How to Get Set Up with Bing Maps

Bing Business Portal is Microsoft's location-based social media site for businesses. Bing is a fairly new contender, having started in 2009. It recently added this location-based service to compete with Google Places and Yelp. When you list your business with Bing Business Portal, it will appear on Bing Maps and other Microsoft products. This will get your company more exposure and allow you to better connect with your customers.

Check for Your Business

Visit the Bing Business Portal website and click ‘Get Started’.

First, it will let you enter basic information about your business such as address and phone number. Before you go any further, the site will check to see if you already have a listing. If a user has created a listing to review your business, there may be one already. If you already have a listing, click ‘Claim’ and you can take control of it.

If there is no current listing for your business, you can click on “Add New Business”.

You’ll need to have a Microsoft account to add your listing, so either login now or create an account to be able to proceed.

Basic Business Information

Start by filling in your basic business information such as name, address, phone number, URL, and any other pertinent contact information. The site will then ask you to choose a category. Bing's categories aren't as developed as those of Google Places, but you can still make good use of them.

Like Google Places, you can list several categories. For these categories, use keywords you'd like web searches to find your business under. You can add up to 10 categories, and you should make the most of this option.

Another unique profile feature on Bing is that it allows you to add your Facebook and Twitter profile URLs to integrate them with Bing’s service. You can do this by following the simple instructions on the Bing profile page.

There’s also a section for Images and Videos where you should add your company logo. You can also add up to 10 photos of your business, as well as videos.

More Details

Expand any of the tabs in the ‘Edit your business details’ section to add more details about your business, such as hours of operation, parking availability, or products carried. There’s a little down arrow next to each section that expands it.

Bing allows you to add a number of links to your profile beyond just your website's URL, and you should certainly take advantage of this. Add links to pages on your site that you'd like to draw attention to. For example, if you're a restaurant, add a link to your menu. You can also add links to specific products or services you'd like to highlight.

Verifying Your Account

One final step is to verify your account. You’ll need to click on the link to verify to receive a PIN number via a postcard in the mail. It takes several days for the postcard to arrive, so most people opt for receiving a phone call with a PIN number. After entering this PIN number, it will take a few days more before your profile is live.

Bulk Upload

Make sure take advantage of Bing's unique special features. One of its defining features is the ability to bulk upload. This way, if you need to create 25 or more listings, you don't have to enter all of them in manually. On the profile page is a button that says ‘25+’. If you click this, a customer representative will contact you and tell you what you need to do to bulk upload.