3 Reasons to Add Google Business View




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[caption id="attachment_3401" align="aligncenter" width="300"]A car like this already has photos of the exterior of your business. Are you ready to let the photographer inside? A car like this already has photos of the exterior of your business. Are you ready to let the photographer inside?[/caption] If you're a music fan, you'll love this: a tour of the legendary Abbey Road studios, courtesy of Google Maps. It's almost as good as actually being there (and, I think, the only way to see inside Abbey Road unless you're a recording artist or someone who works there). It's full of photos, historical information, and even a really cool interactive features that let you mix your own tracks. While you won't be able to offer this level of detail, you can offer prospective customers a peek inside your business with Google Business View.

What is Google Business View?

It's like Google Street View -- the Google Maps feature that lets you zoom in and see images of streets -- only it goes a step further and lets users take a virtual tour of a business. The little grocery store across the street from where I live uses this feature, as I discovered one day when I Googled it, hoping to determine whether the store sold bagels or not. (For whatever reason, I had decided that I didn't want to go out if they didn't have what I wanted, even if it was just across the street.) By taking the virtual tour, I was able to stroll the aisles of the store without leaving my house, and I did, in fact, see bagels on the shelf. So I went over to the store and made my purchase. As you can see from my anecdote, if you run a store or a restaurant, the benefits of adding Google Business View are pretty clear. But what if you run a CNC machine shop or a biomedical textile manufacturing facility? Why would you want to offer people a virtual tour of your facility? Here are a few reasons:
  • Show people what your facility is really like: As we've touched on before, manufacturing facilities are often thought of as dark and dirty. A virtual tour of your clean and well-lit facility can help to dispel that myth. It can also help prospective employees get a feel for what it's like to work for you.
  • Show off your state-of-the-art equipment: Give people a glimpse of your top-of-the-line tools. Your website already tells people that you have the best tools available. Now let them see it for themselves.
  • Show that you are up-to-date: Taking advantage of features like these is a great way to show people that your company is hip, with it and ready to play.
Google Business View is relatively easy to set up, and Google says it's low cost, though you won't know the cost until you speak with Google directly. The first step is to contact a photographer or photography agency from Google's list of certified photographers. Then schedule a photo shoot. Once that's done, the photographer takes care of everything else. The process should be quick and painless.

What Other Google Features Can We Add?

If you haven't already, you really should add Google Analytics to your site. Its's the best way to measure the quantity and quality of the traffic that comes to your site every day. However, interpreting Google Anaylitics data can be a challenge if you aren't familiar with it. At Ecreative, we can help you understand your Google Analytics data -- and help you improve it. For more information, contact Ecreative now. Photo credit: MANHATTAN RESEARCH INC / Foter / CC BY