Adult family homes are assisted living facilities, typically in a residential home, that provide room, board, 24-hour supervision, help with daily activities, and social services for up to six adults aged eighteen and over and unrelated to the caregiver. They are either operated by or hire nurses and other licensed medical staff to support a resident’s needs.
Adult family homes represent a more home-like, less costly alternative to adult residential care facilities for people looking for senior care options in Washington state.
According to the Adult Family Home Council of Washington State, there are currently over 4,000 independently licensed and operated adult family homes across Washington state. For that reason, it’s become absolutely critical to find ways to stand out from the competition to attract potential clients.
One easy way to accomplish this is by setting up a Google Business Profile. Here are the reasons your adult family home needs a Google Business Profile and how to set one up.
What Is Google Business Profile?
Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business) is a free service that lets businesses establish a profile with a brief overview, location, contact information, products and services, business hours, customer reviews, and a link to your website.
You can also personalize your business by adding a logo, cover image, photos, or specific information about the owner (for example, Black-owned, family-owned, women-owned, veteran-owned, LGBT-friendly, etc.), all of which helps your business stand out.
In addition, Google Business Profile allows business owners to create posts, special offers, and events, to respond to customer reviews, to send and receive direct messages from customers, and post answers to frequently asked questions.
Why Does Your Adult Family Home Need a Google Business Profile?
A small business with a Google Business Profile is favored in web searches, which can make all the difference when it comes to attracting potential clients. It also adds credibility and legitimacy to your adult family home and directs online traffic to your website (56% of actions on Google Business profiles are website visits).
Use your adult family home profile to demonstrate your expertise, including information about your health and safety measures, owner and staff training, awards, certifications, accessibility attributes, compliance with Washington state regulations, recent news and ongoing updates, links to a blog, etc.
Statistics about Google Business Profile are eye-opening: 97% of consumers look for local businesses on the Internet. 76% of people who search on their smartphones for something nearby visit a business within a day; and an average business is found in over 1,000 searches per month.
The importance of reviews is particularly critical. In 2021, 77% of consumers ‘always’ or ‘regularly’ read them when browsing for local businesses. If you don’t have enough reviews for your adult family home, you can gently request them from your clients or their relatives.
Additionally, make sure to respond to your positive and negative reviews to establish a direct line of communication with your clients. That means not only acknowledging them but also addressing their concerns and negative experiences and ways in which they can be fixed and improved. Nearly 89% of consumers are ‘highly’ or ‘fairly’ likely to use a business that responds to all its online reviews.
Photos are just as important as reviews. Nothing draws attention to your profile quite like high-quality, recent, relevant photos, and Google recommends posting at least three. Show off your adult family home - exteriors, client bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, and gardens; anything you can to give potential clients a sense of its community, lifestyle, and vibe. Even better, include a video tour of the home and all the amenities it offers.
Other features that could prove helpful include a call button, an appointment link, and a filled out FAQ section. Your goal is to give potential clients as much practical information as you possibly can in a concise and well-organized way.
How to Set Up a Google Business Profile for Your Adult Family Home?
Next, we will take you through the process of setting up a Google business profile for your adult family home.
Go to google.com/business
Sign in with a Google account - you can sign in with an existing account or create a new one specifically for this purpose
Search for your business by entering your address or business name in the search bar
Click add or claim your business (in case a listing has already been created)
Click on “Manage Now”
Fill in or verify essential information such as location, hours, website, phone number, and other contact details
Verify your business on Google - this is a relatively quick process that can be done through a phone or video call, text, email, video recording, or even a postcard
Once the process has been completed, a little blue icon next to your listing will let internet users know it’s verified
Once your profile has been completed and verified, you can track its performance by accessing and downloading insights that will let you know how your listing is doing on Google Search and Google Maps. This includes the number of unique visitors, direction requests, website, call button and appointment clicks, summary of total interactions, etc. You can then use this data to find ways to improve your profile's performance in the future.
Now that you have learned what Google Business Profile is, how to set it up, and why it’s valuable for your adult family home, you know that having one for your business is an absolute must.
So, get your free profile running today to help your adult family home stand out from the competition and attract more potential clients on the world’s most popular search engine.
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