How to become the #1 Featured Business in your city

What a market actually is

A market on Claim The Market is a single city paired with a single business category. "Roofing in Miami" is one market. "Roofing in Fort Lauderdale" is a different market, and "HVAC in Miami" is a third. Each one has exactly one #1 Featured Business slot at the top of its page.

That structure is deliberate. Directory sites usually rank a dozen businesses on one page and leave visitors to compare them. Here, a visitor who lands on a city and category page sees one featured business first, with the current highest bid, bid count, and ownership history shown openly so nothing about the ranking is ambiguous.

• One city + one category = one market with one #1 position.
• The position is a paid placement, disclosed as such on every page.
• Bid history and previous holders stay public for every market.

Step 1 — pick the market you can actually win

Start with the market that matches the work you want more of, not the biggest city you can think of. A contractor who profits most on commercial re-roofs should claim the metro where those jobs are, even if a neighbouring city has more search volume.

Use the browse page to filter by state, category, and bid amount, and sort by open positions. Unclaimed markets are the cheapest entry point on the platform: nobody holds the slot, so the starting bid takes it outright. Claimed markets tell you something different — a live bid and a bid count mean other businesses in your category already see returns there.

• Open positions: no current holder, so the starting bid claims #1 immediately.
• Competitive markets: multiple bids placed, which is a demand signal worth paying attention to.
• Adjacent cities: often far cheaper than the flagship metro and served by the same crew.

Step 2 — build a listing worth clicking before you bid

The #1 slot decides who gets seen. Your listing decides who gets called. Before you place a bid, finish the listing: upload a real logo, write a description that names the services and the service area in plain language, add up to five photos of actual work, and link a website that loads fast on a phone.

Two listings holding the same position can produce completely different results. Vague copy, no photos, and a broken link waste the placement you paid for.

• Logo: square, legible at small sizes, no stock clip art.
• Description: what you do, where you do it, who it is for — no filler.
• Photos: finished jobs, your team, your storefront or vehicles.
• Website: reachable, owned by you, and mobile-first.

Step 3 — place the bid that takes #1

On an unclaimed market, the starting bid claims the position. On a claimed market, the minimum to take over is the current highest bid plus that market's minimum increment, and the market page shows you the exact number before you commit.

Payment runs through Stripe at checkout, and the position goes live as soon as the payment clears. If you already hold #1 and want to raise your bid to defend it, you are only charged the difference between your current bid and the new one.

Step 4 — defend the position

There is no auction clock. You keep #1 until another business bids higher, which means the only real risk is being outbid quietly. Watch the market page and your dashboard: bid count, impressions, and clicks tell you whether competitors are circling and whether the placement is earning its cost.

When you are outbid, your bid becomes inactive and you are not charged again. Reclaiming is a single bid above the new leader plus the increment.

• Track cost per click in your dashboard, not just the bid amount.
• Raise your bid before a competitor reaches your ceiling, not after.
• Hold adjacent markets so a rival cannot flank you city by city.

Step 5 — use the position off-platform

Holding #1 gives you a verified winner badge with a public verification URL and embed code. Put it in your site footer, on proposals, in email signatures, and on social profiles. It links back to the market page, where anyone can see the position is live and how it was earned.

Be accurate in how you describe it. "#1 Featured Business for roofing in Miami on Claim The Market" is true and verifiable. "Best roofer in Miami" is neither, and it undermines the credibility the badge is meant to carry.