to know. Awesome. So could you maybe explain, I know we gave one use case, of like seen some [00:08:00] swag out in the wild, but could you explain, where the customer's path in finding a farm, or their products, how Google business profile fits into that path?
Richard: Um, yeah.
Rory Loughran: And maybe what that looks like if they do have one and how that could potentially fall apart if they don't.
Richard: Well, in my experience with the Google Business profile, it's really helpful for both new and existing customers, new customers, maybe they're referred to by a friend, you know. Hey, just Google this farm name take a look. You'll see a link to their website, the web store, their business hours, you name it. Now that's a great introduction for someone who's first seeing the business. Maybe to your point earlier, they see some swag out there and they're like, that's a, an interesting farm name.
Let me take a look. Now, lots of folks use Google, even if they are well versed with these businesses, just as a quick way to pop into their website or to take a look at their hours, and get some more updates. So it's kind of valuable for both new customers and existing customers as just a quick way [00:09:00] to get visibility, get contact, and, have that relationship with your customers online.
Rory Loughran: Mm-hmm. That's such a great point too, because I feel like we all think, you know, ideally if your customers are referring people to you, ideally they're sending those referred people, the direct link to your store or the direct link to your website or maybe even your Facebook page. But oftentimes that's not the case.
They're probably gonna take the easier path and just say, "oh, just Google, so-and-so Farm name."
Richard: Exactly. One thing, you know, I I refer to, when I'm chatting with farmers all the time, and this is certainly no dig on customers, it's just human nature. When it's online, online, especially social media and, search engines the way they are nowadays, people have grown a custom becoming very lazy online.
Mm-hmm. , um, whatever's convenient is gonna win. And so Google has become ubiquitous with search engines and searching things online. So it, it's gonna be very common that folks will just say, "oh, search X, y, z, farm on Google. Like, you'll see their information right there." [00:10:00] Mm-hmm. .
Rory Loughran: Yeah, definitely. And that's a great point that it's, it's unfortunate, but it's true.
And sometimes, you can use that to your advantage. Mm-hmm. and just use the tools that are from you, like a Google business profile. At least work, work around that online laziness.
Richard: That's right. Hey, you just gotta meet the customers where they're at. No shame in them.
Rory Loughran: Yeah, so, could you kind of just walk us through, the process for setting up that Google business profile?
Richard: Yeah, absolutely. It's pretty straightforward. You know, of course, Google, just like other platforms, want businesses to succeed using their products. And as I mentioned before, since it's free to set up, they've made it a pretty streamlined process for any business to go in there and set one up.
So basically, if you have a Google account already, Gmail's a great example of that. You can go in and basically sign into your account and create a Google business profile by going to business.google.com. if you don't have a Google account yet, it's very easy to create one.
You can also create that probably at business.google.com. [00:11:00] Now you can enter the name of your business. Google may already know the name of your business as well, so you can search by your business name or you can add your new account there. You will eventually have to verify your business, but we'll go into what that process looks like a little bit later.
But once you create your account and type in your business name, you basically just need to fill out the information they're asking for. So, whether your business has locations, customers can visit, like we mentioned before. If you have a specific service area, like you're running large delivery routes, you can specify that on your Google account.
Contact information, website url, you know, ways that your customers can interact with you and communicate with you online. And then just wrap up the setup process with the remaining questions they ask. Now, verifying your business profile is pretty easy as well. Usually you just have to go in and say, "this is my business."
Google will approve it after, you know, a set period of time, just to make sure that I'm getting ahead of it and setting some expectations. Rarely this has [00:12:00] happened with any of the accounts I work with, but occasionally someone who is not affiliated with the business anymore or have never been affiliated with the business can verify your farm as their business.
There's lots of very easy ways that you can work with Google and verifying your account with your business to make sure you have control of that profile.
Rory Loughran: And I'm guess I'm curious there too, are there any cases where like a business could either accidentally or intentionally already be verified by someone else?
Is there any kind of recovery process around that?
Richard: Yep, absolutely. You'll be able to work with Google. They have lots of different, steps and walkthroughs in order to make sure that the business that you own is verified by you.
Rory Loughran: Awesome. So in total, I mean that, that sounded pretty straightforward. Just from you there, if, if I'm a farmer, I'm thinking, okay, how much time do I gotta put into this? What would be your estimate would you say of, of how long this all takes?
Richard: Oh gosh. Um, well, of course, everyone's at a different, tech level and comfort level. You know, if it's their first time working with Google, obviously it might take them, a little bit longer.
If that's the case, chat with your account manager [00:13:00] and um, of course we're happy to walk you through the steps on setting one up. Ideally it probably shouldn't take longer than five, 10 minutes.
Rory Loughran: Oh wow. That's awesome.
Richard: Yeah, it's, it's pretty quick. The verification timeline can take a, a day or two, but actually getting it set up and starting to work with it is really, really straightforward.
Rory Loughran: Mm-hmm. Wow. Okay, great. That, I mean, that was, that's like best case scenario, five, 10 minutes.
Richard: There's really no reason, farms shouldn't have a Google business profile in today's day and age.
Rory Loughran: Yeah. Get 'em set up. All right. Awesome. So then I also wanted to talk with you, I know SEO a lot of times is something people, are really big on or hear a lot about, and that's, SEO is stands for, search engine optimization, um mm-hmm.
Kind of, you know, those Google rankings. How you're appearing, when people search for farms. And it does play a, a big role in how farms and businesses in general, just appear in search results. So could you explain, more about like what SEO is and why farmers should care about that and then how a Google business profile fits into that or compliments that. [00:14:00]
Richard: Yeah, absolutely. So, as you mentioned, SEO is that search engine optimization. In a nutshell, it's essentially a webpages score based on an algorithm that the search engine has in place for ranking website results.
SEO gets waved around a lot nowadays because, you know, everyone wants to be on that coveted first page of Google. I mean, who in today's day in age goes to page two of their Google search, right? Mm-hmm. So, that being in mind, keep also in mind that SEO is not a be-all-end-all. The most important aspect of marketing online is controlling and having, a great relationship with your customers.
SEO score will usually improve over time with regular sharing of websites and links and, you know, backlinking website traffic, you name it. But the problem with SEO is it's like trying to hit a moving target in the dark. There's no rhyme or reason or really prediction on when search engines [00:15:00] will change their algorithms and shuffle the deck on who's gonna show up on these Google algorithms, right?
Mm-hmm. If a farm is getting a website with Barn2Door, our design team does a terrific job of actually building in seo, best practices and regular sharing of newsletters and marketing and the maturity of the site. The SEO score is gonna improve, no doubt. The Google business profile plays into SEO because it's a really great option for those local results and local searches, which ideally, the farms we're working with are focusing on marketing in their local areas.
So basically because it increases visibility across all Google assets, as mentioned like Google Maps, your SEO score will be, of course, positively impacted by having the Google business profile, but, it's really, really helpful for those local searches and those local results.
Rory Loughran: Okay. And so my understanding there is, SEO is hard to stay on top of, and it's always kind of changing the landscape of what will help your farm rank higher, or your website [00:16:00] rank higher. But, there are some kind of good base standard practices to do and setting up a Google business profile might be one of those.
Richard: Oh, absolutely. Especially when it comes to creating like specific, uh, location-based marketing strategies. Which candidly, most of the farms we work with are looking at serving local areas or local communities. Mm-hmm. , and that's really where the business profile can come in handy for you.
Rory Loughran: Yeah, definitely. And I'm just thinking, people in a smaller town or a more remote area, when they search on Google, Grass fed beef near me or something like that, your farm will pop up. They're able to see that nearby to them, through Google, which obviously is really great.
Richard: Yep. Certainly helps.
Rory Loughran: Awesome. So with respect to that, is there anything farmers can do to make their Google business profile really stand out, in terms of as they're going through that buildout process?
Richard: Yeah, absolutely. I would say, you know, of course having basic information, the more information can provide, the better.
Um, just kind of gives peace of mind to customers that are taking a look around. And people like to, feel confident that they can show up to a pickup [00:17:00] location, appropriately, or they have a better idea of where the farm is going. If it's a non-farm pickup. Of all these things, photos are a great way to create engagement.
I would always encourage people to have photos in their Google business profile. Just like marketing on social media. Customers, human beings in general like to see things. And so having some photos of final products or images of the farm, you know, whatever you're comfortable having onto the Google business profile can help with, conversion long term.
Additionally, and this is, something that can be a little uncomfortable for farms at first. Solicit reviews from your customers. You know, we do it as a tech company for those who have subscribed to our service. Everyone online, if they spend any time there is accustomed to businesses asking, "Hey, how are we doing? Rate us, you know, one to five stars, how can we do better?" You know, you name it.
So people are soliciting reviews all the time. And farmer's customers are used to that as well. If they've got a relationship with you and they're buying from you as a customer, I would say [00:18:00] far and away business provide favorable reviews.
And so, ask your customers, "Hey, leave us a review on Google" Land a lot more credibility to folks who are just encountering your brand for the first time. So, I would say photos, reviews, those are gonna be two really big tools to have in your tool belt when building out that Google business profile.
Rory Loughran: Yeah, definitely. I think that makes total sense. You know, like other people going and, rating your business, approving of it, ranking at high is a great way for Google to know, okay, this is a place we should be sending people.
Richard: Yeah. Well, and a good analogy is like going to a restaurant for the first time.
You know, here you're gonna have the sit down experience. You're unsure of the business. You've maybe heard good things. You take a look at it online. If it has great reviews, you're gonna be excited to go try it. It's gonna be excited to go and, and have that experience. if it doesn't. You know, you might second guess yourself.
So, in those cases as well, a savvy buyer and a savvy customer is gonna take a look at the reviews and see, [00:19:00] what was the negative response, what was a positive response, and then form their own decision of whether they're gonna shop there. But, reviews can go a long way of just building a lot of confidence in your customers when taking a look at your products and your Farm.
Rory Loughran: Yeah. And it definitely seems like that's one that can have a snowball effect. You know, you start getting more and more of those and that is drawing, having more reviews is drawing more people to you, especially those good reviews like you were saying.
Richard: Exactly. Yep. Yep. That's a really, really good point.
Rory Loughran: Are there any kind of drawbacks to setting up a Google business profile? Obviously, I know sometimes people are always concerned with how much information they might be putting out into the worldwide web. Are there any drawbacks and maybe what is your advice to farmers who are a little, concerned about that and not wanting to necessarily throw all their information into this page?
Richard: Yeah, no, great question. I completely understand having, the desire to have some anonymity online. To a certain degrees of course, I would let people know, if you are setting up your Google business profile and you wanna have a phone number on there, [00:20:00] maybe don't put your cell phone number on.
Cuz the likelihood of folks reaching out, giving up phone calls can increase quite a bit, especially if, the visibility and the reviews start snowballing as you said earlier. The point of being online and having these assets is in part to help you save time and when you're getting phone calls all the time, kind of defeats the purpose there.
Another good example, I'd say if you happen to live on the farm and, you wanted to have your address there. That is up to your discretion as well. I know many of the accounts I work with they like having the privacy of their home and they don't like folks just rolling down their driveway willy-nilly.
So have definitely just some discretion when setting up the information on your business profile. Just like in terms of social media, you're gonna have a lot of eyes on this type of information. And so I would say the only drawback is too much visibility, which is kind of a good problem to have, but have some discretion when you're setting up your account.
Rory Loughran: Yeah, no, definitely good things to be wary of and having I think, like you mentioned earlier, [00:21:00] but just having the awareness around, if you're just doing deliveries and maybe some local pickups in town, then your address isn't something that's relevant to customers anyways.
It would really only be relevant to folks that are either doing pickups at their farm or maybe hosting events or things like that. So it is nice that Google kind of gives you that flexibility to leave some of those details out.
Richard: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Rory Loughran: Yeah. Awesome. Well, are there any examples of a farm google business profile that you think really stand out? Maybe one that listeners could go and look up to both see as an example, but maybe also for some inspiration.
Richard: Yeah, absolutely. Um, gosh, I mean, one of the farms I work with outta Montana, Mannix Family Ranch, they do a terrific job. If folks are looking into, to search that one up here, I could spell it, it's kind of a unique spelling of the name, but, M A N N I X family ranch.
Awesome, great, great farm. Love working with these folks, but they have a really well fleshed out, established business, profile that you could take a look on Google, if you're looking for some [00:22:00] inspiration there. Now some other great farms that we're working with as well. Terra Firma Farms. Um, also, really, really well built out Google business profile.
They're a dairy and so, you know, if you are operating in the same type of industry, they're definitely worth taking a look at. All of these would be great inspirations for anyone interested in setting one up.
Rory Loughran: Yeah, definitely. So, uh, Google 'em. .
Richard: Yeah, that's, there you go.
Rory Loughran: That, all it takes is you can just look 'em up. And those profiles, you should see those manifest kind of on the right hand side of your search engine, mm-hmm. And you can kind of poke around and see, what that could look like for your farm if you don't have one set up yet.
So I'm assuming once a farmer sets this up, I, is there any kind of maintenance or nourishment I guess that needs to go into setting up a profile? What can farmers be doing or keeping track of to maintain it and continue to build its effectiveness?
Richard: You know, um, just like any other online asset, it's important to make sure that these things are relevant, right?
Lots of folks will just pop onto Google to take a look at your business profile to check, [00:23:00] hours of operation, for example. So, if you haven't taken the time to maybe, remove some hours or change some fulfillment days in regards to the holidays, for example, you wouldn't want to potentially mislead or confuse customers that way. So, just like having any other type of hygiene on social accounts or, contact information on emails that you're sending out, um, you know, regular maintenance, making sure things are up to date for your customers there. But once it is set up, in my experience anyway, it's usually pretty good.
It's not something you have to go into all the time to update and refresh, just like any, socials and things like that.
Rory Loughran: Yeah. Awesome. Well, great. And that's good to hear that it, we talked about five to 10 minutes to get it set up a little bit more to verify, but it's nice that isn't, a big lift to kind of maintain and keep as something that's helping your farm online moving forward.
Richard: Yeah, absolutely. I think it's a must, again, if you're working with a farm account manager, and you have any trouble getting these set up, definitely [00:24:00] harass us. That's what we're here for. That's what we love. So, uh, come on down.
Rory Loughran: Awesome, well, Richard, thanks so much for joining us here and talking us through this.
I think, yeah, like you said, these are great assets and I'm sometimes surprised at, how few folks have 'em. And so definitely, if you're listening and you don't have a business profile set up, at least, look into it. Maybe take those five to 10 minutes to get it set up and then verified and you'll be up and running.
So Richard, thanks so much for breaking it down for us and making it, sound a little simpler.
Richard: Yeah. Happy to help. Rory, if you ever need me again, you know where to find me.
Rory Loughran: Exactly. Yeah. We love having ya on Richard.
Richard: It's always a pleasure. But thanks for your time, Rory.
Rory Loughran: I wanna extend my thanks to Richard for joining us on this week's podcast episode. Here at Barn2Door, we're humbled to support thousands of farms across the country who implement sustainable agricultural practices and support their local communities.
We're honored to get the opportunity to learn from our Account Managers what tactics the most successful farmers are using to grow and manage their farm businesses. If you would like to connect with a range of farm advisors attend [00:25:00] Barn2Door Connect, you can register for those weekly sessions at barn2door.com/connect.
Thank you for tuning in, and we'll see you next time.