Steps to add a new business to the Acxiom database
Listing and claiming your business with Acxiom is one of first steps to improve your local search rankings. Acxiom is 1 of the 3 data aggregators where you will need to list/claim your business.
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
- Add a business that is not currently listed with Acxiom.
- Enter all business info & upload Federal/State licensing copies.
- Confirm your listing with email verification.
- Check back periodically for Acxiom staff manual approval.
- Post approval category selection.
- Phone verification to complete claimed business profile.
Acxiom Steps for Adding your Business Listing
Step 1:
Go to My Business Listing Manager
Step 2:
Select “Learn More” button to advance to next page.
Step 3:
Select the “Get Started” button to advance to next page.
Step 4:
Step 5:
Select “Add a Listing” button to advance to next page.
Step 6:
Enter first name, last name, and phone number. Select the “Next” button to advance to next page.
Step 7:
Create username, password, email, and security question. Select the “Next” button to advance to next page.
Step 8:
Add all business information (name, address, phone, website, classification, contact name, and contact phone). Upload Federal Tax License, State License. Select the “Next” button to advance to the next page.
Step 9:
You will see the Add New Business page notifying you to check your email confirm your business registration with Acxiom.
Step 10:
Check your email for a confirmation from notification@moonvalley.com. Click on the MyBusinessListingManager.com link in the email to complete email verification.
Now you are back at My Business Listing Manager page. Select the “Login” button to advance to the next page.
Step 11:
Enter your username and password created in step 7. Select the “Login” button to advance to the next page.
Step 12:
You are now at the Main Account Page for your listing. Your business is “Awaiting Validation”. The documentation (Federal Tax License, State License) you submitted earlier is pending approval. You will receive an email from Acxiom once they review and approve State & Federal Licenses. This may take up to 7 days for the Acxiom staff to review.
Step 13:
Once MBLM Support has approved your Licenses and listing you will recieve an email similar to this.
Step 14:
Once your business is added, entering the business phone will populate your listing. Select “Claim this Business” and complete the claiming process.
Step 15:
You will be sent another email with a after claiming your business. Acxiom will send a verification password to your email along with a 800 # to call to complete verification. After calling Acxiom with your pin you will be able to modify your listing and add your business categories.
Info about Fees
I had many questions on this post & Twitter about fees so I contacted the staff at Acxiom. Tiffany with Acxiom was very helpful and I have posted info that she shared with me below for your reference:
Claiming a listing does not do anything or verify anything on the Directories Products database because it is already on the database. The only confirmation is to the user. If the user puts in a phone number or Business Name, gets information returned, and is happy with that information, then he/she does not need to do anything further. Claiming a listing is only beneficial to the user if he/she wishes to modify the listing or add additional information that will allow his/her business to be more influencial in a web search of the business name/classification/service/etc. which can only be done once the $50.00 is paid. No modification to the listing is allowed or adding a new Business is allowed without paying the $50.00.
The benefits of paying the $50.00 fee:
- Verify the listing remains correct – a newer phone book being published may come through the system with different or wrong information. Newer phone books take precendence over older phone books because the data is considered fresher/newer/more accurate data. The data that is modified in the MBLM interface takes precedence over any other source data so if the user claims and pays the $50.00, the information the user either verifies or modifies, will always take precedence over any newer phone book or Telco data that comes through the system.
- Adding additional information – Some businesses have several different services but some websites only choose to list one or two products/services. Those same businesses will usually advertise under several different phone book headings. Data providers do not always know the main business under those situations so a print shop may be listed as a retail outlet for print paper when their primary business is printing. Sometimes a business does not even have a classification in the database because they do not advertise in the yellow pages. By claiming a listing and paying the $50.00, the user can modify or add a product/service which will assure the merchant an accurate web search for his/her business.
- Adding a newly formed business – phone books only print once a year at the earliest so a new business has a challenge in getting the name out other than word of mouth. Even data compilers that also use Telco data as a source only receive a business name, address and phone number from the Telco providers. A new business will benefit a faster method of getting the information on the web by paying the $50.00 and providing the business information, especially any products, brands and services they provide. It will take at least 30 days to get to the website providers but is much quicker than other methods and certainly more accurate.
- There are also additional benefits listed in the FAQ and the MBLM interface but the ones listed above will be the biggest lift to merchants.
I am unsure where the 60 day approval came from that the blogger mentions below (could be before the modified MBLM was update). The MBLM interface is refreshed monthly with the new database information however once a user claims his/her listing and pays the $50.00, the information the user submits takes about 30 days to get into the database. It depends on the time of the month the listing is modified and when the database is refreshed which is why we state 30 – 45 days. It might only be two weeks to be in the database but will still take a few days to be delivered to clients and those clients have their own timeline on refreshing their websites.
Thanks Tiffany for your help and assistance!
If anyone has questions throughout the process, definitely use the live tech support (as Cody has outlined) or call (866)750 -5438 or email mblm@acxiom.com.
Tiffany
Community Manager
Acxiom Corporation
Related Posts
How to List your Business with Infogroup
How to List your Business with Localeze
Data Aggregators – Local Search Directory Monsters
Insiders Guide to Google Places
About Cody Baird
In 2011, I founded milkmen.com, a firm specializing in local search marketing and local brand strategy. Local SEO, search marketing, SEO, conversion optimization, local brand development and messaging.
My role as President involves recruiting and managing our marketing and sales teams. Leading the product/strategic vision and evangelizing local search, local brand strategy, search marketing, and milkmen.com.
To relax I read on a variety of subjects, go golfing, hiking, running, & anything outdoors.
I found just what I was needed, and it was entertaining!
I’m glad you found what you needed. Over the next month I will be adding tutorials for all data aggregators, local search engines, internet yellow pages, locally focused directories, and other important digital portals that I have found are essential to improve rankings in local search results. Listing, claiming, and verifying your listings, detecting and deleting duplicates and the whole process of managing your data can be a nightmare. I wish that someone would have broke it all down like this for me when I first started.
[...] How to List your business with Acxiom [...]
I got the email from them for confirming I sent my documentation, but it now says:
Once approved, please login to MyBusinessListingManager.com and purchase a subscription to have it added to Acxiom’s dataset.
Looks like there isn’t a free way to do it anymore?
AJ,
I know that in the past you had to pay the fee if you verified more that one listing. I have to pay the fee for clients with multiple locations. You can also pay a fee to add additional business attributes.
Cody – Thanks for the thoughtful responses. I didn’t see how much the subscription cost, but that’s excellent news if the business is added without fee. I don’t need to claim it – I just need the NAP to be correct
I’m VERY glad to finally see a free way to tap into Acxiom!
AJ,
I’m guessing that your business will be added to the database once your documents are approved. You may pay a fee then to verify and add other business attributes. In the past, until I discovered this link and process, new businesses could not add their listing to Acxiom unless they paid a small fee and submitted their business through UBL
If you didn’t submit through UBL you would have to wait until Acxiom acquired info about your new business. Data aggregators like Acxiom, Localeze, and Infogroup gather additional data from state records but sometimes a new business could wait for 6 + months for that process to take place. This way I added my new company within days of setting up the new entity.
I would recommend reading the information David Mihm shares here at getlisted.org Lots of solid information and David is an expert in Local Search. You could also check out his Blog for tons of solid info on local search.
Keith McGahey shared the following:
Although it’s easy now, it’s still a lengthy process. From submitting my business through My Business Listing Manager to having a listing that could be edited was about a 2 month process. Still worth it, though!
Read more: http://www.smallbusinesssem.com/submit-your-business-to-acxiom/5184/#ixzz1gjMMXfcT
Thanks for the insight Keith!
Hey Corey,
Thanks for the *excellent* post. I’d been wondering about how the $50 fee dovetails into the free / slower Acxiom-listing route – and you confirmed my suspicions (MBLM doesn’t make it real clear what the difference is).
Btw, I’m trying to find you guys on Twitter, but the 3 buttons on the top-right of your site are busted, as are the footer links on your site. Just FYI!
Phil,
Thanks for reading and the kind words! You can follow us on Twitter @milkmenSEO or you can follow me @cody_baird.
I like Your Article about How to List your business with Acxiom – MilkMen blog Perfect just what I was looking for! .
Is there for any local business, or only English?
Rve,
I’m not sure that I understand your question.
Great post, Cody.
If anyone has questions throughout the process, definitely use the live tech support (as Cody has outlined) or call (866)750 -5438 or email mblm@acxiom.com.
Tiffany
Community Manager
Acxiom Corporation
Tiffany,
Thanks for commenting and sharing your info! Listing, claiming, and verifying business info with Acxiom is one of the first steps we take with all of our clients. We have had a lot of visitors to this post thanks to Matt McGee doing an article on his blog last Friday about this post. Please share any other info that you feel the community should know about. Let me know if there is anything that my post is missing and I will add it. I could also do another post about other items you feel are important.
PS. You might want to share the same information over at Matt’s Blog as well. I included a link above.
I want to offer a quick thanks to Cindy at Acxiom for answering some of our questions on Friday.
Tiffany,
I had a number of questions on Twitter about the $50 fee, Mike Ramsay from Nifty Marketing to name one, who I consider influential in local search. Having Profiles or Listings that are claimed and verified is an important consideration for Local Ranking Factors in the algorithms.
I believe there are still some lingering questions in the community about the status of our listing without paying the fee. Is a listing considered verified by following the process outlined in this post or do we have to pay the $50 to have verified status. This question arises from the fact that some digital portals require a fee for verified status. An example would be Merchant Circle. To verify your business with Merchant Circle costs $71.88 per year. I find that a little annoying but that rant would require another post. Thanks again for your comments and insight.