Veteran Entrepreneurs: Frequently Asked Questions
On any given day we may receive several dozen phone calls and hundreds of emails. Most of the time the calls and emails have to do with a handful of questions primarily related to such things as getting a business profiled, wait time on getting a business profiled and many other common questions. In an effort to help expedite our membership process and to help reduce some of the common calls and emails we get, we've put together this frequently asked questions section. If you have a question that you think should be addressed to all our members and site visitors, please feel free to email it to our technical support department for consideration.
Veteran Owned Business Profile Sign Up FAQs
Here you will find questions and answers related to signing up for your free listing and other issues with why your profile has yet to be approved.
"Is there a cost associated with getting my business listed?"
VOB Answer: In short, it's absolutely FREE! While we do have various enhanced listings available, our goal is to continue to make the Veteran Owned Business Directory the Internet's most comprehensive and FREE directory.
"Who uses Veteran Owned Business?"
VOB Answer: We have a supporter network of over 300,000. We also have received 1,000s of emails and phone calls from numerous business, organizations and government agencies. In early 2017 we started keep track of those who contacted VOB. We applaud representatives of these businesses who at one time or another used VOB to reach out to members regarding their products and/or services! Additionally, some of these listed on this page have contacted VOB regarding upcoming events, donating money/items to nonprofit members, casting calls, employing veterans/military spouses and just to say "thank you"...click here to see this list.
"If I get a basic listing right now, can I easily upgrade later?"
VOB Answer: Absolutely. We have many members who have upgraded to an enhanced listing at a later date. Please call our Enhanced Listings and Sponsorships Department toll free for information about the features and benefits of upgrading your listing at: (877) 862-5478 x4. You can also request more information about upgrading by clicking the appropriate "Enhanced Listing" button when logged into your myVOB Member Login Page.
"How long will it take me to fill out the application?"
VOB Answer: Less than 5 minutes on average. The sooner you sign up the sooner your business will join nearly 20,000 other VOBs/SDVOSBs and the sooner it will be searchable by 1,000s of daily visitors!
"How long is the approval process?"
VOB Answer: Typically businesses are approved within a few days. Enhanced listing are typically approved within 24 hours (most go live the same day).
"Can I do anything to speed up the approval of my listing?"
VOB Answer: We manually review each membership application and profile for accuracy and, most importantly, to ensure each business applying fits our site's requirements. The single thing you can do to expedite your application is to have information online (your website, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.) showing that the owner of your company is indeed a veteran, active duty military, reservist, service disabled veteran and/or a spouse of one of the aforementioned. If you have a website, be sure to have information (usually in the "about us" section or "company profile" section) that mentions your business is owned by a (see above). Having details about the owner's military experience doesn't just help expedite your listing's approval in Veteran Owned Business Directory, it also lets purchasing people, prime contractors, etc. know your business is proudly owned by a military veteran!
"Why did somebody from VOB call me to verify my profile?"
VOB Answer: We verify every profile application. Sometimes we are able to quickly verify a profile through simple online research. When we aren't able to quickly validate a profile, often times we'll have a member of our Verification Department call a business to do a quick phone verification. When doing so, he or she will simply state they are calling you to go over your application. While he or she has you on the phone, he or she will typically make sure all your information is accurate and complete. We've yet to make a verification call where the pending business owner/representative wasn't happy that we've taken this extra step to ensure our system is as free as possible from bogus VOBs/SDVOSBs.
"Why hasn't my profile been approved yet?"
VOB Answer: On average we are receiving upwards of 30 to 50 new profiles a day. There are many reasons why your listing has yet to be approved. Typically this is due to one or more of the following:
Issue: Using all caps or using all lower case
Solution: Please us proper upper/lower case when signing up. Using all caps (for example) for your description requires somebody in our Approval Department to take the time to re-type your entire description.
Issue: Using keywords or a description for your company name
Solution: We see this often. If your business is named "Smith Recycling", please use "Smith Recycling" for your company name. Do not put "Affordable Recycling Services" or anything else that is not your company's name. First of all, we do research on every business we profile. It's 100% guaranteed that we will change your company name to the actual name. Putting in a description won't do anything for your listing other than prolong the time it takes to approve it. The description area is where you can describe your company, products and/or services.
Issue: Choosing irrelevant categories
Solution: Please take the time to find the appropriate category and sub categories. You can find sub categories by clicking on the (+) sign. Also, we'd appreciate it if you would please not select the first two categories. This is a sure way to get your sign up postponed as a member of our Approval Department will have to review your listing and find the appropriate categories.
Issue: Spelling errors, incorrect website addresses, wrong email and more
Solution: Please be careful to make sure what you are submitting is in fact your correct contact information, website address, email address, company name and more. We can't tell you how many businesses have submitted information that is either incorrect or has a typo that cause it to be incorrect. Our system is very sophisticated; however, it is not smart enough to realize you misspelled your company name, left the .com in your website address or messed up your email address.
"I don't see my category or sub category listed!"
VOB Answer: We have several main categories that collectively have several thousand sub categories. If, after searching through appropriate categories, you still can't find a category/subcategory relevant to your business, please fill out the "request custom categories" area in the categories section. Please be as elaborate as possible. We are continuously building our directory so we welcome any important categories/sub categories currently missing.
"When will my company's membership and profile end?"
VOB Answer: Membership listings are good until you either ask to have your business removed, somebody reports a business has gone under, you sell your business (to somebody who is/was not in the military), your business goes public or a few other things that mean the business is either no longer open or the owner who is a veteran is no longer in charge.
"I've received a sales call/email from a business claiming to be associated with/endorsed by the Veteran Owned Business Project"
VOB Answer: We do not sell or give away any information about our members. And neither the Veteran Owned Business Project nor the Veteran Owned Business Directory endorses any outside entity. There are many slick sales people and scam artists out there who look for any opportunity to crowbar money from your wallets/purses. We take every precaution to keep this type of activity at a bay (spam filtering for emails, blacklisting spammers, etc.); however, occasionally a slick sales person (for example: selling "patriotic" radio spots for returning veterans) will Google your business information and try to tug at your heartstrings as their slick sales tactic. Please be careful and do your due diligence on any offer no matter how or where they found your business' information. Please contact our Support Department if a business is claiming to be endorsed by and/or associated with us. Note: often legitimate companies ask us to help them identify a VOB/SDVOSB for a legitimate project (AT&T contacted us recently for several projects they had). When they do, we will help them find appropriate members to contact; however, this is still done within the VOB Directory. Once again, please contact our Support Department if you have any questions and/or to report a possible scammer.
Veteran Owned Business Project Live Profile Issues
Here you will find questions and answers related to your listing and issues you are having with it once it's live.
"How come my website link isn't working?"
VOB Answer: Either your website is down, the address you entered into our system is incorrect, you forgot the "http" part when entering your website address originally or several other issues. Please email our Support Department. Be sure to let us know the name of your company and your issue.
"Why is my address incorrect on the map?"
VOB Answer: We utilize Google Maps for our mapping system. Everything shown on Google Maps was taken from the address you submitted originally when you first signed up. If the address is correct but your location isn't correct on Google Maps, then it's possible Google hasn't updated your location. If this is your problem, you will need to contact Google directly. If your address is incorrect on your profile, please email our Support Department. Be sure to let us know the name of your company and your issue.
"How do people contact our business?"
VOB Answer: Through your contact information. There is also an email system through VeteranOwnedBusiness.com where profile visitors can contact you directly. In this case, you will receive an email from VeteranOwnedBusiness.com with the contact info and details. This email, though coming through VeteranOwnedBusiness.com, is actually being sent by the person on the other end. It is highly recommend that (once your profile is live) you test out the contact form by sending a request through our system to yourself. If--after a few minutes you don't receive an email--it's likely the email address associated with your Veteran Owned Business account is wrong and/or the email coming from our system is being blocked. Please make sure you are able to accept email from [email protected] (not blacklisted). Also, please make sure you use a valid email address and phone number! We neither give away nor sell member contact information. Members have received 1,000s of leads through our system and even more phone calls from prospects. This system is all about helping small, veteran owned businesses grow. Using an email that you never check or a fake phone number just reduces the chance your business will receive a quality lead. Simply said, "government agencies, prime contractors and every day consumers are using VOB every day... we want to make sure they can easily and quickly reach you to do business with your business!"
Details about the Veteran Owned Business Project
The Veteran Owned Business Project was founded by a proud military veteran. The Veteran Owned Business Directory was developed (and continues to be developed), published and marketed by a leading veteran-owned web marketing communications agency responsible for building high profile, high traffic sites. If you are a veteran owned business, please be sure to submit your veteran owned company's information for your free listing. Your company's listing will help bring potential buyers to your site and will eventually help your site be better optimized for the likes of Google, Yahoo and MSN.
Veteran Owned Business
1103 W. Hibiscus Blvd., Suite 301A
Melbourne, FL 32901
(877) VOB-List | (877) 862-5478
Founded and Operated by United States Military Veterans
