BlogSmall growers
Getting found when someone searches for plants near them
When somebody wants plants, a lot of them start on a phone with a search for a nursery or a garden centre near them, and the list that comes back is a map of Google Business Profiles. In a study Google published in 2016, 76% of people who searched on a smartphone for something nearby visited a business within a day. The figure is old and it is Google's own, but the habit has not gone away, and a small grower who is not on that map is invisible to the people closest to them.
Setting it up
A Business Profile is free. Google says you can create one if your business has a place customers can visit, or if you travel to customers where they are. A grower who delivers to customers rather than having them visit is what Google calls a service-area business, and it says such a business should hide its address and show the area it serves instead. A yard that welcomes visitors should show it, staffed during the hours it lists.
To edit the profile and reply to customers you have to verify it. Google lists phone or text, email, a video call or recording, and post, and says which options you get depends on the type of business and where it is, so do not be surprised if the postcard is not offered. Choose a category that says plainly what you are, nursery or garden centre or plant supplier, since it is one of the first things a searcher reads.
What helps you show up
Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and popularity, and that businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to appear. It also says there is no way to pay for a better local ranking. The parts you control are simple. Fill in every field. Keep the hours right, including the special hours for holidays and the weeks you close, because a buyer who drives out to a locked gate does not come back. Add photos, and Google points out that an outside photo helps people recognise the place when they arrive. Use posts, which Google offers for updates, offers and events, for things like the first spring opening or a plant sale. They are archived after six months unless you set a date range.
Reviews, the honest way
Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking, and you are allowed to ask for them, with a link or a QR code on the counter or the receipt. What its policy forbids is offering anything in return, whether money, a discount or a free plant, asking only the customers you expect to be happy, or pressing people to review you while they are still at the stall. Ask everyone, and let the reviews be what they are.
Then answer them. Google's advice is to address the reviewer by name, respond to what they actually said, and not use a reply to push a promotion, and it notes that a prompt reply shows you value the feedback. A calm, specific answer to a poor review often does more for the next reader than the review did harm.
Put your shop link in the profile's website field. If you sell through Sprout, that is your shop, so someone who found you on the map can see what is ready this week before they get in the car.