When Patch launched in San Leandro late in 2010, editors and contributors visited local businesses to collect information for our directory.
The result: Patch Places, which you can get to via the button at the top of every Patch page.
Patch Places offers consumers descriptions, hours, accepted payment methods and other information for businesses around town. Customers can comment or write reviews.
Local businesses get bonuses when they claim their free listing.
Owners or managers who are already Patch members can sign in and search for their business.
Not yet a Patch member? Click the "Join" button to get registered, free of charge. Then return to this article and follow the instructions.
How to find your Patch Places listing
The easiest way is to type your business name into the Search box at the top of each page. Hit enter. The system will take you to your listing. Click on the name of your business to open the listing.
Don't see your business? Click the green "Add it" button at the bottom of the page and fill out the form. Our directory team will get in touch with you in a couple of days when your listing is ready.
Underneath the photos of your business, there is a box with the question: "Do you own or manage this location? Just click Claim it!" When you click there, a form will pop up asking for contact information and authorization to claim it.
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.
From there, you have lots of options to add photos, see your statistics and edit the listing. Here are the tools you'll see and what they mean:
Your Stats:
Here you can see how many users have rated, reviewed or follow your listing. You can e-mail your customers to seek out more reviews and link the Patch Place to your Facebook and Twitter accounts.
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, parking information and more.
Manage Photos & Media:
Here you can add and edit photos and choose which image is featured. If you have a video or PDFs, you would add that here.
Reviews:
You can see what people have to say about your business and respond to reviews.
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.
Claim your listing today to help keep Patch users up to date with your company and keep your listing looking fresh.
Questions? Email directorysupport@patch.com. Problems? Email your local editor, tom.abate@patch.com.
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