The long awaited Bing Business Portal is finally live, here are some initial observations:

There are a plethora of new features including:

• New Layout
• Roles
• Integrated Product Listings
• Social Integration (add your Facebook and Twitter URL’s)
• Deals

The biggest feature upgrades are in the Deals section. This gives the user the capabilities to make a deal, instructs as to what comprises a good deal, and several publication methods, including Bing, Bing Mobile, an auto generated mobile page, a QR code, and Facebook. This is the first, non-Facebook listing provider to integrate Facebook deals. This is a big potential partnership for Bing & Facebook.

The Roles update allows more than 1 user to have access to an account. There are three role types, which aren’t clearly defined – I’ve put in a request, through their new support system, to get some clarity here. This will be a good test of their customer support, which is something for which Google Places is constantly criticized.

The three roles are:

• Administrator
• Manager

Suspended

To summarize, the Bing Business Portal is a big improvement with lots of useful features that advance Bing in the space. There are some things that are lacking, such as bulk uploading listings. All things considered, I am very pleased with the steps Bing has taken to support the Local Business Listing space, with this upgrade to the Bing Business Portal.

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