What are best first steps for brand new business?

[consultant]

Friend of mine built his business Facebook business page a couple days ago and he hadn't gotten around to their Google+ and Yelp pages yet, he's doing that today. They got a message from Facebook that they couldn't be verified as a local business - well of course, the business isn't listed ANYWHERE else yet.

So now they are thinking of using a service like Infogroup Express Update (or Yext). Without having a single listing on any directory yet, should they hold of using a service like Express Update or Yext until at least they have a Google+ Business Page and/or Yelp page or is there not any downside to doing both simultaneously (using a directory update service and creating your Google+, Bing, and Yelp pages - Google takes a few days to get the postcard to you.)

 

[JoshuaMackens]

Friend of mine built his business Facebook business page a couple days ago and he hadn't gotten around to their Google+ and Yelp pages yet, he's doing that today. They got a message from Facebook that they couldn't be verified as a local business - well of course, the business isn't listed ANYWHERE else yet.

So now they are thinking of using a service like Infogroup Express Update (or Yext). Without having a single listing on any directory yet, should they hold of using a service like Express Update or Yext until at least they have a Google+ Business Page and/or Yelp page or is there not any downside to doing both simultaneously (using a directory update service and creating your Google+, Bing, and Yelp pages - Google takes a few days to get the postcard to you.)

I'm not a big fan of Yext. I think you can do what they do yourself much cheaper.

To answer your question though, I would go ahead and sign up for the Google My Business page first. I don't think it really matters but just in case.

Then I would use Moz Local, which distributes to Infogroup, Acxiom, Factual, and Localeze as well as some other local search directories.

Spend $84 for Moz Local vs at the very least, $500 for Yext. Just my opinion.

 

[wardchristianj]

Joshua, would be great to connect at some point. May not be able to make you a "fan" of Yext, but it would be great to understand some of your perspective on our service as well as where you think we could improve. We can always do better and I particularly love this forum and what Linda has created to engage in those dialogues.

That said, I agree that GMB is a must, "Consultant", and a great place to focus as Joshua recommends.

One thing I want to point out, which many forget as they navigate the data space. Just because a business is new doesn't mean it's starting from scratch - in a data sense. Just run a search for their "new" phone number - pretty good chance it already existed. Then run a search for their "new" business address - pretty good chance it also existed, and worse, it was usually a different business.

If their business name is new, but their address used to be another business, and their phone used to be another business - these absolutely will get confused by the ecosystem through the process of compilation and conflation. Through conflation, the old business that had their address will get tied the "new" phone number and countless other combinations will occur, corrupting your presence before you even get out of the gate.

Don't get me wrong, I wish this were easier, but its not. New or Old - there is no such thing... UNLESS, and can't say this happens often, that a new business in a new building with a new phone number is created where none of the data about it ever was or ever was assigned to someone else. That's the NEW data unicorn, and thus far in a long career, I can say it's a highly elusive creature.

So, please be careful with promoting "submit to aggregators" first thing without doing some serious research first. I'd run the new business's name, address and phone through a host of searches to see who owned them before you and if they are showing up anywhere. Because as soon as you submit your "new" stuff, the aggregators will each conflate it with the records that it "matches" to, meaning those old businesses. Some of the aggregators will get it right and create a new record, and some will get it wrong and create a Frankenstein with a combination of the prior entities stitched into one. And once you give the data to them and they ship it out... well, that ship has sailed and you'll never get it back.

Thanks!

 

[Linda Buquet]

Really great points Christian!

We have a couple other posts about best way to set up a new business. I'll try to find them and link them to your reply here! Important points most of us, including me, do not look into right up front, but should.

 

[cdawg2610]

I back up and agree with what Christian said - you have to scrub the net for previous uses of the address/phone before getting started. Then get your Google house in order.

I posted the steps I've come to use for this

http://www.localsearchforum.com/goo...g-w-out-previous-maps-nap-data.html#post72580