Four Savvy Urbandale Businesses on Patch

Congratulations to , , and , all of whom claimed their business directory listing on Urbandale Patch this month.

Not sure what that means? Here's the scoop:

Before Patch launched in Urbandale last September, contributors interviewed local businesses to collect information for a directory of Urbandale businesses, churches, nonprofit groups and governmental agencies. The result: Patch Places.

Patch Places is the spot to find descriptions, hours, accepted payment methods and more for establishments around town. You can  see what your neighbors think of a business before you try it or write your own review of the business.

That's good for local business, but business owners can stretch that free benefit even farther if they "claim" and manage their listing.

How to Claim Your Listing
Owners or managers can sign in to Urbandale Patch and search under the Places tab for their business. Underneath the photos, there is a box with the question: "Do you own or manage this location? Claim it!" Just click that box and a form will pop up asking for contact information and authorization to claim it.

The You Tube video with this article walks you through this simple process.

Within a few days, someone from Patch will contact you to verify your authenticity. You'll then be "approved" as the business owner and will see a "Manage Your Listing" button on your listing.

Click that button and you can tweak and improve your directory listing several ways. Here are the tools you'll see and what they mean:

Your Stats: See how many users have rated, reviewed or follow your listing. You can e-mail your customers to seek out more reviews, and even more helpful you can link your Patch directory listing to your Facebook and Twitter accounts. 

Edit Your Listing: Add photos, website information, hours of operation, contact information and more under the Basic Info tab. Some of this information cannot be changed, but you can request a new description if you think your business is inaccurately described.

Choose Extra Info: Add information like the founding date of your business, what kinds of payments you accept, parking information and more. You can also add information about specials or special events coming up at your business.

Manage Photos & Media: Add and edit photos and choose which image is featured. If you have a video or PDFs, you would add that here.

Reviews: By linking your directory listing to your Facebook page or by using the email tool, you can ask fans and customers to review your business. Just as importantly, everytime someone reviews or rates your business, you're notified by email, but only if you've claimed the listing. You also can connect with the reviewer through Patch

Free Tools: This is an easy way to post events and add job openings to our classifieds section, also known as the Marketplace.

Paid Tools: You can upgrade your listing with a video profile, add a message from the owner and become a featured business on the Places page for a fee. You can learn more about these options and see how to get in touch with a sales team member.

Questions?  Contact me at anne.kay@patch.com