Starting this week, I’m giving you one small thing to do online for your business every week for the next 13 weeks. Nothing that costs real money. Nothing that requires you to be a computer person. Each week builds on the last. By the end of the run, you’ll have a real system in place, not just a stack of tips you meant to use.
I know why a column like this matters more this month than most. The fires closed the Boundary Waters, the Blueberry Festival got canceled, and a lot of you lost a chunk of your best season through no fault of your own. Some of what’s ahead speaks directly to that. All of it will still matter once the smoke clears for good.
Here’s this week’s leak. I just searched “best hamburgers in Ely.” Not a business name, just the honest question a hungry stranger would actually type. Nine results came up on the first page. Five of them were restaurants that don’t exist anymore, closed for good, some of them for years.
That’s the problem. Google isn’t just matching your business name anymore. It’s trying to answer the actual question, and half the time it answers with a business that’s already dead.
It also isn’t showing you and a stranger the same page. Google shows different results to different people, based on things like location and past searches.
Search your own business name and Google already half-knows it’s you. It bends over backward to show you something that looks right. A visitor looking for a place to eat gets none of that help, just whatever Google is guessing at that day.
So do two searches this week, not one.
First, search your own business name and claim your Google Business Profile if you haven’t, or check it if you have. Hours current, status set to open, two real photos taken recently. About 15 minutes.
Second, open a private or incognito browser window, so you’re not logged in and Google can’t lean on your history. Search the way an actual stranger would, the plain question, not your name: “best (whatever you sell) in Ely.”
Look hard at what comes up. If you spot a competitor that’s actually closed for good but still shows up looking open, you can fix that too. Every Google listing has a “Suggest an edit” link anyone can use. Marking a dead business as closed cleans up the results for the next person searching, including the ones looking for you.
That’s this week’s whole job, about 20 minutes total. Next week we build the one thing no search engine can give you: a way to reach the people who already know you, directly, without waiting for them to search at all.
Richard Stuart builds websites and revenue systems for owner-operated businesses from his home in Ely. Have a question you’d like answered in a future column? Send it to [email protected]. If something’s quietly costing you customers, let’s talk: richardstuart.me.
