The free box on Google most studios have never touched.

Someone Googles Pilates near me on a Tuesday night. The first thing she sees is the panel with your photos, your hours and your reviews. That's your Google Business Profile. Views on those profiles are up 35% this year. She lands on it once, deciding. Your last post is from March, your hours say you close at 5, and there are 4 photos from year 1. She books the studio down the road, and you never find out.

You can post updates on that panel, like Instagram. Almost nobody does. Everyone's fighting for attention on Instagram, and the place people actually book from is sitting empty. This guide gives you a fixed profile, 12 posts for the month written in your voice, and a scheduler that posts them for you. Every click, in order.

Before you start: what you need

• To own your profile. Go to business.google.com and sign in. If your studio appears, you own it and that's the Google account to use for everything below. If it doesn't, Google your studio name, click Own this business? on the panel, and follow the steps. Google verifies you by a short video, a phone call, an email, or a postcard with a code. It can take a few days, so start today and come back.
• ChatGPT. The free plan works for writing the posts. Plus (about €23 a month) remembers your voice more reliably and can run the monthly reminder in "Keep it alive".
• 5 real photos on your phone. Your studio, a reformer, you, a class, the door from the street. Not stock.
• A scheduling tool for step 5. Publer and Later both have free plans. I use Blotato, which is paid (from about €27 a month). Any of the 3 works.
• Time: about 45 minutes once (10 minutes ChatGPT setup, 10 minutes fixing the basics, 10 minutes writing, 15 minutes loading the scheduler). Then 25 minutes a month.
• Cost: €0 with the free plans. The profile itself is always free.
• If you can send an email, you can do this.

What you'll have at the end

• A profile with the right hours, the right category, a description that says reformer and your town, 10 real photos and a booking button.
• 12 posts for the month, written in your voice, each with one real detail from your studio.
• A scheduler posting them every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 9am, and a 25-minute routine once a month.

Step 1: Set up your ChatGPT studio project (10 minutes, once)

If you've done this in another guide, skip to step 2. If not:

1. Open ChatGPT. Use chatgpt.com in your browser or the ChatGPT app, and sign in.
2. In the left menu click Projects, then New project. Call it My studio and click Create project. A Project is a folder that remembers instructions for every chat inside it, so you never repeat yourself. If you can't see Projects, update the app or use chatgpt.com in a browser.
3. Inside the project, click New chat. Paste this in and press enter. Answer one question at a time, typing the way you actually talk. Don't tidy yourself up.

4. Copy the Brand Voice Guide it writes. At the top of the project, click Instructions (on some screens it's a small settings icon, or Edit instructions). Paste the guide in and click Save.
5. Now give it your website, so it knows your real class times, prices and address instead of guessing. In the same chat, paste this with your web address in the bracket.

6. Fill in any blanks it marked. Open Instructions again and paste the facts sheet underneath the voice guide. Click Save.

You'll know it worked when you open a new chat in the project, type "In 2 sentences, how do I sound, and what's my address?" and it answers in your tone with your real address.

If it doesn't: the instructions didn't save. Open Instructions, check both the voice guide and the facts sheet are there, and click Save. If it says it can't open your website, copy the text of your homepage, timetable and prices pages and paste them into the chat instead, then ask for the facts sheet again.

That's the whole foundation. Every guide on this site starts from this project. Do it once, use it for everything.

Step 2: Fix the basics (10 minutes, once)

Posts on a broken profile are like flowers on a locked door. Go to business.google.com on a computer, sign in with the account that owns the profile, and click your studio. You'll see a row of buttons: Edit profile, Read reviews, Add photo, Add update and so on. Work down this list:

1. Hours. Click Edit profile, then Hours. Check every day, including days you're closed. Then click Special hours and add any holidays coming up. Wrong hours are the No. 1 reason people give up on a studio.
2. Category. Edit profile, then About, then Business category. The primary category must be Pilates studio. Not "gym", not "fitness centre". Click Save.
3. Description. Edit profile, then About, then Description. You get 750 characters. Say reformer and your town in the first sentence. Search can't recommend what it can't read. Easiest way: in your My studio project, type "Write my Google Business Profile description in my voice, under 750 characters, with the word reformer and my town in the first sentence, and who my studio is especially good for." Paste it in, click Save.
4. Photos. Click Add photo. Upload at least 10 real ones. Studio, reformers, you, a class, the door from the street so people can find you. Add 1 new one a month from now on.
5. Booking button. Edit profile, then Contact, then Appointment links (some accounts show Booking). Paste the link to your actual booking page, not your homepage. Click Save.

You'll know it worked when you Google your studio name in a private window (Safari: the 2 squares icon, then Private; Chrome: the 3 dots, then New Incognito tab) and the panel shows the new hours, the new description and a Book button. Most edits show within an hour. Some go under review and take up to 3 days.

If it doesn't: if you can't see Edit profile, you're signed into a Google account that doesn't own the profile. Sign out and back in with the right one. If an edit says Pending, wait 3 days before changing it again.

Step 3: Write a month of posts in one sitting (10 minutes)

Open your My studio project, click New chat, and paste this. It asks you 2 questions first: any offers this month, any events. Answer them, and it writes 12 posts, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, in your voice, with your town and the word reformer built in.

Read them. Where it left an [add: ...] note, drop in the real thing: a client's first name, a moment from class this week, a number. Google rewards first-hand. It ignores filler. A post that says "Pilates is great for your core" does nothing. A post that says "Maria did her first full roll-up today after 6 weeks" does.

You'll know it worked when you have 12 posts laid out as Weeks 1 to 4, each labelled [Update], [Offer] or [Event], each 2 to 4 sentences, with every [add: ...] note filled in by you.

If it doesn't: if they sound like every other studio, paste in 3 Instagram captions or emails you've actually written and say "rewrite all 12 in this voice". If it made up a price or class, say "only use the facts in this project".

Step 4: Post the first one by hand (3 minutes)

Do 1 by hand so you see what a post looks like live. Then step 5 does the rest for you.

1. On a computer, go to business.google.com, click your studio, then click Add update. For an offer, click the arrow next to it and choose Add offer. For an event, Add event. On your phone: open the Google Maps app, tap your profile picture (top right), tap Your business profile, then Add update.
2. Paste the post text into the box.
3. Click Add photos and pick 1 real photo.
4. Click Add a button, choose the one the prompt suggested (Book, Learn more or Call) and paste the link it should go to. For an offer, fill in the start and end dates.
5. Click Post.

You'll know it worked when you Google your studio in a private window and the post shows in the Updates section of your panel, usually within a few minutes. Some posts are reviewed first and take up to 24 hours.

If it doesn't: Google emails you if a post is rejected. It's almost always a phone number, an email address or a web link in the text, or words in ALL CAPS. Take them out, use the button instead, and post again.

Step 5: Make it automatic (15 minutes, once)

Google now lets you schedule posts itself: when you add a post, pick a date and time before you publish. That's enough for most studios. If you'd rather load a whole month in one go, a scheduling tool does it faster. Sign up to Publer or Later (free) or Blotato (paid). The buttons have slightly different names in each, but the steps are the same:

1. Sign up with your email. Find Connect accounts, Add channel or Add social account. Choose Google Business Profile.
2. A Google sign-in window opens. Sign in with the Google account that owns your profile, pick your studio from the list, and click Allow (or Continue).
3. Click Create post (or New post). Paste post 1 from ChatGPT, click Add media and attach a photo, pick the button and link, then click Schedule and choose next Monday at 9am.
4. Repeat for all 12: every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 9am. Blotato and Publer let you paste several at once, which is faster once you've done 2 or 3 by hand.
5. Open the tool's Calendar view and check 12 posts are sitting on the right days.

You'll know it worked when next Monday at 9am you Google your studio in a private window and the post is in the Updates section without you having touched anything. The tool also emails you when each post goes out.

If it doesn't: the tool emails you when a post fails. 9 times out of 10 the Google connection has expired. Go to Connect accounts, click Reconnect next to Google Business Profile, sign in again, and the queued posts carry on.

Want it even more hands-off? If you're on paid ChatGPT, it can remind you and write next month's posts before you ask. In your My studio project, start a new chat and paste:

It pings you on the 25th, you answer with 2 lines, the posts are waiting. Then 15 minutes in the scheduler and next month is done.

If something goes wrong

• You can't find where to post. You're not signed into the Google account that owns the profile. Check the round profile picture in the top corner and switch accounts.
• Google rejected a post. A phone number, email address or web link in the text, or ALL CAPS. Take it out and use the button instead.
• The scheduler says Google Business Profile is disconnected. Normal every few months. Click Reconnect, sign in, done.
• Your profile says "pending verification" or "suspended". You can't post until it's verified. Finish the verification steps Google emailed you first, then come back to step 2.
• The posts look samey. Every post needs one real detail from that week. Keep a note on your phone called "studio moments" and add one line after each class. That note feeds next month's posts.

Keep it alive

25 minutes a month. On the 25th: 10 minutes with ChatGPT for next month's 12 posts, 15 minutes loading them into the scheduler. While you're in the profile, add 1 new photo and reply to any new reviews (2 lines each, in your voice). Every 3 months, open Edit profile and check your hours and prices are still right. That's a profile that looks alive every single week without you thinking about it.

Why I'm telling you this

When I moved studios, my profile had the wrong hours, an old address and photos from year 1. My classes were full, so I never looked. New clients were looking, and choosing someone else. I'd spent 12 years in tech before 9 years running my studio, so I fixed it myself. In 12 months my studio went from No. 3 to No. 1 on Google Maps and from not listed to named by ChatGPT. New clients now say "I found you on Google" before I've asked. This is the cheapest fix in your whole business and it runs while you're teaching.

Put "POSTS" in the subject and your studio's website address in the email. I'll reply with what it costs and when I can start. No call to book.

Victoria, Core and Code