Adding services to your profile

It’s simple enough – your company exists to provide services that other companies need. That said, it’s easy to realize that one of the most important parts of your company profile is listing those services so that you can be found.

The SupplierSource search algorithm first looks at the Specialties that you have listed and then looks at your Capabilities. We have limited you to three Specialties so that you have to be clear about what your most important services are.

We then limit you to eight Capabilities, again so that you have to be clear about what are the most important services that you provide.

When a visitor does a search, our goal is to provide them with a shorter list of possibilities each time they make a choice. Each of the service selections that you make for your profile will determine which search results you appear in.

OK, you know that your choices are important. How do you know what services are available for you to choose from? The tabs across the top of the page include one that is called “Categories”.

If you click on that tab, you’ll see all 1800+ services that you can choose from. (If you click on a service from this page it does not add it to your profile, but it will show you all suppliers already listed that provice this service.) Seeing all of the possibilities allows you to figure out your choices before starting or editing your profile. I like to look at a map before starting a road trip, so that I have some idea as to where I’m going and how I’m going to get there. I also don’t want to miss something just because I didn’t know it was there.

Another important reason to review the whole list is that when choosing your services you must start typing in the “Find services” box to be able to make your selections. If you already know what you want, you’re more likely to quickly get the results you want.

Choices based on what you have typed will show up and you can scroll through the alphabetical list to find the exact service that you’re looking for. Since a search is being done based on every letter you type, it may take the search a second or two to catch up with you. Sometimes even removing a letter or two gives better results.

You will be able to choose a service as either a Specialty or Capability until you’ve reached the max allowed. Once you have chosen three Specialties, you will only see the Capabilities choice remaining. If you want to delete choices, just click on the “x” in the blue circle next to it in your list. In order to change a service from Specialty to Capability, or the other way around, you’ll have to first delete it from the list that it’s already in.

During the selection process (and any time you edit your profile) you can change the order of your services by just clicking on them and dragging them up or down the list. You can’t move a service from one list to the other – as mentioned above, you must first delete it from the list it is in and then add it back in. The order of your lists does not affect search results. It just lets you put the list in the order you want.

BE SURE TO SAVE YOUR CHOICES – FREQUENTLY! If you forget and choose another part of your profile to work on YOU WILL NOT BE WARNED to save like on the other pages. There is a technical reason for this, having to do with the database structure.

There are also three FAQ questions and answers that help with this same process. FAQ #9, FAQ #10, and FAQ #11 cover most of the same territory, but without the visual aids.

Hopefully, this explanation will help answer some of your most important questions and make it easier to choose and modify your services. You can also contact us using the support email any time.