Locally-Minded

03/04/2025

It's been a while since I've last posted....ok, a very long time but I do have some good news for local businesses.

I've upgraded all existing listings to what was called the 'Advanced Package' completely free!!

Why am I doing this??
To encourage and enable more businesses to increase their exposure to the local community.

What does this mean??
Every listing is now able to make use of all the following features:

✅ Unlimited business description length
✅ Up to 20 images to showcase your business
✅ Unlimited searchable tags and business categories
✅ Add in your Twitter and Instagram accounts
✅ A business service radius to show where you operate
✅ Opening hours, company logo, and even a video option
✅ A Google Analytics mini-dashboard so you can see how many people are viewing your listing

I've also introduced advertising zones on the site for any business that would like to add a banner which links to either their listing or their website. Perhaps you have a special offer on you'd like to advertise? An event you're running? Whatever it is, it can be showcased on the site.

How do you take advantage of this??
If you have an existing listing, simply log in and update your details.
If you don't, register and fill out your business details - it only takes a few minutes.

I hope these changes are beneficial to everyone using the site and would welcome any feedback you may have.

https://locally-minded.co.uk

Many thanks,
Mark

The home for all freelancers and small, independent businesses to advertise their services to the local community in Tandridge, Reigate and Banstead.

12/04/2024

It's not been a very productive week this week as my kids have been off pre-school so we stand at 146 businesses listed, 67 categories and 230 site visitors. Next week I'll get back to full steam ahead with adding listings and marketing the site.

I'll also be focusing on new features in the coming weeks. I'm hoping to add an event platform whereby local businesses can list upcoming ticketed or non-ticketed events. The aim is to make this a cheaper alternative to other event platforms like Eventbrite but lots to explore and investigate before I can make it live. More details to follow!

I also just wanted to say a huge thank you to Becky from Boo's Bakes & Balloons who I had the pleasure to meet this week and very kindly offered to spread the word about the site with her local business contacts. It's a huge help to be recommended in this way and adds gravitas to my goal of making this site a hub for local services.

Have a good week and I'll post again soon.

03/04/2024

It's been a week and a half since the site launched and I started marketing to the various local Facebook groups. Uptake hasn't been quite what I hoped but it's early days and there's clearly a long road ahead to get people to change habits and turn to my website instead of posting a Facebook comment requesting a recommendation. Time will tell!

As a result of the slow start, I'm pursuing a slightly different approach to building the business catalogue and have spent more time manually adding businesses. It's time-consuming but it definitely helps boost the numbers and should get the site to a point where it contains enough choice covering a wide number of vocations to start to turn a few heads. That's the hope anyway!

So where do we stand today?

140 Business Listings
64 Business Categories
200 Site Visitors

Lots to improve upon but hopefully over the coming weeks those numbers will go up and up.

Until next time!

23/03/2024

Welcome to Locally-Minded - the directory for freelancers and small, independent businesses in Tandridge and Reigate & Banstead!

We have just launched and are looking for businesses to add to our website. Come and join us and improve your chances of being found by prospective customers.

We have 3 listing packages:

Starter Package – Free!
Add your contact details, business description (250-character limit), 1 image, Facebook link, website URL, add to 1 category, add 1 search tag, reviews.

Advanced Package - £5pcm (paid annually in advance)
Contact details, business description (no limit), 5 images, Facebook; Instagram; Twitter links, website URL, add to 3 categories, add 3 search tags, reviews, service area radius, company logo, 1 video, opening hours, Google Analytics – see how many people visit your page.

Bespoke Package - £10pcm (paid annually in advance)
All the features of the Advanced Package but on a bespoke webpage with your choice of layout. Use your own branding, background images, colour scheme, font + more. Perfect for those without a website!

Want to know more or want list your business - check out our website.

https://locally-minded.co.uk