A small software development team in Ibadan, three developers who met building side projects, finishes an inventory app for a local retail chain and starts looking for the next contract. The retailer's owner mentions them to a friend who runs a similar business in Lagos, and that friend's first move is a Google search on a phone, followed almost immediately by a message on WhatsApp asking whether they're still taking on new clients. The team never sees a missed call or an email; the whole first contact happens in a chat thread.
Choosing the right category
A listing filed under "Business service" instead of Software company, Web designer or Graphic designer makes the team harder to find for exactly the searches that matter. Picking the category that matches the main work, and adding a secondary one if the team also does design or consulting, costs nothing and changes who the profile surfaces for. A team that started out doing general IT support but now mostly builds custom apps should update the category to match, rather than leaving it set to whatever felt accurate two years ago.
Setting the profile up without an office
Most small dev shops and freelancers in Nigeria work from home or shared spaces rather than a registered office, and Google's service area option covers that: the exact address stays hidden while the profile still lists Ibadan and nearby areas as covered. The trading name on the profile should match whatever appears on invoices and any registered business name, since a client checking credentials before paying a deposit will notice if a WhatsApp Business name and a Google listing don't line up. A team taking on remote work from clients in Lagos or Abuja can list those areas too, rather than restricting the profile to wherever the founders happen to live.
Photos that show real work
Screenshots of the finished app, a shot of the team at their laptops, or a headshot for a lone freelancer all do more than a placeholder logo. For software and design work specifically, screenshots are close to essential, since they're the fastest way for a prospective client to judge whether the work looks like what they need. A short before-and-after comparison, showing what a client's process looked like before the app and what it looks like now, works particularly well for this kind of project-based work.
A review that needs a thoughtful reply
A Lagos client leaving four stars but noting that the timeline slipped once new features got added midway through the project is a common outcome when scope isn't locked down early. Replying with a short, honest note about what changed and how it was handled matters, because the next prospective client reading it is often deciding between several developers with similar portfolios, and a thoughtful reply does more to settle that decision than another line of marketing copy in the profile description.
Where the conversation actually happens
Search here increasingly starts on a phone, and a Google search or a personal referral very often leads straight into a WhatsApp Business chat rather than a call or an email, so hours listed as "by appointment" make more sense than a fixed schedule when most of the actual work and even the client conversations happen outside any set window. VConnect is worth setting up too, since it doubles as a lead source and not just a directory, and a Facebook Business Page functions as something close to a second storefront for a lot of small Nigerian businesses, often getting checked before or instead of a website, particularly by clients outside the biggest cities who trust a page with visible activity and comments more than a bare website. ConnectNigeria rounds that out for anyone wanting broader visibility beyond Lagos and Abuja. Whichever combination gets used, the business name, service area and phone number need to match across all of them and the WhatsApp Business profile too, since that consistency is often what a cautious client checks before sending a deposit.
What Kaptor takes care of
Kaptor sets up and keeps watch on the Google Business Profile, flags anything missing such as an unanswered review or a category left too generic, and keeps the business details matching across the other places clients look, so nobody on the team has to remember to update three or four listings every time something changes. See also the full guide to Google Business Profiles for agencies and freelancers and the guide written for Ghana.