How To Add or Manage Your Green Business Listing:
<Subject to Change - minor details are still being worked on>
**Please read through most of this article to know what to expect and information to have on hand while creating your listing. Below is information for adding a Basic listing. A working website for your organization is required for creating a listing.
Quick Tips and Notes on Adding a Listing
Notes and Tips after adding a Listing
Go to List > Select a Package,
On the next screen, create a user account by filling out the information under "Business Account Registration"
Username is all one word
Password must be at least 8 characters and contain the following characters
- 2 numerals
- 1 symbol
- 1 Upper case letter
Notes when logged in or trying to log in:
- If the password isn’t entered correctly after 6 tries, one hour must pass before trying again.
- User session ends after 20 minutes of inactivity.
- Also have the option to set up dual authentication under your user profile.
Agree to the terms and conditions. The terms of service and privacy policy are also listed under About Us > YBOW Policies.
Click on "Create account" and the web page response is below ("Your account has been created...")
You should receive an email similar to the screen shot below. Click on the verification email at which point an email is sent to a YBOW administrator to approve the account.
Then you'll see your email account has been verified similar to the screen shot below:
You're almost there....After a YBOW admin approves the account the person will see an email similar to the one below:
Now you're ready to log in and create your new listing.
Customer > Login
You'll be asked to agree to YBOW Privacy Policy, we are currently working on smoothing this process out.
Quick Tips and Notes on Adding a Listing:
- Fill out as much as you can and get to the Contact tab and click on "Save", as you may get timed out while you're working on your entry (logged out after 20 minutes).
- Then you can come back and "Edit" your entry.
- After your entry has been Saved, an email is sent to a YBOW administrator letting them know of the new listing, where they can review it and approve it or contact the organization if they have any questions.
- The listing will show in the search results as soon as it's Saved. If it's a paid package not all features of package will be reflected until payment has been made. For instance in the Gold package, the "Featured" icon will not show until payment is complete.
- For the paid packages, where they allow image uploads, etc., your listing can be edited at any time while its active, meaning it's able to be kept updated.
- Packages are for 6 months.
- Payment is currently done through PayPal.
- For businesses with more than one location, we only allow one listing per package. The organization's website usually lists locations.
- For paid packages, businesses with just a PO Box, Google Maps doesn't parse it, so just use the City and Region (State). Adding longitude and latitude is helpful.
Login and then go to your Dashboard...
Go to Listing > Manage Your Listing
Here is your main dashboard:
Click on "Business Listings" in the left pane and then click on the "New" button.
Adding a Basic Listing
Below is the information needed for the "Basic" package, which have tabs called General Info, Details, Location & Contact
General Info tab:
On the General info tab, select your package (Basic) by clicking the drop-down under "Upgrade Package".
Business Name and Website are required fields. In your descriptions, why is your business "green"? What does your business do to help the environment?
Business Type, select the general type of service your business provides. After filling out this section, click on the "Next" button at the bottom.
Details tab:
Choose the "Category" that your organization falls under, e.g., Agriculture, Restaurants, etc. Basic package only allows one category.
"Certification" field is required, again what makes your organization "green", and ideally this is shown on your website. Your website address under General Info can be the url to your sustainability page for example. Certification is where you list any sustainability certifications your organization has achieved, e.g, Green America, or ISO 14000, or it may be an industry specific certification. If you are a home business, you may have a certified Audubahn's Certified Backyard program, or how you support local farmers, bring your own grocery bags, etc.
Click on "Next" at the bottom to go to the next tab.
Location tab:
Fill out your address information, and click on the button "Only Publish my Region and City" if that's the only information wanted shown.
NOTES on Location:
- For businesses in Washington D.C., put D.C. in the "Region" and Washington in the "City". "Region" is for the State. Please abbreviate MD and VA.
- Paid packages only: Businesses with just a PO Box, Google Maps doesn't parse these out, so just put in City and Region (State).
- Add Latitude and Longitude to get the Google map to show up (paid packages only). Add in case you decide to upgrade later on.
Note for a "Basic" listing:
In a Basic listing only the business name, website, phone number and short description show in the search results, but it's still a good idea to fill all the tabs out in case your organization decides to upgrade to a different package plan.
Click on "Next" at the bottom.
Contact tab:
The first section is the primary contact information for your organization. For Paid Packages, there's a button called Contact Business where the person browsing the directory can send an email directly to the business using the information under Business Contact Information. This Contact Business button is not part of the Basic package.
The same information may apply under the Business Contact Person that was used in Business Contact Information. For instance for a large corporation, the Business Contact Information could be a sales department. The Business Contact Person is also the person who will be emailed when the listing is getting ready to expire, for example on paid package plans.
Check the box to agree to the Terms and Conditions. This seems duplicative here, but is appropriate if a different listing is created under the same account.
Click on Save at the bottom.
After clicking on Save:
- After your entry has been Saved, an email is sent to a YBOW administrator letting them know of the new listing, where they can review it and approve it or contact the organization if they have any questions.
- The listing will show in the search results as soon as it's Saved (see screen shot below).
- If it's a paid package not all features of package will be reflected until payment has been made. For instance in the Gold package, the "Featured" icon will not show until payment is complete.
A "Basic" listing on the search results:
End of Adding a Basic Listing
- Under your user id, you can enter multiple websites/companies, currently up to 30.
- Login and then go to List > "Manage Your Listing" link. This link is available only after logging in. After clicking on the "Manage your Listing" link, you're brought into your "Dashboard". In the left hand pane, there are multiple menu options. Click on "Business Listings", then on the right side, click on your business entry to edit it. In the picture below, the "Deactivate" button appears for active listings using paid packages.
- Your listing can be edited and updated anytime that it's active.
- Or click on New to add a new listing.
Your Dashboard and its new Business Listing:
Creating/Editing your paid listing, below is a set of sample tabs. Depending on the package you picked, some options/buttons in each section may or may not be there.
Contact tab:
There's 2 sections: Business Contact Information and Business Contact Person.
Filling out the Business Contact Information section is what's used for the "Contact business" button.
Media & Social tab: Add your logos and images here.
Social Networks (available only on the Silver and Gold packages)
Add your Facebook, YouTube, etc., links under the Contact tab.
Under the Media & Social tab, this is where you add "Images to Represent your listing", for example your logo, cover image, gallery images, etc.
Notes and Tips after adding a Listing:
- Listings can be updated or extended through your Dashboard under List > "Manage Your Listing". For paid packages, an email reminder is generated a few days before expiration.
- For paid packages, upon expiration, the listing is set to the Free package (goes back to just basic info, i.e., website address, name of business, phone number, certification, description, no Google Map icon).
- All business listings will show immediately after saving it, but for paid packages, not all features will be reflected, for instance in the Gold package, the "Featured" icon will not show.
- The business listing will show but will still need to be approved by a YBOW administrator. YBOW may have questions about the listing.
- Approval relies on a website and that website showing it's commitment to the environment, either through certification, or highlighting the products it uses or the processes they do internally as an organization. In other words we look for a commitment to environmental sustainability, no matter how small to be on your website. Your Business Our World is not a certifying agency, so we can only rely on your word and what you have on your website. If we have any questions, we will give you a call to find out more detail and may add to your description for further clarity.
- Approval relies on a website and that website showing it's commitment to the environment, either through certification, or highlighting the products it uses or the processes they do internally as an organization. In other words we look for a commitment to environmental sustainability, no matter how small to be on your website. Your Business Our World is not a certifying agency, so we can only rely on your word and what you have on your website. If we have any questions, we will give you a call to find out more detail and may add to your description for further clarity.
- Don't get timed out of your session: Put in as much information as you can and click on Save, as the system logs users out after 20 minutes of inactivity.
- Formatting Tips:
- Phone Numbers: Enter your phone number as you want it to appear, i.e., key in the dashes.
- State (Region):
- Washington, D.C., please put Washington in the City and D.C. in the State (Region)
- Virginia - please use VA
- Maryland - please use MD
Saving payment for later:
Log back in, go to List > Manage My Listing and then in your Dashboard on the left-hand panel, click on "Orders". You'll see your order there and click on "Pay now"
Outdated Entries:
YBOW periodically reviews for outdated entries and deletes any if they are expired and website is no longer active.
Thank-you for your business!
Questions may be directed to info at yourbusinessourworld dot com.