I'm not joking. Google said that here.

Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings, allege a "special relationship" with Google, or advertise a "priority submit" to Google. There is no priority submit for Google. In fact, the only way to submit a site to Google directly is through our Add URL page or by submitting a Sitemap and you can do this yourself at no cost whatsoever.

It is possible to position your business ahead your competitor, but involves a few things.
Read this tips from Google to improve your position.

Also, I would advise you to unpublish your Google My Business website if you added your Business Professional Website in your My Business Page.
By the way, your business must be verified. It takes time for verified listings to move up in search results because the listing needs to gain a web presence. The business will show up when you search for the business name and city, that's usually obvious but most of the clients wants to appear ahead for a few locations and expressions, and tha's why as the page gains a larger web presence, it will show up for more keyword searches.
Local results are based primarily on relevance, distance and prominence. Also Google will show different search results for different users based on their location and serach preferences so you can't always trust what comes up on your screen.

A few ways to help improve your ranking in local search results:

Get reviews for your business: Share this link with your customers, so that they can leave reviews for the business.
Add images: Post images on your listing to show potential customers what your business has to offer. Learn how to add local business photos.
Google have and amazing Team that will answer any question you enquire here: googlemybusiness-support@google.com

Reason #1 – Online brochure
Companies spend millions creating brochures and distributing them. By having a website you can skip that entirely. Your potential customers can find out about you and any of your products online. If you get most of your business through networking and personal connections, then they will want to check out your website.

Reason #2 – More customers
More than 2.4 billion people use the internet every day, and some 90% of those have purchased something, or contacted a company, online in the last 12 months. So by not having a website, you will be missing out on a big piece of the pie.

Reason #3 – Business value
Have you tried getting a business loan recently? It's not easy, but if you try and the bank manager asks to see your website, you better have a pretty good one. It doesn't just stop with the bank, the perceived value of your business will be lower in everyone's eyes – especially your customers.

Reason #4 – Influence
By having a website potentially thousands of people are going to see it. You are able to influence people's decisions and educate them.

Reason #5 – Time to show off
You know that great feeling you get when people recognize your work? Well, by having a website you can show off what you do and take pride in your work.

Reason #6 – Helps with business goals
That's right! When it comes to writing the content for your website you are going to revisit things about your business that you haven't in years. You will most likely reassess your business goals.

Reason #7 – Low barriers of entry
Ever wanted to start a business? Well, now you can do it with virtual space. In fact, by using some free website providers you don't have to pay a penny.

Reason #8 – 24 hours per day
Your website runs 24/7 without any supervision or need to lock it up. You can always be there for your customers.

Reason #9 – Communication with customers
By having a blog or even just a feed on your website, you can update customers on your newest offers, products, promotions, events, photos, or any other content.

Reason #10 – Marketing
The internet has opened up a whole new world of marketing that didn't exist before. Your website can attract new business by using a whole host of low cost marketing techniques.

Reason #11 – Customer support
You can greatly reduce the cost of customer support by have a ticketing system, or even just an FAQ on your website. I can think of about 5 companies off the top of my head that streamline your customer service straight from your website.

Reason #12 – Email@mywebsite.com
I know there are other ways to do this, but by having a website you can have your own email address@whateveryouwant.com. It is more professional and easier to remember. I know you love your actual_whatever@gmail.com , but it doesn't really resonate with customers.

Reason #13 – Press releases
I know that sounds a bit far out, but it is true. You can run really cheap press releases online about your business, but to do it you will require a website. In fact, I have had clients who were absolute nobodies get one million views on YouTube because of online press releases.

Reason #14 – Stick it to the man
The best answer to "Why do I need a website?" would be that you can stick it to the man. It is the easiest way to quit your job and earn a living.

Reason #15 – Any topic or hobby will do
Do you love sports? How about ballet, alternative dance, photography, holidays, Kit-Kats, cars, skateboards, science or animals? Well, then you have a business idea just waiting to happen. The internet has room for an unlimited number of niche blogs that can attract traffic and revenue. Just pick something you love and start writing about it.

Reason# 16 – Connect with fellow web masters
On a little side note, if you own a website you get to call yourself a 'web master'. Pretty cool! But reason #16 for 'why I need a website' is that you can easily make new business and personal connections with other website owners. This can lead to extra streams of income for you!

Reason #17 – Gives you a voice
Have you ever been in an argument with someone and said "Well, I have written an article about that on my website, and actually, that isn't the case." It feels great! For some reason people don't want to argue with you if you've written about something on your website. It also gives you a place where you can voice your opinion without judgment. If someone leaves you a comment you don't like you can just drag it over to the spam folder.

Reason #18 – Do business your own way
You don't need permission from your boss or company lawyer. Ash Ambridge drops the 'F-Bomb' all the time because she can, and no else is asking her to stop. Now she has a world class business with thousands of customers.

Reason #19 – Beat the big guys
Have you ever wanted to get into business, but don't know how to compete with all the big names out there? By creating an incredibly beautiful website with a solid strategy behind it you can smash the big guys to pieces. You have no chance of building bigger skyscrapers, but your website can break down the perceived wall between you and them.

Reason #20 – Instant credibility
Have you ever had difficulty making that sale? Or convincing someone that you are the real deal. By having a well structured website you can foster instant credibility with anyone. You can provide the ultimate proof that you are, in fact, the realest of all deals (couldn't resist that phrase).

Reason #21 – Helps you to find a new job
I bet you didn't see this one coming. I have been harping on about how a website can help your business, but it can help you personally too. Not only can a website host your resume or CV, but by owning and managing your website you have demonstrated tons of hard and soft skills. Having worked in HR once upon a time, I know it is valuable.

So... why do I need a website?
Can you think of a couple of reasons why you shouldn't? It wouldn't be a balanced argument if you don't.

Source: bigmouthmarketing.co

Control – As a sole trader I maintain full control of my projects. You will contact directly with one person, and that's me :)

Data Exchange – Information is shared through one channel so there is no risk of alteration or data loss.

Specialist – I'm specialist in web design, graphic design, database management and SEO. As web designer I can offer a wide range of services, including writing, designing, editing, proofing, site maintenance, consulting, installing website updates, configuring scripts, migrating servers and fixing bugs.

Personal – Because there is no need to confer with other decision makers, sole traders can make decisions quickly and act on them swiftly, providing for the needs of their customers.

Custom Solutions – As I work personally for my clients I have the chance to manage the timeframe to optimize results, organize meetings according to their needs and offer them a wide-range of possibilities out of the box.

Never fear, that's why we are here. The timeframe usually includes:

Meet
We start with a brief 15-30 minute phone call to get to know you, your project and to see how many levels of compatibility we have. From there we'll schedule a formal exploration meeting where we'll meet at one of our offices, or yours. We'll scope out your project, discuss design direction, and clarify your goals. After that meeting we'll provide a detailed proposal and project timeline, and hopefully get started shortly thereafter.

Planning
Planning is crucial, and our kick off meeting ensures our mission gets started on the right track. This meeting is done in person so we can clearly communicate all plans. We can host you in our Mission Control (that's our office), or travel to your home base. We explore top-level objectives, review our process, dig into the nitty gritty, and start practical planning. Prior to this meeting, we'll pass an agenda your way with an agreed upon course of action for keeping our time together highly productive. You will leave the meeting with a clearly defined list of initial homework and mission plans. Your project manager will also flesh out the project milestones and launch date. We will now move along into the asset collection stage.

Content
Creating, organizing, and collecting your website's assets is a vital part of the process. Your assets consist of text, photos, videos, graphics, testimonials, charts, and graphs; anything that you want to present to the world on your website that delivers the information and experience you want your audience to have. Our on-staff content specialist will be brought on to assist with a sitemap, content strategy, copy writing, asset organization, and to help guide the collection and organization process as we move along into content input.

Design
During the design phase, we take your sitemap, assets, sketches, and answers to our design questionnaire and turn our design team loose! You will be presented with multiple design concepts and directions to review as the concepts take shape, and your feedback will help guide the process. The design phase is totally organic and exciting: Prepare to be amazed! After receiving the 35% production payment, we will enter the exciting stage of programming your site.

Develop
After the design is approved, we move into programming your website and implementing all of your website's functionality (CMS, blog, photo gallery, shopping cart, etc.) You will receive a *private link* during the programming stage that will allow you to monitor the progress and watch as it all comes together. We are moments away from lift off into the Site Launch stage!

Launch
Any diligent pilot will perform one final "flight check" before takeoff. Now that your website has been thoroughly reviewed and prepped for launch, we make any last minute, pre-launch updates necessary and move your site into the final launch phase. BLAST OFF! Just like it sounds, your website is launched into orbit and is "live" for all the world to experience and enjoy.

That's easy! 20 years.

The cost of a website can vary depending on various factors, just like the cost of a car may vary. Though our website projects generally start in the $1,500 range for basic business sites and range upward depending on your unique needs.

The project starts with a 50% deposit. After design sign off and before we move into programming, we collect 25%. Once we have completed and fulfilled our scope, the final 25% is collected and your website is then scheduled for launch.

Our standard websites take approximately 120 days to create. Our E-commerce (online store) websites take approximately 160 days to create. This time will vary from project to project. Some ASAP projects are ready in 2 weeks if the client has a CLEAR IDEA, TIME and ALL THE CONTENT organize.

We work with a broad range of company types [small start-ups, large corporations, nonprofits, B2B, B2C and more] across many business industries [technology, food, apparel, health + beauty, camps, travel, finance, arts, fair trade, and more.]

Over the years, we've helped businesses improve customer service, market their products, and attract customers. Functionality requests range from basic to advanced. Our team takes the time to get to know your industry, organization, and competitors to ensure your site supports all of your goals.

This is a great question to ask and you should ask it of any web design and development firm you are considering. Many firms will farm out work to freelancers or interns. Some firms give little or no access to client's who want to speak directly with their designers or developers. Our clients work directly with 1 person and it's ME. Isn't it nice?

We build most of our websites on the open-source Content Management System (CMS) platform called WORDPRESS. But not always, some projects are done with pure php, HTML5, CSS3 and mySql databases.

WordPress is, by far, the most popular open source Content Management System (CMS), used by approximately 75 million websites. WordPress is free to install, deploy, and upgrade. Thousands of plugins and templates power a flexible and simple interface, which reduces development costs and deployment time.

Web developers use Wordpress for websites they build for clients if it meets the software requirement specification of a given web project.

WordPress is usually the no.1 choice if:

• The project falls under the category of content-based portals such as blogs/newspapers.
• The market has available WordPress plugins with the necessary quality/security and functionality to suit software requirements.
• The founder of the startup wants to test the market and to create the first version of the website fast/cheap with a stripped-down functionality. In this case, WordPress can be useful as a prototype and platform for a minimal viable product

Yes, and we have client references to show you in most of them.

Sometimes, but not often. We usually support websites that we have fully built. We have this policy so that we can 100% stand behind everything that we craft. There are issues of liability of multiple programmers touching the same code over time.

Yes. We can include copy writing and editing in all of our proposals. We also build your sitemap and help structure the foundation of your website in the planning stages.

Yes. We will help you source stock photos from sites such as www.crestock.com and www.istock.com. We also have photographers and videographers available to produce custom photography and videos for your website.

YES! Everything that we build will be 100% owned by you. Most of our clients stay with us for the life of the website. Our team is just irresistible that way. We will happily assist you to order your domain name with GoDaddy (domains registrar) and your hosting with Siteground or Hostinger or even making the transition from another provider as effortlessly and efficiently as possible.

YOUR website is 100% YOURS, and we want you to take it wherever you go.

No. Your website project involves the following payments: domain + and hosting (wich you have to pay and manage with the company of your choice) and web project (that's with us!)

Domain Name System, or DNS, is the friendly naming system for giving addresses to web servers and web pages. Somewhat like international phone numbers, the domain name system gives every server a memorable and easy-to-spell address. Simultaneously, the domain names hide the really technical IP address which most viewers aren't interested in.

A Domain Name Is Not the Same as URL
To be technically correct, a domain name is commonly part of a larger internet address called a "URL".
A URL goes into much more detail than a domain name, providing much more information, including the specific page address, folder name, machine name, and protocol language.

Web hosting allows you to publish your website. You will need a web hosting service to host your website so that people can view it online.

NO. Actually, most of the providers made the web hosting services accessible for everyone. If you've never used web hosting before take a look to this cPanel Hosting DEMO wich is the most common used admin panel for web hosting.

Setting up web hosting is quick and easy. It takes between 10 to 20 minutes for your web hosting package to be set up.

Depends on the plan you contract, and rememeber that you also need domain name to work, but usually you'll get about 2-3GB of web space, unlimited email addresses, unlimited bandwidth, FTP access, databases, marketing tools, abiilty to manage unlimited domains in one place and friendly customer support.

Linux and Windows are two different operating systems. The operating system that you use on your computer should not determine your choice. For example, if your computer is run by Windows Microsoft, Linux hosting will work just as well as Windows hosting. Deciding between Linux and Windows web hosting depends on your style of web building. If you plan to use PHP, MySQL or Perl together with a range of software programs, Linux is the one for you. Linux web hosting is also suitable for 'brochure-ware' sites that offer interaction via enquiry forms, online purchasing and other e-commerce functions. However, if you are looking to make the website with us, we always need a LAMP server:

LAMP is an archetypal model of web service stacks, named as an acronym of the names of its original four open-source components: the Linux operating system, the Apache HTTP Server, the MySQL relational database management system (RDBMS), and the PHP programming language. The LAMP components are largely interchangeable and not limited to the original selection. As a solution stack, LAMP is suitable for building dynamic web sites and web applications.[1] Since its creation, the LAMP model has been adapted to other componentry, though typically consisting of free and open-source software. For example, an equivalent installation on the Microsoft Windows family of operating systems is known as WAMP and an equivalent installation on macOS is known as MAMP.

Social media marketing and SEO are two tightly interwoven strategies. Both are organic, inbound strategies that focus on building an appealing identity that naturally attracts visitors. Since social media relies on high-quality content and a visible, strong brand presence, the efforts you spend on SEO can doubly improve your social media reach, and as most search marketers will tell you, your social media presence can greatly increase your search rankings.

So:

1. Growing Your Number of Followers.
2. Encouraging External Inbound Links.
3. Optimizing Your Posts for Searches.
4. Influencing Social Sharing.
5. Locally-Optimized Posts.
6. Increasing Brand Awareness.

For the most part, these are staple elements of a successful social media marketing campaign, and as with most SEO strategies, it comes down to one basic principle: the better experience you give your users, the higher you're going to rank in Google. Understanding the root causes for social media's effects on SEO can help you better direct and manage your campaign, ultimately giving your users a better experience, and opening the widest possible channel for new potential customers to find your brand.

SEO stands for "search engine optimization." It is the process of getting traffic from the "free," "organic," "editorial" or "natural" search results on search engines.

All major search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo have primary search results, where web pages and other content such as videos or local listings are shown and ranked based on what the search engine considers most relevant to users. Payment isn't involved, as it is with paid search ads.

The SEO Bible is Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide by ©Google, a 32 pages document that will take you to another world of knowledge. If you're in a hurry, here's the one-page version.

Fix NO-LOCK-IN-CONTRACT $1000/mo. including GST.

And includes:

• Review of your site content or structure
• Technical advice on website development: for example, hosting, redirects, error pages, use of JavaScript
• Content development
• Management of online business development campaigns
• Keyword research
• SEO training
• Expertise in specific markets and geographies.

If you're thinking about hiring an SEO, the earlier the better.