This a guest post by MJ Stern of BeLocalBeListed.com
Do you remember searching for a product or service in your local area by picking up the Yellow Page book, thumbing through pages to look for the business offering you what you need, not to mention getting ink all over your fingers? Searching for a product or service locally is changing.
Today, many people still prefer to do business locally and are searching online or on their mobile device. In fact, with over 71+ billion searches 25-30 percent of the searches are local searches, and that number increases daily. That’s why it’s important for your business to maintain a local presence.
If you want more local presence you should take advantage of the FREE listing services offered by Google Places, Yahoo! Local, or Bing Business Portal and make sure your business is claimed, optimized and listed correctly. Think of these free services as micro-websites for your business.
If claimed correctly your business could land on Page 1 of Google, Yahoo! or Bing and help you:
- Attract more local customers
- Increase your online visibility
- Promote your product or service
- Get listed on maps
Did you know you can offer coupons on these sites or upload your QR Code so people can get your contact information quickly and find you using their mobile device?
Even if you don’t have a website, you can still list your business on these sites.
To achieve a good listing you should also consider having various citations. A citation is a listing for your business on another site with your name and address. There are numerous directories where you can list your business and many are free. The idea is to get your business mentioned in as many places as you can.
Here are 3 things you can do to leverage your local listing and get more visibility:
- Before you begin, develop your business description using your keywords.
- Completeness is important. Make sure you have filled out all of the information about your business on each site. Missing information tends to demote your business listing. As an example, if they ask for business hours, make sure you list them.
- When you add your business to other sites or directories use exactly the same name. For instance, if your business is called “ABC Together LLC” and you have listed it that way on one site, make sure you list it that way in all sites and directories and not “ABC Together.”
These sites have so much to offer the local business community, yet many businesses have not claimed their Google Place, updated Yahoo! Local, or completed their Bing Business Portal listing. In many instances, the information presented is out-of-date. If your business has moved, the map location could be incorrect too!
As a business owner who provides services or products to the local consumer, do you want to gain more visibility online?
If so, you should be listed and optimized correctly on Google Places, Yahoo! Local and Bing Business Portal.
MJ Stern and Janice Mitchell are the Founders of BeLocalBeListed.com helping you claim and optimize your place and listing so you can Be Local – GET LISTED – Be Found©.
photo credit: How can I recycle this
why do they make getting listed so complicated ?
Great article, thanks. I think that using the new rich code snippets is also incredibly important for online location marketing.
why do they make getting listed so complicated ?
Thanks for this – do these links work in the UK as I’m having some trouble – the Yahoo and Bing offering seems only to apply to USA based businesses
Local internet listings are great, especially for small business with small advertising budgets. Basic local listing services are usually free. However, if a business wishes to add more information they can update their plans for a fee. This is so on Yahoo! To go a step further, a business can also sign up for a Google AdWords account where their business will only be advertised to those using Google in their local area.
Denise,
Thank you for hosting MJ & Janice here. This is excellent information.
I am several hours behind today and Janice gave everyone such good information about Bing. Yes, Bing is slow in getting the verification out. Google is just about 2 weeks and Yahoo can be a little sluggish like Bing. But, eventually you get your PIN so you can verify your listing. Thanks Janice for the great reply and thanks Denise for your support.
Hi Denise,
Thanks for your question. I found that it typically takes 15-30 days to get the verification card with pin code. Bing changed from the “Bing Local Listing Center” to the new “Bing Business Portal” BETA edition on April 11, 2011. It takes about two weeks after you enter the pin code to get the listing published. You will need to sign in to the Windows LIVE I.D. [Hotmail.com or Live.com] email that you used to set up your Bing listing. Once signed in, you will need to “verify” the entry on the listing.
For those who are not familiar, here is the process:
Sign up for Windows LIVE.com email.
Fill out information on Bing Business Portal.
Wait for PIN code (two-three weeks).
Enter PIN code into Bing listing.
Wait two weeks for Bing to publish.
Go back to Bing via your Live.com email and “Verify” the listing. (This step is often overlooked)
I hope this clarifies how to get listed on Bing Business Portal. If there are any other questions or comments, I’d be happy to answer.
Thanks so much for your support,
Janice
Janice@belocalbelisted.com
http://belocalbelisted.com
Thank you, Janice. I’ve done all the steps you have outlined. On my listing it says (for at least a week now) “Publish in Progress” so I guess I’ll just keep checking back for the opportunity to verify. Appreciate your response.
MJ, how long does it typically take for Bing to publish a listing? I
added my info a few weeks ago. I got the verification card with pin code
and added that about 10 days ago and my listing is still not published. Curious if you know why it takes so long? Thanks!