Mike Capuzzi: Welcome back to another episode of The Author Factor Podcast. My guest today is Marilyn Jenkins, a digital marketing veteran with over 16 years of experience, and she's the founder of MJ Media Group and law Marketing Zone. Marilyn's expertise lies in leveraging paid advertising and SEO, particularly for optimizing Google Business profiles to propel business growth. In her recently published book, The Google Business Profile Training Guide, Marilyn studies the intricacies of local search domination by maximizing Google Business profiles. Marilyn, welcome to the show.

Marilyn Jenkins: Thank you so much. I'm excited to be here. Love your podcast.

Mike Capuzzi: Yeah, well, I appreciate it. And you were kind enough to have me as a guest on your show, which is how we connected. And then I just come to find out that you are living in Europe. So that's very cool and I appreciate you taking some time today to join me. So Marilyn, I just briefly touched on your background. Can you share a little bit more for our listeners about what you've done in the past and what you're doing today to serve clients?

Marilyn Jenkins: Absolutely. To make a long story short, I started out in the early two thousands, helping friends and business owners build websites for their businesses. Because that's when everybody just started, okay, I gotta need a website. So that was excellent. We were doing that. I was getting referrals, growing websites, and then of course it's like, well, how can I get more traffic? So now we have to, you know, so it grew. And I had the privilege of working with a lot of small businesses, some non profits, that sort of thing, and then doing some volunteer work. And it just grew.

Marilyn Jenkins: Okay, you want traffic, then what we need is we need SEO. And then Google Ads started and Facebook ads, so it kind of grew with that and helping small businesses grow. Google Business profile is the 8th iteration of Google places. So it's one of the things that some of the small businesses, and especially some nonprofits, were not able to pay to have their ads run. So they needed to figure out a better way of doing it. So what I did is I just realized a lot of people just aren't in that place. So I put together a book that walks you step by step from the claiming your Google business profile, verifying it to optimizing it, and then updating it. So you keep telling Google what searches you need to be found for.

Marilyn Jenkins: And that's been instrumental to help small businesses do that who aren't yet in a place to pay for paid ads.

Mike Capuzzi: Let me ask some clarifying questions because I'm interested. I don't know a lot about this. This is just for local. Is it just for local bricks and mortar businesses, Marilyn?

Marilyn Jenkins: Anybody can have one. Okay. The really, the big strength of it is a local business. So if you're like me and your audience is global, it's really not effective. Right. You need to have an address. So even if it's your garage, you know, you need to prove that that's. That if you choose not to list your address, that hurts you.

Marilyn Jenkins: Okay? So you want to have at least an address, even if it's a small storage spot that you can put your sign on and say that that's your. Your business. But for local businesses, it's super important because when you're a consumer, okay, say you're walking around town, you're looking for, I don't know, hardware store or a pizza place or a pet groomer. What are you going to do? You're going to get out your phone, you're going to look at it, right? Well, Google says between 50 and 80% of the people who search on Google for a location, click on the map pack. So when you look at the state of Google, the top are going to be paid ads. And then you have this really colorful map. There's three listings there. Years ago there were seven.

Marilyn Jenkins: There's three. If you're in a place where they have ads, it could be four. But most people click on those maps. That's what your Google Business profile is. So the more you tell Google, the more you qualify for, they will give you more ranking and it's not related to wholly the number of reviews that you have.

Mike Capuzzi: Yep, I was just doing that yesterday. My wife and I are going to be doing a little weekend away in the future. Right. So we know the area and you're right, we looked at the three. And so, yes, just yesterday. So I want to clarify, anybody, any business owner who's listening and that's, you know, we have tons of business owners listening to this who has a local brisk bricks and mortar typically, or, you know, at least can get an address. Absolutely. In your opinion.

Mike Capuzzi: Absolutely. Must set up a Google Business profile. Is that accurate?

Marilyn Jenkins: And it could be that. So think about it. If you're old enough to remember the yellow Pages, think about your Google Business profile as Google taking the yellow pages and bringing them all in and making a listing for you. So instead of paying for extra for bold or for bigger text or whatever, it's there. Okay. And then you can go to Google, look up your business, and if it's there, there's a link that has claimed this business. One drawback is your competition can do that if you haven't done it, and then they replace the phone number with their phone number. If you are a new business, you can actually create a Google Business profile by looking up your business and you'll have that option.

Marilyn Jenkins: But it's imperative for a small business. What's the number one website in the world? Google. Right. And they're giving you a free opportunity to tell them what kind of business you want.

Mike Capuzzi: Which was my next question. This is a free opportunity at least to set it up, I'm sure, and do all that, right. Okay.

Marilyn Jenkins: Everything is free. There's a big management portal, there's insights to see what you're showing up for. You know, it's a very easy to use program. We do it as a done for you service for our clients who don't have time to do it, including writing articles each month. We give them more information. We give them content every week to tell them more of who is your ideal client.

Mike Capuzzi: Okay, so this is interesting because I'm doing something similar, but like you, I'm a worldwide, I have a worldwide presence and I know they have with the knowledge panel or, you know, whatever it is for people like yourself and myself that don't have a specific place of business. So I will probably segue to your book now because I'd like to dive in a little deeper and understand some strategies. So you say there's three. The top three are shown. I know there's more beneath that. So now I'm guessing. But your book is probably telling readers how you can get bumped up in that search rank. Is that correct?

Marilyn Jenkins: Exactly. Exactly. First off, people think, oh, I have to have ten or 15 or 20 more reviews, more than my nearest competition. And that's not true. You need to have your actual name of your business being the legal name of your business. Don't add keywords. Don't add city. Like, you can see Mike's plumbing, my city plumbing, sewer, blah, blah, blah.

Marilyn Jenkins: That's not the official name of your business unless it actually is. But that needs to be the legal name of your business. And then your address and your phone number, those need to be consistent. Then from there you can add, it's like social media. You can add photos, you can add videos, you can add services and products. So I suggest doing a little something every single week, right? If you don't have at least ten reviews, I would get out there and start talking to your service providers. People you do business with reviews don't have to be your customers. They have to be reviews of you.

Marilyn Jenkins: So character reviews work. Okay. So get it up above ten reviews. Make sure they're real, don't pay for them. Okay. But you want to fill out everything you can possibly fill out in your Google Business profile and then once a week, spend ten minutes to go in and update something. Reply to a review, add a new photo, add an FAQ. There's a questions and answers section.

Marilyn Jenkins: Every business I know of has at least three, if not ten questions that every customer asks.

Mike Capuzzi: So this is a living, breathing is your advice, Marilyn, it's not a set and forget kind of thing.

Marilyn Jenkins: Correct? Absolutely correct. Remember Google? Because Google is a number one search engine, visitor engagement is important to them and so you are engaging and you're also showing that you care about the visitor. So the more you care, the more they're going to give you traction. And the only way they're going to stay number one is to keep giving good user experience by people that have good information and are continually adding data.

Mike Capuzzi: That's very interesting. So this is, I mean, I talk to a lot of local business owners. I'm not so sure they're doing this. Or maybe they set it up once. And is that your, what is your, I mean, you've been doing this for a long time. Is that your experience? I mean, do most business owner not know about this?

Marilyn Jenkins: Or most business owners think it's just a place from Google, my business, that was the previous name for it to store reviews. That's the only use for it. Go review me on Google. It doesn't help you. I mean, it doesn't hurt. If someone googles you, they're going to just find you and your reviews. That's great. But you've got the power of Google and all the traffic around you and you're not taking advantage of it.

Mike Capuzzi: So this is quite interesting because again, I'm doing a lot of in depth study for my own business on SEO and all that. So a very parallel track, a couple quick questions, because again, I was telling you, I was looking for, well, my wife and I were looking for a place to stay and I did exactly what you said. The map, I know where it's near a lake, et cetera. So I'm like, oh, that's close to the lake. And what I found was interesting and it brings up whatever you describe shows the business, the profile page. What annoyed me with that one particular business, Marilyn, was they didn't have a website link. That's how I typically do it. I'll click on a button, I'll see it now I want to go to their website.

Mike Capuzzi: Is that, I mean, first of all, I can't imagine a business having a website in 2024. I guess that happens.

Marilyn Jenkins: But I know there's several really important buttons right there. There's directions. And all of those buttons are linked to the insights in the back in your management portal. So you can see how people are using your Google Business profile. You've got directions, you've got website, you've got call and you've got chat. If you're not taking advantage of all of those, you're missing the boat. But website is the biggie. I agree.

Marilyn Jenkins: If I do a search and someone doesn't and they have a great Google Business profile but no website, I'm like, you're leaving so much money on the table because I'm not going to go there.

Mike Capuzzi: Yep. Yep. Well, okay, so I wasn't, I was. I'm not crazy.

Marilyn Jenkins: Nope.

Mike Capuzzi: So again, if we don't, I like to focus on this because again, your book, I'm sure, details everything we're talking about. Correct?

Marilyn Jenkins: Right.

Mike Capuzzi: So it sounds like it's really a must have kind of book for any local business owner, whether they're doing it or someone on their team's doing it or whatever. Another question related to this. If you're in a competitive type of business. So I deal. One of my businesses separate business is independent. Local mattress stores, local bricks, and mortar. There seems to be a mattress store in every. Now, a lot of those are big corporate ones, but we focus on independent mattress stores.

Mike Capuzzi: But there's a lot of competition. So if someone's typing in mattress store, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for example, they show the top three. There's a bunch below. How hard is it, Marilyn, in your opinion, to get that ranking up for a competitive space?

Marilyn Jenkins: If your biggest competitor is a corporate store, probably quite easy because you know, they're not updating it. They're not updating it on a regular basis because the corporates don't. I mean if it's a franchise, maybe, right? But if it's corporate, they go out, they take them, they claim them, they verify them, and they just don't go back to them. It's like, okay, check mark, this really.

Mike Capuzzi: Is almost like a shortcut or a backdoor into having to forego organic paid search. Right.

Marilyn Jenkins: Well, and over time, we've shown that your Google business profile can have a four x higher ROI than paid ads.

Mike Capuzzi: Why is that?

Marilyn Jenkins: Because the more you add to your Google Business profile, the more you're telling Google what types of searches you want to be found for. So you're constantly feeding the business without paying for it because you're giving them exactly what they want. They want data, they want engagement, and they want a good user experience. So here you've got corporate mattress store that's doing and going out of business sale every three months. And then you've got the guy that's working, you know, and he's doing it. He's got his sales, but he's, he, or she. And they're just, they're building their business and they're, they're there every day, every night. All they have to do is keep being consistent.

Marilyn Jenkins: They will get past the corporate. I would do a really focus on your, your reviews and make reviews an absolute part of your business. Not just once in a while going, oh, yeah, Mike, can you, can you give me a review? No. It needs to be an absolute part of your business, whether it's a QR code on your checkout, on your menu, on that little wallet that you give your bill to your customers. Make it easy for people to give you a review.

Mike Capuzzi: Okay, very interesting. Is there anything else, Marilyn, relative to your book and any little nugget or anything you want to share to our listeners? Now, you also have another business where you just focus on with lawyers, correct?

Marilyn Jenkins: That's right.

Mike Capuzzi: Are you doing the same types of services but niche focused?

Marilyn Jenkins: Yes. And those we can get very, very specific. So when it comes to inside your Google business profile, you have a services tab and a products tab. They call it products and services. So you choose what you want. And we get really, really granular and specific with our attorneys would be no different than a bakery or a pizza place or taco place. Right. You've got a service or a product.

Marilyn Jenkins: You put photos up, you put specials that are going on. Think of those as blogs. Right. You also have posts which we use articles and put in there that are keyword rich. And you just telling Google with everything you put up there. This is the kind of stuff I do. Please send me traffic when they search for this. The one off Google thing that I would suggest is any local directory, whether it's your chamber of commerce, your rotary, any non profs, any.

Marilyn Jenkins: If you do any sponsoring of local schools or teams or any of that, ask for a link back to your website that tells Google that you're also more active. So citations are hugely important. We do massive numbers of citations to each of our pieces of content that we do for our clients. And that helps rank really fast.

Mike Capuzzi: So this book is relatively new, correct?

Marilyn Jenkins: Yes. Just the end of last year. Yeah. And there's not been any huge development. What seems to change is every couple of years, lots of new features.

Mike Capuzzi: How do you, just out of curiosity, with a book like this and, you know, things are gonna change. I haven't seen the books. I don't know if there's screenshots and stuff like that.

Marilyn Jenkins: There's a lot of images in it to help walk you through everything.

Mike Capuzzi: So it's just a matter. You're gonna just. This is gonna be version one, version two, or whatever?

Marilyn Jenkins: Yes.

Mike Capuzzi: It's gonna have to be, I guess.

Marilyn Jenkins: Yeah. I mean, especially they keep changing the name of it, you know, like it was Google my business, Google business. So at least they're making it easy if, you know, it's a big update if the name changes. But it took about two years for anybody to realize Google my business is now Google Business profile.

Mike Capuzzi: This is not your first book. I think it's like your 6th book if I recall.

Marilyn Jenkins: Yes, I've written quite a few. I'm working on two more right now. Are you okay?

Mike Capuzzi: So I love talking to multi book authors. You know, it's always love to inspire that first book for listeners, but, you know, there's always typically a second and third book. Just out of curiosity, your other books, if you don't mind, just real quick, were they similar, like digital marketing, online marketing?

Marilyn Jenkins: They were all nonfiction, but a lot of them were marketing. Yeah, exactly.

Mike Capuzzi: You're a marketer, you're an online expert. You're a multi book author. Marilyn, how do you promote your books? I know your books are on Amazon. What are you doing to get, like, when you launch this book, are you doing anything that's unique or different or worth sharing with my audience about? Obviously, your podcast guesting, but how do you get the word out about your books?

Marilyn Jenkins: Well, and that's interesting. I do a lot of social media as well, and that's where we do. You know, I've tested the TikTok thing, but basically getting it out on social media, and I put together a website that gives away a lot of free. It's a PDF download. It's not the print book. You need to go to Amazon for the print book, but I also include a checklist to get you started if you don't have time to sit down and read the book, a mind map, so you can kind of get a grasp of where we're going, the actual book itself and the audiobook, which a lot of people, if you're like me, I podcast while I'm walking. Right. I listen to podcasts, and audiobooks just work really well for me.

Marilyn Jenkins: So, yeah, I mean, I just share it in the groups that I'm in. I post about it on my social feeds. And, of course, podcast guesting has been extremely helpful for that. I mean, my mission is to help small businesses get more traffic and grow. And this is a free resource. Google Business profile is a free resource. You just need to know how to take advantage of. It's a no brainer.

Mike Capuzzi: Yeah, it's a no brainer. So, yeah, that's what I'm saying. I think any local business owner should have your book, and, you know, why wouldn't you do this? So again, I. Multiple books, some more books coming. I always like to ask this question. Is there something you've learned? Whether it's in the content creation phase, the publishing phase, the promotion, and marketing phase? Marilyn, that's been a, you know, maybe you're not doing it anymore, but maybe it was something, a mistake, a speed bump you encountered early on that you'd want to warn maybe a first time author about.

Marilyn Jenkins: I would say, don't stress over the formatting while you're working on the content. We, as idea people, are entrepreneurs. We're seeing the vision of the book that we want to put together. But this little niggly thing happens back here and says, oh, did you, do you have the margin set? Right. Anything to interrupt you for procrastination, you know, and so, I mean, that's the biggest thing. And the thing that I try to do is I never put on my to do list work on book. It's like, you know, it's like this gray cloud. It's a big project.

Marilyn Jenkins: So I say work on one chapter, so do one thing. And I think one of the things that's worked for me is when I'm doing nonfiction now, with the Google Business profile training guide, you had to go front to back, right? You know, start to finish. But I've done other marketing books where it's like, I can do a chapter on this thing, and then I put it in order. So if right now I'm really feeling like, you know, I really want to talk about this particular part of marketing. Pardon me. I can write that section of the book and then title the file and leave it sitting. Okay. That content's ready, and then you can put it together.

Marilyn Jenkins: That's the beauty of non fiction books. You don't have to do it in order. It's not a novel.

Mike Capuzzi: So, Marilyn, you're on the author Factor podcast. And the author factor is about that, you know, that, that special thing that happens via the impact of your book on readers, on yourself, on your business, on your community, whatever it might be, in your own words. I'd love to hear what the author factor means to you and the impact of being a published book author.

Marilyn Jenkins: I think it's when someone tells you they got your book, they got something out of it. It's, you know, again, my mission is to help businesses grow using tools online. That makes it easy. And when someone reaches out and says, you were spot on, I'm glad I did that. I got your book, that really is the, the epitome of putting out nonfiction content that people can use.

Mike Capuzzi: Yeah, I agree 100%. It's very cool when that happens, so. Well, Marilyn, this has been awesome. I really do appreciate what you've shared. There's a lot of nuggets that you shared. So I hope our local business owner listeners go grab your book and start implementing what you're suggesting. How can our listeners learn more about both of your businesses? Your, you know, law practice, if there's a lawyer listening, an attorney, or if they're just a local business owner.

Marilyn Jenkins: Well, if you, if you want the book, you can go to maximizeyourgbp.com and get the book and all the, all the extras. If you want to talk about your Google Business profile and how I can help you with that, even if you're not an attorney, you can go to law marketing zone and you can book 15 minutes with me and we can answer questions, chat about what's going on and how to move forward.

Mike Capuzzi: Very good. Marilyn, thank you very much. I appreciate your time today.

Marilyn Jenkins: Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure.