Do you need a physical location for your Google My Business listing, or can you use a virtual office space?

This is a ques­tion I hear all the time as a mar­ket­ing con­sul­tant for home improve­ment con­trac­tors, and it’s a good one! The stakes are even high­er if you’re expand­ing your ter­ri­to­ry and want to have a local­ized Google My Busi­ness list­ing in your new ser­vice area. 

So, is it worth the cost to have a phys­i­cal loca­tion, or is a vir­tu­al space suf­fi­cient? Will you be penal­ized by Google and hurt your over­all SEO?

The short answer is that I do think it’s worth­while to invest in a phys­i­cal office space over a cost-effec­tive vir­tu­al office. In fact, hav­ing the space can pos­i­tive­ly impact your busi­ness and help improve your local SEO and Google Busi­ness search results. 

Let’s take a clos­er look at why.

5 rea­sons why get­ting a phys­i­cal office space is worthwhile

1. Cred­i­bil­i­ty
Hav­ing a phys­i­cal loca­tion helps estab­lish your busi­ness as both cred­i­ble and trust­wor­thy, espe­cial­ly in an indus­try where you need to show that you’re not a fly-by-night oper­a­tion. It also gives poten­tial cus­tomers a place to vis­it if they have ques­tions or con­cerns, and pro­vides assur­ance that you’re a legit­i­mate busi­ness. A vir­tu­al office, on the oth­er hand, may not fos­ter the same lev­el of cred­i­bil­i­ty, while also mak­ing it more dif­fi­cult for cus­tomers to find and con­tact you. You’d be sur­prised by how many peo­ple are doing a lit­tle bit of home­work these days and gath­er­ing info about your com­pa­ny before they call.

2. Increased Vis­i­bil­i­ty
A phys­i­cal loca­tion pro­vides an oppor­tu­ni­ty for your busi­ness to be more vis­i­ble to poten­tial cus­tomers. With a brick and mor­tar loca­tion, you can use signs, win­dow dis­plays, and oth­er adver­tis­ing meth­ods to attract cus­tomers and increase brand aware­ness. A vir­tu­al office, on the oth­er hand, def­i­nite­ly doesn’t strength­en your local presence.

3. Bet­ter Local SEO
Hav­ing a phys­i­cal loca­tion is an impor­tant fac­tor in local search engine opti­miza­tion too (that all-impor­tant SEO). Google and oth­er search engines give pri­or­i­ty to busi­ness­es that have a phys­i­cal loca­tion in their search results, espe­cial­ly when peo­ple are search­ing for ser­vices in a spe­cif­ic area. In turn, a phys­i­cal loca­tion makes it eas­i­er for your busi­ness to show up in local search results, which can help dri­ve more traf­fic to your web­site and increase your cus­tomer base. I have per­son­al­ly test­ed this the­o­ry out many times.

4. Improved Cus­tomer Expe­ri­ence
A phys­i­cal loca­tion pro­vides a more per­son­al­ized and immer­sive cus­tomer expe­ri­ence. Cus­tomers can sched­ule a vis­it with a sales asso­ciate to view prod­ucts and ser­vices, stop by and say hi, or pay a bill in per­son! This can help build trust and increase the like­li­hood of them choos­ing your busi­ness for their home improve­ment needs. 

5. Get­ting Reviews and a Bet­ter ROI
While a vir­tu­al office may seem like a more cost-effec­tive option, hav­ing a phys­i­cal loca­tion can pro­vide a bet­ter return on invest­ment in the long run. If you begin to treat each loca­tion as unique (pic­tures, reviews, product/​service updates, chat, hours of oper­a­tion, etc.) I 100% guar­an­tee that the ROI will great­ly increase. You will begin to see more local search results and con­ver­sions in your market. 

A final takeaway…

“But the cost is prohibitive…”

This is by far the most com­mon con­cern and push­back I hear when I encour­age clients to find a brick and mor­tar solu­tion. And hon­est­ly, I get it!

But this is where you can get cre­ative. I know the real estate mar­ket varies tremen­dous­ly around the U.S., mak­ing it a chal­lenge to find a rental for a good rate, but it’s all part of your busi­ness plan and strat­e­gy. If you are try­ing to open up a mar­ket, let’s say in a metro area like Los Ange­les, NYC, Hous­ton — you will have to con­sid­er what you will charge for your ser­vices in each mar­ket. You will prob­a­bly find that you will have to adjust your mar­ket­ing dol­lars and sales price a bit as well!

Don’t let the price stop you. If you want to be known in a tar­get­ed area, get a brick and mor­tar place. It does not have to be large. It just needs to be good enough for some­one to be able to dri­ve by and vis­it you-maybe that’s only 100 sq ft!

Have more ques­tions about con­trac­tor marketing?

I spe­cial­ize in help­ing con­trac­tors find cre­ative mar­ket­ing solu­tions, devel­op clear plans, and then run them as the mar­ket­ing quar­ter­back. And I love talk­ing shop! Feel free to con­tact me for a con­sul­ta­tion, if you’d like, or just to drop a more spe­cif­ic question.