Bing is Sounding Out a New Service for Business Owners! Claim it. Own it. Rock it!

Bing launched the Bing Business Portal Beta on April 14, 2011. Bing Business Portal Beta has replaced the Bing Local Listing Center (LLC), and all listing on the LLC have been transferred to the Business Portal Beta. Claim or revisit your business listing to add the new and exciting features of the Bing Business Portal Beta:

• QR Codes - Bing now offers a QR code to link visitors to your free Bing mobile website! Bing is looking into including MS Tags in future launches of the Business Portal.
  
• Photos - You can now upload photos of your community, staff, and events!
• Color election - You can select a primary color, secondary color, tertiary color, background color, and a background texture.
• Deals - Offer discount coupons or promotions which will display on Bing search results, the Deal tab for mobile browsers, your Bing listing, and even your Facebook page. Read more about Bing Deals.
  

How to Claim Your Business Listing on Bing

1. Go to the Bing Business Portal. Click ‘Add new listing.’
2. Enter your community’s information and click the ‘Search’ button.
3. If your community displays as a result, click the 'Claim' button, and continue to step 4. Otherwise, click the 'Add new listing' button and continue to step 5.
4. Enter the CAPTCHA code, and click the 'Continue' button. Skip to step 6.5. Enter your community's information and CAPTCHA code. Proceed to step 6.

6.. Sign in with your Windows Live ID or click ‘Sign up’ and follow the instructions.
7. Enter your community's information:

• Contact information
• Social media sites
• Logo
• Specialties: Real estate> Buildings > Apartments
• Mobile site: FREE - creation of site and QR code
  
• Photos
• Tagline & description
• Parking options & Business hours
• Edit colors displayed on your sites
• Much more!
  

8. Request verification by phone or mail. Phone verification can be completed in minutes. Mail verification would be best for communities with an automated answering service.


Troubleshooting
Questions about QR Codes? Read our blog post QR Codes: A Scan Above the Rest!


Let us know what you do with your QR code for your mobile site!

Your Online Presence - Claim it. Own it. Rock it!

Online listing services and search engines can determine a lot about your business from various sources. These services and search engines are clever, but sometimes they find outdated or incorrect information about your business.

You will be able to provide more information, deals, photos and videos, and links on your claimed listings which will benefit you directly with better targeting and ranking. If you claim your listings, hackers and spammers will be unable to hijack your online presence, and internet users will trust your provided information.

This week we will be posting daily instructions on how to claim your listings on various sites and search engines. Our schedule is as follows (If you're uncertain about a site, click on the name to view our listing on the site):

Schedule of Instructional Posts
May 2: Google Places
May 3: Foursquare
May 4: Facebook Places (merges with Business Page)
May 5: Yelp
May 6: Bing Local
May 7: CitySearch
May 8: Yahoo! Local


Once you claim your listings, only you will be able to edit the information which will halt the spread of incorrect information and eliminate the risk of hijackers. Some sites and search engines will take up to 6 months in the verification process. Be patient. Once your updated information is online, the correct information will feed to and impact hundreds of listings and search engines.

Have Listings on Other Sites?
Comment and let us know what other site(s) you are interested in claiming. We'll add instructions to this blog on how to claim listings on your choice of sites.