With a statewide shelter in place order in effect in Michigan, small businesses in Michigan are being forced to pivot or seek emergency/disaster funding to survive.
In support of the University of Michigan's Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project, the Center on Finance, Law & Policy will be releasing a series of resources to help business owners. The first resource was released today, which is simply a guide to help businesses update their listings on Google.
The idea for the resource came from RA Malika Begum (Ford School of Public Policy MPP), who observed that people are using Google to determine which businesses are still open to provide essential services. Together with RA Julia Lauer (School of Information), they created this easy-to-use step-by-step guide.
Why should businesses update their business listings?
Doing this will ensure that both current and future customers have up-to-date, real-time information for changes that may arise due to COVID-19. Even if you don’t have a physical store/location (i.e., you operate online exclusively), a Google business listing verifies your existence and instills a sense of trust in your customers. If you don't have a physical address, you can simply opt out of listing an address in your Google business listing.
Use this document as a guide to quickly and easily update addresses, business hours, menus, websites, and telephone numbers so you don’t miss out on business you need right now. Not only does this information help new and potential customers find you, but it also provides them with high-quality reviews which will increase business visibility and increase the likelihood that they will visit you.
The Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project will post all new resources -- including upcoming 1 page summaries of emergency funding for micro-enterprises in the Detroit area -- on the UMaccountinghelp.com website and on the website for the Center on Finance, Law & Policy. To learn about these as they come out, follow the CFLP on Twitter @MichiganCFLP.