If You Own or Love a Small Business in Town, Read This

Call it a thoroughly modern dilemma.

You can get any style of shoe delivered right to your door in 24 hours via the Internet, but must sort through five pages of random Google results just to find the right number for the joint down the street. 

Oh and P.S. the hours on that robo-generated listing are completely wrong.

Patch would hate to see anyone pizza-less and hungry (or without those killer boots) so that's why we launched  in November 2010 with the area's most comprehensive and detailed business directory, called "Places." 

In , you can find descriptions, hours, what credit cards are accepted, even parking for all your favorite businesses — each verified by an actual human being, and all 100 percent local.

And no more driving around to a shop only to find it closed three months ago. We are constantly updating our database to reflect reality on the ground. See something is closed and we still have it live? Let us know! 

Yes, we are pretty proud of "Places," but we still need your help.

Claim Your Listing

Be sure to "claim" your listing on Patch or tell your favorite shop owner to do the same.

What's in it for you or your customers? Once you've claimed your listing (and our super quick verification process is complete), you will be the proud owner of a small business dashboard where you can make certain changes and updates to your listing.

The first simple steps: , find your listing and find the button that says "Do you own or manage this location? Claim it." The rest is just as easy.

Claimed Your Biz? What's Next?

Within a few days, someone from Patch should contact you to verify your authenticity, and then you'll be approved as the business owner. Once approved, you'll have a "Manage Your Listing" button on the top of your Places page. Click the button to be taken to your dashboard.

From the dashboard, you can make changes and updates to your listing. On the left side of the dashboard you have several options: Your Stats, Edit listing, Manage Photos & Media, Reviews, Free Tools, Paid Tools, and Contact Sales.

• Your Stats: See how many users have rated, reviewed or follow your listing. E-mail your customers to seek out more reviews, and link the Patch Place to your Facebook or Twitter account.
• Edit 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" to add information like the founding date of your business, what kinds of payments you accept, if there's street parking or a lot, and much more.
• Manage Photos & Media: Add and edit photos and choose which image is featured. If you have video or PDFs, you would add that here, too.
• Reviews: You can see what people have to say about your business.
• Free Tools: 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. Learn more about these options and how to get in touch with a sales team member.

Have a question? Email me at jenn.mcculloch@patch.com.