Small Changes That Can Make Your Business Listing Work Harder

I used to think of a business listing as something set and forgot. Something I filled out with the right information once and then moved on. It wasn’t until about a year and a half later, on some slow Tuesday evening, that I really sat down and thought to myself about why exactly I wasn’t getting the calls I wanted.

I tinkered around with my listing, making some small changes here and there, and it actually worked well enough that I want to share my experience and the lessons I learned while I was doing it.

The Business Listing I Almost Ignored

My business is a kind of small repair service, the kind where people tend to find me online rather than through word of mouth. I set up my business listing much like the instructions suggested; I had hours listed, a good description, and some nice pictures I took with my phone. It all seemed like a solid effort.

What I didn’t realize was that I was thinking about my business listing in the wrong way; treating it more as a task to be completed than as the page someone is visiting for the first time, trying to decide whether or not they want to call me and trust me with their problem.

The First Change: Rewriting The Description

The first change I made was to my description. It was pretty bare bones, but I had used the right keywords and listed out some of the things I offered. I rewrote mine more as if someone had written it on their own, and mentioned the places I worked, as well as how I started my company, as a bit of an introduction. Just that change alone got me a comment from a customer saying that it was the first one that didn’t “sound like a robot wrote it”, which was unexpected, to say the least.

The Second Change: Photos That Aren’t Stock

The second change I made was to my pictures. I had some generic photos of tools, but nothing that really showed off what it was I did. I took pictures of some jobs I had done before, as well as the before and after shots so people could see the difference, and a few pictures of my van outside the place I was working. They weren’t as nice as the generic tool pictures, but I felt like that might be a good thing. It felt more genuine, and that seemed to be what a lot of people wanted out of these listings.

The Third Change: Answering The Question No One Asks

The third change I made had to do with a question people asked on the listing, and the answers that came with it. Most people I knew had listings and none of them had any answers there, because most didn’t know what to put. I filled that section up with some of the questions I had heard people ask on the phone, such as whether or not I worked on weekends, or if they had to pay for an estimate. It seems like such a small thing but filling in that little bit of the section actually helped drive more customers to me.

That’s when I realized that this wasn’t something that most knew about. That page was almost like a conversation starter for someone deciding whether or not to call you.

What Actually Made A Difference

When all told, none of the changes I made actually seemed all that impressive. They weren’t anything massive and I barely thought of them as changes, really. But, after about a week or so, I began to notice a difference. Calls were coming more often, and in some cases, people were already familiar with me and what I did. They had read my description, seen my pictures, and had their questions answered before they ever called me, and I think that made a big difference. That’s what I think is the real change that made my listing better, and what I would suggest to anyone else looking to do the same.

If I were to give advice to someone just looking over their business listing right now, the one thing I would tell them to do is to write their listing like a person, not a robot. Use your own pictures, even if they aren’t professional, and fill in every optional section, especially questions and answers. Finally, update your listing whenever something changes, not just once a year, and ask your customers to leave reviews and reply to them when they do.

None of these things take a lot of time, but they make a real difference in how people view your page.

Small Details I Almost Missed

Other than rewriting my description and updating my pictures, there were a few other small details I almost missed. I changed my service area, slightly, to make it a tiny bit more specific than just my whole city. I added a note about my license and insurance, since a few customers had called me about it before ever speaking to me, or leaving a review. I actually took the time to update some of the category tags, since I had listed them a few years previously and barely thought about them since.

None of those really seemed like they were going to make a difference, but combined they made my listing feel a little more complete. Completeness and authenticity both seem to go a long way when it comes to these kind of things, especially since people only know so much about you from that one page. I think that’s another reason why these things matter so much, really.

Why I Almost Didn’t Do It

There was also a point, about halfway through this whole process, where I almost stopped myself. It wasn’t like my business didn’t need the help, but it wasn’t like these changes were going to make a huge difference, either. Business was fine, people were calling, what was the point in messing with something that wasn’t broken?

That’s probably the single biggest lesson I learned from this whole exercise, really. That, for me at least, a business listing wasn’t something that was a static page, or something that I only needed to complete once. This was something I needed to keep coming back to, as if I was always having a conversation with my customers, even if I didn’t really know them. The more I engaged in that conversation, the more likely it was someone would actually call me.

A Quick Reality Check

I can’t pretend these small changes to my listing were responsible for some miracle turnaround in my business. It wasn’t responsible for a flood of new customers, and I’m pretty sure that if someone were to suggest that a few small alterations to your listing would make you get twice as many calls, I would probably punch them. I think that’s the real point I’m trying to make here. I saw a gradual but steady increase in my calls, with a slight uptick in people calling with questions I had already answered on the listing, and an increase in people asking about the things that I had put up there specifically for them.

If you’re using your own listing, and have been for a while, maybe you should take the time to sit down and review it. Make sure it sounds like you, that it shows off what you do, and that it answers the questions your customers have. You may be surprised at the changes you can see after as little as an hour’s worth of work.

Sometimes, the smallest changes are the ones that cause the largest differences. Sometimes, it’s the little details most people ignore that really make it all come together.