Update your Address or be prepared to lose Business

Nov 22 / 2019

This kind of behaviour is all the more prevalent since 2010s, thanks to the proliferation of smartphones. Showing a wrong address on Google Maps or the company website leads to lost revenue as now, qualified prospects are being directed to the wrong address. Such prospects, who are now annoyed by the loss of time and effort, tune off from the company leading to loss of business.

• Missed opportunities: Local citations or local business directories are very important for a company’s visibility when its Marketing efforts are otherwise muted. Websites like JustDial and AskLaila in India and domain-specific business directories in other parts of the world bring warm leads to a company. Such websites often carry comments or reviews from users. In such a scenario, negative remarks about the wrong address can hurt your business.
• Inconsistent NAP: NAP, which stands for Name-Address-Phone are used by search engines as identifiers for a company. These 3 parameters must be constantly updated and stay consistent across various online channels, in order for search engines to return your company’s name in organic search results. When the NAP is inconsistent or there are user comments about inconsistent NAP, search engines automatically skip those companies and do not shown them in organic search-pages. In short, an inconsistent NAP negates all your SEO, SEM and SMM efforts.
• Poor Image: Prospective employees, vendors, partners, customers and Media/PR companies constantly seek out a company for obvious reasons. When the address on the website does not match the physical one, it creates a poor image of the company as being disorganized, indifferent to business, and plain dull. This can hurt your business over time.
• Risk of litigation: Businesses such as Hospitals, Clinics and any organization that caters to a life-or-death emergency must update their address ASAP. Else, they leave the door open for litigation from aggrieved parties who were affected by the wrong information.
• Statutory non-compliance: In most countries of the world including India, there are various municipal and statutory bodies who maintain basic information about your company, including the address. Not updating the address in time can be seen as an act of non-compliance or wilful default and invite costly penalties.

Bottom Line

The risks of not updating your address on online channels can amount to a very large sum, depending on the extent of delay and nature of business. In contrast, updating your address takes very little time, effort and expense. So don’t be penny-wise and pound-foolish. Update your address ASAP and stay on the positive side of business. Always!