Show Notes

Kayla: Welcome back to the Designer Practice Podcast and I’m your host Kayla Das.

Have you ever considered setting up a Google business profile to help you grow your business? Do you even know what a Google business profile is?

Well, in today’s episode Jason Stein, Licensed Acupuncturist and Google Business Profile Expert, will share with us what a Google business profile is and how it can help you grow your private practice and build your search engine optimization.

Hi, Jason. Welcome to the show. I’m so glad to have you here today.

Jason: Hi, Kayla. Thanks for having me.

Introduction

Kayla: Jason, before we dive in today, can you please introduce yourself, where you’re from, and tell us a little bit about you and your business journey.

Jason: Sure. My business journey is one of a windy path. So, in 1998, I became a Licensed Acupuncturist. Before that, I have a degree in psychology and I was on my way to get a PhD in industrial organizational psych. And I just fell in love with Chinese medicine and did the degree and right away, I was given the opportunity to be the program director of integrative medicine in a hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

And as I kept opening doors, the school recruited me to teach business because I’m a third-generation entrepreneur. My father was an entrepreneur. My grandfather was an entrepreneur. And, I love business and healing in the crossroads. And so, over the years, I’ve always kept a part time practice, but I’ve helped probably thousands of wellness providers at this point internationally to grow their business, make more money without burning out.

What is a Google Business Profile?

Kayla: That’s fabulous. And I think we’re going to learn so much about Google Business Profiles today that’s really going to help even more practitioners beyond those you’ve already helped. So first of all, what is a Google business profile?

Jason: It’s a great question. You know, Google’s been around since Larry and Sergey were sitting on their bean bags in college and had the idea of Google. And over the last 25 plus years, they started bringing in ads and they realized that’s where the revenue was. And so, years ago it was called Google My Business and you had a profile on Google Maps, and they changed it to Google business profiles just a couple of years ago. And now I believe, I don’t have the stats in front of me, but 4. 8 billion people on Google and 86 percent of those look for local businesses near them. And so it means that if you have a profile, people are going to find you.

And I got involved, Kayla, because I’ve had so many clients that were on social media, started with Instagram and Facebook, but it moved to Tick Tock and they were spending hours and hours a week on social media without the conversion. And what I found was Google Business Profiles has the same type of posting ability to take it from a static site to a dynamic site. And the conversion is just there and the metrics are there. So, you can actually see how many phone calls are you getting, how many people are going to your website. And I find that it’s the most affordable and super valuable.

Kayla: Yeah, I agree. And actually, I know having a Google business profile myself, every month I actually get emails from Google saying X amount of people have called you, X amount of people have checked out your website. So yeah, like even if you’re not always looking at the actual dashboard or the platform, they’re updating you on a regular basis through your email as well.

Jason: And it’s important Kayla for your listeners to know that Google sometimes creates you a profile without you knowing that you can claim and it may be a bad photo, it may not be linked to your website. So, you definitely want to check even if you’re not interested to see did Google create you a profile already.

Kayla: That’s interesting. Can you share a little bit about that and what listeners should do if they want to see if there’s a profile created without their consent?

Jason: The easiest way to do it is to put the name of your business, the town, state, province, just some location identifiers. And from there, you’ll be able to see, is there a listing already or should you create one?

Google Business Profile vs. Google Ads

Kayla: That’s great. So now I know there’s a difference between, say, a Google business profile and a Google ad. Can you explain that to listeners so that they understand, what the difference is and how they can tell the difference?

Jason: So, Google ads are often costly. And what you’re doing is you’re advertising on Google when people are searching for you. And when you go into a Google ad, and you say, therapist near me, you may see a sponsor button. And that sponsor button means that someone’s paying for an ad near you.

Now, Google Business Profile is associated with Maps. And so, it’s free. It doesn’t cost anything. You can actually have a listing and a profile. You can add to it. You can do FAQs. You can have your online scheduler there. I mean, it’s pretty endless for what you get for free.

Kayla: And as a consumer myself, I notice– and actually maybe I’ll share, when you Google anything, so maybe like therapist near me, usually what shows up first is what’s called sponsored ads. And then right below that tends to be the Google business profiles.

And I know me as a consumer. I’m not saying that I’m like everyone, but I never click on a Google ad. I don’t know if I ever have, unless I intentionally wanted to check something out just for the marketing side of me the curiosity. But from an actual consumer perspective, I’ve never clicked on a Google ad. However, I always look up Google business profiles, like even before I look up the first page of Google, because to me, and this is my opinion, it almost solidifies or verifies that you’re a true business in my mind anyway.

Jason: Yeah, I like your thought process, but unfortunately not everyone thinks like you. And so, ads are costly and they do work. Another example or a metaphor would be spam. How come we still get spam? Because it works. Unfortunately, people spam people because it works.

And so, Google ads can be very valuable if you’re looking at the ROI, the return on the investment and the conversion rate. So, I’m not against them, but I am like you that I don’t click on them, for myself and my consumer use.

Kayla: Yeah. And I’ve actually heard from other therapists. A lot of other therapists have found a lot of value in Google ads as well. But I don’t really click on Facebook ads, either. I don’t really click on ads in general. That’s just my thing. But in saying that it’s as consumers, I mean, sometimes we’re intrigued by something. And especially if we’re not aware of how Google ads are at the top. I mean, we might just think that that’s the start of Google searches.

So yeah, 100%. I am not against Google ads either, although I will say I’ve never used them in my business, but I’ve heard other therapists say that they have found value out of them. But I personally love Google business profiles because to me, again, in my mind, it solidifies you as a business.

Jason: Well, and advertising and marketing go hand in hand. So, if you are going to do Google ads, you probably want to contact your board, whoever gave you that license to make sure that you’re allowed to do Google ads. The Google business profile, I’m yet to find a board that says you can’t do them.

Benefits of a Google Business Profile for Private Practice

Kayla: That’s good to know. So, what are some of the benefits and maybe even limitations of having a Google business profile?

Jason: It’s a great question. On the limitations, I haven’t found one. I mean, maybe one of the limitations is you just haven’t spent the time to go and the photo that is being used for your Google business location. There was a truck parked in front of it. So, it’s like the limitation would be the design of the profile itself is hurting you rather than helping you. Are there any others? Not that I can think of.

The benefits are many. SEO being search engine optimization. People are looking for you. So, we spend a lot of time as entrepreneurs in the healing field on newsletters and on blogs and on social media and all of those tend to be like hoping that people see them. Where the Google business profile, people are already looking for you. Maybe you’re a therapist that you specialize in EMDR in Ottawa. Like people are looking for that already. And if you keyword search your profile, people are going to land on it. And then if you are good at what you do and you have a good brand or visibility, so it’s clear you’re going to attract more of the right clients.

Barriers to Starting a Google Business Profile

Kayla: That makes sense. So, from your experience, what might prevent a private practice owner from having a Google Business profile?

Jason: A few things, you may work for someone else. And so, your profile might be under theirs because you’re an employee of another company. So, this is really for small business owners. I think it could be that you don’t have one because you just didn’t know about it. And you don’t have one because there are still people that are pen and pad and don’t advertise and don’t market and are on a full waitlist because they’ve in practice for 40 years.

Kayla: That’s really good points because something I also think too, is the tech overwhelm, we think about all of these things that we could be on, like social media platforms, newspapers, Google ads, Facebook ads, Google profiles, therapist directories. I mean, I could go on for days about all the places that we could be.

But one of the things that I’ve heard from therapists is that, “It’s just another thing that I have to do.” But what I love about Google business profiles, and you’ve already mentioned it is that they’re free, right? They’re free and they’re effective. And I think that that’s key is that even though maybe social media and some other places might be free, if you’re not really seeing that return on investment. There’s other options that you have that you can start seeing a little bit more.

And I know we’re going to talk about SEO in a little bit, so I’m super excited about that. But in addition to that, when we think of, say, even different social media platforms, there’s only a small shelf life of posts. Where’s your Google profile? I mean, as long as you’re updating it and it’s accurate, it can live forever.

Jason: Yeah, I’ll go back to what I said before, Kayla, which is 80 percent of that 4. 6 billion is looking for a local business. And so, although we feel like it’s one more thing. It’s comparing apples and oranges. So social media is free as well. Facebook’s free, Tik Tok’s free, Instagram’s free, but we’re trying to compete for people’s attention and saying, “Hey, look at me over here.” Where your Google business profile is more like a map of people getting from Island A to Island B and they’re looking for the right vehicle to get them there. And if you have your profile designed the right way, there’s going to be people lined up to get on your boat.

Google Business Profile and SEO

Kayla: Agree. So, let’s talk about SEO. How does Google business profile help grow a private practices SEO, specifically?

Jason: Well, it’s a great question because Google owns Google business profiles and owns Google Maps, so it’s intertwined in search engine optimization being keywords where people put in information and then you pop towards the top. So, when you look at, I don’t know the latest stats on how many Google searches there are a day for a local business, but it’s a lot. And if you start to think about what are people looking for, and then you’re able to raise your hand and say, “I can help there.” It’s an excellent way to, it’s called keywords, but to put keywords in your description.

If you’re looking to rebrand, you can always keyword by having the location and the service you offer because that’s what people are looking for. You know, it used to be like no one’s looking for acupuncture, they’re looking to get out of pain that no longer is true, like you work a lot, Kayla, in the therapist world, people are looking for therapists every day, all day long online, and you’re helping them find you.

Kayla: I agree 100%. And I love that you connected back that SEO, so search engine optimization, is pretty much owned by the search engines, which Google is one of the main search engines. So, yeah, it just makes sense that they would integrate SEO as a part of what’s important.

And again, even just going back to not even using the word SEO, but even when you search it’s before any other content that shows up, obviously other than Google ads. Google ads come first, then Google business profiles, and then whatever is listed on the first page of Google. So, if anything, it actually is higher than most other, content that you can find. So, I love it.

Ethical Use of Google Business Profiles

Now, I think this is really important, and I know we’ve talked about this offline. But, for many therapists, their regulatory body’s standards of practice and or code of ethics considers a direct request to a client to leave a review, as well as engaging with any negative reviews that might be found on Google, or really any other place for that matter, is considered unethical. How can therapists effectively use and build their Google business profiles with these limitations in mind?

Jason: You’re asking great questions today. So, the first thing I’ll say is that I’ve taught ethics and I don’t understand why asking for feedback about how you’re doing and letting that feedback be public is unethical. So first, I just disagree with the boards. You are going to have rogue people that are going to go against that. Some of them have been sanctioned because I’ve heard those stories, others haven’t. And so, I feel like what do you do about that because your board is kind of saying you can do this and you can’t do that. You have to know your own kind of gray area and then, you have to know the consequences. So, make the decision for yourself.

The best way to do it is there’s also ghost stories that some provinces, I don’t know in Canada, but I know internationally there’s stories that you can’t do this and it’s just become a myth. And no one’s really check with the board. So, the first thing you want to do is you want to go directly to the source and get the sources answer, from there you have information to make your own decision.

Now, what do you do if you choose not to? And then one of those clients that’s going through some trauma wants to take that out on you. I’ve found generally that a negative review, amidst lots of positive reviews, allows you to be human and doesn’t sway a conversion of a new patient or client. Actually, with AI now, people can get fake reviews, which is totally gross and unethical. And if you have someone getting 250 five-star reviews, I would question that. Are there 250 people? Not one of them has had a negative or unsatisfactory experience. So, in therapy, you got to do your own work and know with a negative review, if you get one of those and you have 50 of the other, where are you going to put your attention? It’s a hard thing to be human and do, but we have to know.

So, the first thing, if you get a negative review, you can do is you read it and you ask where you can take accountability. What can I do about this in some provinces and in some areas in the United States, you’re not supposed to even respond to say, “Thank you for letting me know.” And so, figure out your choices there. I do know that there are attorneys that don’t say, apologize, because then you’re admitting guilt to whatever they’re saying. And so, I always think it’s nice to say, “I really hear you. Please contact us offline. So, we can learn more.” Now, if you’re allowed to respond by your board, that’s a totally appropriate response, according to me, you got to choose for you. And the last thing would be if you’re not responding, figure out an outlet. So, you’re not dragging it through your days of wondering why this one person like is mad at you.

Kayla: I love your point of view because I also think sometimes there’s– and this isn’t just with Google business profiles. This is what a lot of things because every regulatory body is usually province-to-province or state-to-state. As a result, we might be hearing from someone in a different province or in a different state who’s saying, “Yeah, my board says this,” and as a result, we take that as fact. And when in fact, our own standards of practice or our own ethics might be completely different. And even in mental health therapists, specifically, we have masters of counseling, we have social workers, we have psychologists. Obviously, other people who use the word therapist, recreation therapists, physiotherapists, acupunctural therapists. Like the word therapist is very broad. So also understanding that across profession to profession and province to province, different regulatory bodies are different. So, it’s really important to know your own because what might be very, very clear in one province and one profession, does not mean it’s very, very clear in the other profession or the other province.

And with that, as therapists, sometimes, we do have to work in the gray, right? If it’s not clear, if there isn’t a standard that says X, Y, and Z. It’s what you’ve mentioned, first of all, understanding the standards, understanding the risks, understanding the benefits, and then making a choice based on that. And beyond Google Reviews, this is something as business owners we have to do every day, is we’re kind of going through the gray.

So, really understanding your specific board. Because you can post into a Facebook group but someone might say, “You can’t do X, Y, and Z,” and that might be very, very true for them. But it might not be true for you depending on your profession, depending on your standards of practice, depending on your province. So, I love that you connected that.

Jason: Yeah, Kayla, the extra effort’s always worth it. So always go to the source. Like, if you get a negative review first, you probably want to go directly to your board, ask if you can respond and then you probably secondary phone calls to your malpractice. Make sure you’re getting support from a legal standpoint because you don’t want to step in something that you can’t step out of. And then the final thing is sometimes you might get a review that’s a bot and you never saw that patient or client. And there is a way to contact Google business profiles to let them know that that review was not given by a real person.

Additional Insights

Kayla: So, do you have any additional advice or insights for therapists and coaches who might be on the fence about getting a Google Business Profile?

Jason: Do it. Yeah, my advice is that it’s worth the weight in gold for the amount of time that it takes. My other advice is you don’t have to be tech savvy. They’ve made it pretty simple. And, the most affordable way is go to YouTube and watch videos and do it on your own.

I also offer support. So, if you need extra support, you can reach out to me. I believe my contact information will be in the show notes. But ultimately, I think you’ll be quite surprised by the amount of effort you put in for the amount that comes back to you for it.

Connecting with Jason

Kayla: Fabulous. So, do you provide support helping private practitioners with their Google business profiles?

Jason: I do. I do. I love doing it because I can look at their screen. I can teach them things. And I find that although you can go to YouTube, I’ve done hundreds of hours of education on Google business profiles. So, when I say going to the source. I am the source on that of knowing what’s going to be helpful, what you can do legally, what you can’t do legally. And although I don’t think there’s any discounts running right now when this airs live, if you say that you’ve heard this on Kayla’s podcast, I’ll make sure that you get a small discount on that service as well. So, reach out to me and ask for that.

As well, although I’m not a huge fan of IG, I am only able to provide this content on certain podcasts when I’m over a thousand. I think I’m at 960, by the time this airs, I’ll probably be over a thousand, but I’d love for you to follow me over @wellnessrenegades on Instagram.

Kayla: If you’d like to reach out to Jason, you can check out his website at kayladas.com/jasonsteinservice.

So that’s kayladas.com/jasonsteinservice.

I’ll also link to his website and Instagram down into the show notes. So please check it out there as well.

So, Jason, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today and sharing your expertise with Google Business Profiles so that listeners can confidently include this free marketing initiative as a part of their practice growth plan.

Jason: Thanks for having me, Kayla.

Kayla: Thank you everyone for tuning in to today’s episode and I hope you join me again soon on the Designer Practice Podcast.

Until next time, bye for now!

Credits & Disclaimers

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