An Off-Site Brand Checklist for Equipment Dealers - Adpearance

An Off-Site Brand Checklist for Equipment Dealers

Today more than ever, customers are relying on the internet to find and contact your business. When leads search for you online—what are they finding? Is your contact information correct regardless of the browser they use or website they visit? Are online reviews and star ratings helping or hurting your business?

In addition to the quick tests you can run on your website to make sure you’re capturing interested leads, here is an off-site brand checklist you can use to audit your brand presence and make sure your online reputation and third-party listings are assisting your lead generation efforts.

Fill out the form below to get the checklist:

1. Claim and update your Google My Business profile(s)

Think of Google My Business (GMB) as your digital storefront. Information from GMB is pulled into search results to populate Google Maps and the Knowledge Graph. It’s important to claim and update GMB profiles for each of your locations to make sure that customers who are searching for you are finding accurate and up-to-date information.

Claiming your GMB profiles also provides a window into how people are searching for you and what actions they’re taking from search results thanks to GMB Insights.

To get started, follow these steps:

  1. Search for and select your GMB profiles for each location
  2. Claim or request ownership.
  3. Choose a verification option (may receive one or many)
  4. Update key information:
    • Business name
    • Description
    • Address
    • Phone number
    • Website
    • Hours
    • Categories
    • Images

Once you have claimed and updated your GMB profiles, continue to monitor and update frequently to add holiday hours, respond to reviews, answer questions, and take advantage of the insights provided.

2. Verify your Bing profile(s)

Claiming and updating your business listings on Bing will be similar to GMB, but if you are already verified on Google My Business, the process will be even faster. Bing allows for instant verification of businesses already on Google My Business. Instead of adding or claiming your business manually, import from GMB to pre-fill and verify your business details instantly.

Follow these steps to become a verified representative for your business:

  1. Import your business from GMB
  2. Update key information:
    • Business name
    • Description
    • Address
    • Phone number
    • Website
    • Hours
    • Categories
    • Images

3. Clean up your social media profile(s)

In today’s world, social media networks are where many potential customers will go to learn about your business. Because of this, social media can be really valuable and impactful for your business. An official profile is helpful for creating a brand personality, becoming a thought leader, connecting with customers, engaging with employees, and supporting recruitment efforts; however, active management across social media channels may not be an investment you’re able to make at this time.

Regardless of whether you plan on managing your profiles on an ongoing basis, now is the time to claim and clean up any profiles that may be out there. Odds are there are some old, forgotten, or auto-generated accounts that need to be updated. Search for your brand across Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram, to see what’s already out there.

Follow these steps to claim or create business profiles:

  1. Claim existing business profiles
  2. Create new profiles, if desired
  3. If multiples exist, remove duplicate accounts
  4. Update key information, including contact information, URLs, and profile/cover images
  5. Follow targeted pages and business accounts, if applicable
  6. Respond to recent comments, messages, or reviews

4. Claim and update business listings on review sites

When customers search for your business, star ratings and review sites usually make up a good portion of the Google Knowledge Graph and organic results. Claiming and optimizing these profiles is a good way to make a positive first impression online. And, based on what we’ve seen in the heavy equipment industry, it’s not often that equipment dealers have a high volume of high-quality reviews. It’s more rare to find dealers who are heavily involved with their online ratings, which means having positive reviews and up-to-date profiles can be a big value add and differentiator.

Whether you’re aiming to increase your reviews or simply just get a handle on the profiles and feedback already out there, start with a few searches using variations of your brand name.

Follow these steps to claim or create your review profiles:

  1. Claim existing business profiles
  2. Create new profiles, if desired
  3. Update key information, including contact information, URLs, and profile/cover images
  4. Add relevant site-specific information, from benefits and history to community involvement and brand values
  5. Respond to recent reviews honestly, candidly, and professionally
  6. Consider improving your star rating by increasing your reviews

5. Audit remaining business listings on third-party sites

After you’ve covered the major players, don’t forget the smaller sites that appear in organic search results for your company. Updating these listings will go one step further in ensuring people who are searching for your business are finding accurate information, but it will also help your organic rankings and SEO. Google uses local websites, maps, and directories to confirm that your business information is accurate. Inconsistent information across local listings can get you flagged and cause your business to be deprioritized because Google uses these local listings as a trust indicator.

Follow these steps to claim and update your profiles:

  1. Search for and claim business listings
  2. Update key information:
    • Business name
    • Description
    • Address
    • Phone number
    • Website
    • Hours
    • Categories
    • Images

Because users can suggest edits and make changes to your listings, continue to monitor your various profiles and make necessary updates monthly. If you don’t want to do this manually, consider working with a digital provider and leveraging a data aggregator.

We’re Here to Help

Now is a great time to ‘spring clean’ your off-site listings and set your company up for success online. If you have any questions about claiming or managing your business profiles, contact your Digital Advertising Strategist or reach out directly. With more than a decade of experience in heavy equipment, we’re happy to help you audit your online presence and create an optimization plan through a free digital analysis.

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