How to Increase Bookings with Google Posts [Free Google Post Templates]

If you’re a location-based business and have a Google My Business page, you’ve probably heard of Google Posts, a feature that allows you to post updates to your profile that will appear in Maps and Search results. If you’re not already using Google Posts, it’s a fantastic way to drive more foot traffic to your location, advertise deals & specials and generally raise the visibility of your business. We wrote another blog about how to use Google Posts and recommend that you check it out. This article focuses more on using Google Posts to drive traffic to appointment booking pages, an important goal of any kind of business that takes appointments.

While Google is slowly rolling out booking features that integrate directly with the Google My Business profile, the providers they’ve opened up to mainly focus on the fitness, wellness and beauty industries. For the rest of us, the option for directing customers to a booking link isn’t quite as attention-grabbing.

Luckily, using Google Posts to drive traffic to your booking page is a great workaround for dental marketing, doctors, accounting firms, lawyers and anyone else whose business depends on delivering services at appointments. The process of getting more clicks to your booking page with Posts is pretty straightforward: just regularly make Google Posts that mention your online booking page and link a button in the post to your appointment booking URL.

Use our free Google Posts templates to increase bookings

Free Google Posts Templates can be edited in Adobe Illustrator or uploaded as images directly to the post

While Google Posts can be solely text-based, we’ve found that increasing an image with your Post can increase click-through and gain more attention. After all, a Google Post takes up a considerable amount of digital real estate on your profile. We’ve also found that including an image that looks like a button can perform even better, letting a potential customer know that they can click on the post to start the process of booking an appointment.

However, creating images for Google Posts can be a bit of a pain in the neck—Google crops the post image differently depending on the device it’s being viewed on, so an image will display differently on a phone than it will on a desktop computer. This can be frustrating if you’re including text in your image. To help local businesses use Google Posts to get more appointment bookings, we created an image pack of free Google Post templates, which you can download on our website. We’ve designed several variations of the buttons that are made to grab attention and look good on all screen sizes. The image pack contains 15 Google Post templates that you can use to add a booking button to your Google Business profile. We’ve even included an editable Adobe Illustrator file in case you need to change the text that displays on the image. We’d love to have you use them and share them with friends!

Download Free Google Posts Templates

How to Create A Google Post

In case you haven’t used Google Posts before, here’s a quick rundown of how you can use our templates or images of your own to increase bookings with Google Posts.

First, you’ll want to log into your Google My Business dashboard at business.google.com. Once you’re logged in, navigate over to the Posts tab on the left-hand sidebar.

Where to create a Google Post in your Google my Business profile

Click on the “Write a Post” option that appears at the top of the page. When the post composition box appears, click on the option to “make your post stand out with a photo or video” and upload an image. If you’re using our pre-made posts, they’ll be sized correctly, but if you’re not, upload an image at 600×400 pixels. While there’s no hard and fast rule on image size for Posts, we’ve found this size works best.

Write the text of your Google Post in the text section below the image. You can create a Post as long as 300 words, but we recommend keeping your post short and sweet and making your point quickly. Google truncates text in Posts automatically at 50 characters on desktop and xxx on mobile.

Adding a button to your Post is important to help visitors land on your booking page. Google allows several different button options for Posts including:

  • Book
  • Order online
  • Buy
  • Learn more
  • Sign up
  • Get offer

If you’re using your Post to encourage appointment bookings, we recommend using the Book option. Once you’ve selected it, a field appears for you to add a URL to. Make sure you fill out this field with your correct booking page URL. If you don’t have a booking portal, directing visitors to a form that allows them to book an appointment is fine as long as the text on the page specifically mentions that the form should be used to book an appointment.

Finally, click the Publish button in the top left corner and watch your Post go live on your Google Business profile!

Use Google Posts Frequently

If you’re using the “What’s New” option when composing your Post, your message will expire in 7 days, so it’s important to keep re-posting your booking link each week in order to make sure it’s always on your profile. Before a Post expires, Google will send a reminder email to the person who’s designated as the manager on your Google Business listing, but it can help to set a reminder on your calendar as well.

To keep the images you use fresh, try cycling through the images in our Posts template pack to find the image type that works most effectively for you.

Don’t neglect the appointment URL on your profile

Even though it’s not as flashy as a Google Post, don’t forget to add your appointment booking URL to the info section of your profile too. Appointment URLs can gain a lot of click through, so it’s important to ensure this information is on your profile. Set it up by navigating to the Info section in your Google My Business account. The option to add an appointment URL appears just below the place you’ve added your website URL.

Spread the Love

If you use our Google Posts templates and find that they make your life easier, please continue to enjoy them and share them with your social network!

Download Free Google Posts Templates

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