Have you taken the time to claim your business listings? Your competitor may have already! Every day businesses fall prey to unclaimed business listings that their competitors swoop in and take from them unknowingly. This allows them to give your customers the impression that they are talking to you, but they’re actually talking to your competitor!
What can I do?
First and foremost, you need to search for the name of your company on all the major search engines. Look for references to your company from Google, Facebook, Manta, Yelp, Merchant Circle, YP.com, Home Advisor, Angie’s list and other companies that auto populate information online. Even though it is time-consuming you must claim each of these accounts to keep your competitors from snatching them and using them against you. We completely understand that this is a pain, but in today’s climate of competition it’s just the way the game is played.
You worked hard to build a good name, now take the time to protect it!
It doesn’t matter if you’re a storefront business, work at home business, church or club; predators are on the prowl to damage your good name to profit for themselves. Protect yourself by taking the time to claim your business listings, most are free!
How do I fix it?
You start by creating a free Gmail account (something like [email protected] would be a good one) and then clicking the “Own this business?” link in the listing. This will begin the process of claiming the listing. They will mail you a postcard to confirm you are at the location. You should be able to claim your company listing this way.
This is just a Google example, but you need to do all of the various Social Media Business Listings. List of some of the main listings:
• Google
• Facebook
• Manta
• Yelp
• Merchant Circle
• YP.com
• Home Advisor
• Angie’s list
Give us a call if you need help. (888) 987-7771
