Local grocery entrepreneur gets online help

Jodie Tyrrell, owner of a newly launched local business, contacted Ronan Harris, Google’s vice-president for UK and Ireland, after hearing him on the radio discussing the company’s support for local businesses. Local.shopping connects local grocery providers with the community, and Jodie wanted to know how to get the business to appear in local Search results.

She was introduced to a Google Digital Garage trainer, who provided a few hours of one-to-one mentoring. With their help she focused on her core audience, reconfiguring her social media activity and print ads to attract them specifically. One of the sessions focused on how her business could be more visible. A key breakthrough was the use of Google My Business, a free tool that allowed Jodie to create a profile for her business – displaying hours, contact information and reviews, allowing customers to easily connect with her services. She was amazed to learn what tools were available to her. “The support that Google provides for a local business is immense,” she says. The team also suggested Jodie make the most of another free offering from Google, directing her to live online webinars on a range of topics. After joining the ‘Get Your Business Visible on Google’ webinar Jodie could see that making certain changes to her website would improve her ability to be found, and she was quick to implement them. The outcome was that if you searched online for “shopping services Cheadle” local.shopping was the third result. Jodie is now feeling confident about growing her business, and has more mentoring scheduled with the team. “I’ve been blown away by the support I’ve received,” she says. “I’d wholeheartedly recommend these services to any local business wanting to grow and have a meaningful online presence.” If you’re a local business like Jodie and looking for advice around how to grow, then why not sign up for an online oneto-one mentoring session today?