Frequently Asked Questions
We want you to take full advantage of your Business
Listing, so have included some help and answers to
frequently asked questions about My Local Services.
- Basic Listings - can I add a web link?
I'm afraid not, Basic Listings only display
telephone and address information. If you want to
display multiple web links, text, pics and showcase your
business, then upgrade to a Premium Lifetime Listing. To
upgrade, simply search for your Basic Listing (type
in your business name in the
middle search box),
select it and then click on the green "Correct or Update
these details" button. You will then see the upgrade
option. Any problems or questions, feel free to
contact us.
- Lifetime Premium Listings - can I edit my business listing?
Absolutely yes, we do not charge you for any edits or assistance
with editing. Simply search for your listing, and select
the big green "Edit this listing" button. You will need
the email address you signed up with and your
password. You can then edit any part of your listing,
including things like your business name, add more
links, change pictures, text, etc etc... If you decide
to change your categories, which you can, then you will
need to allow 24 hours before your new categories become
fully searchable.
- Whoops I've lost my password! Fear
not, simply go to the "Edit this listing" button for
your business, and you will see a lost password link.
Click that and your password will be emailed to you.
Remember you can change your password to anything you
want when you edit your listing.
- If my business changes address what happens to my
listing? Not a problem. Simply edit you’re listing
and change your business details. Once
you have previewed your revised listing, select
‘publish’ and your updates will appear instantly.
The new address may take up to 24 hours before it is
correctly searchable, as our database processes all
updates first thing every morning.
- How do my customers leave reviews? By going to
My Local Services and selecting the “Leave a Review”
button. They will be asked to enter the name of the
business and then add a referral. All feedback is
screened to ensure no slander or misuse. Remember,
Premium Listings with the most reviews will remain at
the top of their given categories.
- I have a Lifetime Listing, how long
does it really last for? The definition of a
Lifetime Listing to us is either the Life of your
business or as long as the My Local Services website is
on the air! To try and counter stale listings and to
allow for businesses that do unfortunately close down,
we will send you an automated email every 6 - 12 months
to make sure you're still there, and would like to
continue advertising.
- This is really working, can I increase my coverage
and exposure? Yes you can! A Lifetime Premium
Listing will include you in searches for your chosen
categories within your town. If you would like to be
covered for searches across every town in your region or
County, then this becomes a Lifetime Regional Listing,
which has a one off set up fee of £10 plus VAT. If you
wanted to be included in searches for the County next
door, or in fact any County, then it's just a further
one off fee of £10 plus VAT per County. It's as simple as that! An
example could be a Web Designer in Leeds, who
decides they would like to be included in Web Designer
searches across the whole of London, which we
class as a Region, so is a one off £10 for Life! You can
add a Regional upgrade
to your listing at any time, just simply
contact us and we'll have
you up and running in minutes.
- Why should I pay for a web link? Other
directories give me this for free! We believe there
is a balance between professional advertising, value for
money and quality of service. Our key mission is to
generate page views for your listing coupled with efficient
quality customer service. We are a human edited directory, in
other words all listings, reviews and feedback is
manually checked. The major search engines such as
Google and Yahoo add more value to one way links from human edited
directories, as they are seen as trusted resources.
Also 95% of the internet traffic that arrives on My
Local Services originates from the UK. As a UK Business
Directory, this may seem obvious, but a lot of free link
directory traffic may originate anywhere in the world.
Not many people in Texas are looking for a window
cleaner in Peckham!
But that doesn't mean you shouldn't utilise free
link directories, just be aware of the quality of the
site you are signing up with. Do you have to link back
to receive a link? Paid and
free link directory submission should form part of your
online marketing strategy. Remember the more quality
links you have to your site, then the better your site
will be received and rated by the major search engines.
- I've heard that directory web links are no
longer valued by search engines? Some
directories, forums and even social networking sites
have lowered the value of links by making them what's
known as "No
Follow" links (such as this one). In other words they are ignored
or devalued by search engines and offer reduced or
little
SEO
value. My Local Services doesn't use the "No Follow"
rule for links in Business Listings, so any Links you
add will have their full SEO value.
- Why has my listing disappeared?
You must remember to keep your email address current. If
you don't update your email address details, this will
mean any potential customers can't contact you, and our
automated email won't be able to confirm your details.
If we are unable to confirm your details twice in a
six month period, then it will be assumed you are no
longer trading and your listing will be removed. You
would no longer have a Lifetime or Premium or Regional
Listing, so you would need to re-list your business if
you decided to continue with a Premium Listing.
- How do I cancel or suspend my Premium,
Regional or Basic Listing? I'm afraid you can't suspend your
listing, but if you need to cancel it for any reason,
just simply telephone, email or write to us with
the name of your business and ask us to remove your
listing. All of our contact details are at the bottom of
this page.
- My Local Services Charity Partnerships. We have a strong
bond with the charity sector, and are happy to give
complimentary Premium Listings to Charities, Voluntary
groups, and other community groups. If you work with any
charity organisations please forward our contact details
and we would be happy to offer them free advertising and
use of our events planners.
If you would like to contact us, select the contact tab at the bottom of
this page. We welcome all
feedback, from enquires, further information or criticism, and take all
comments seriously.
We are striving to make this site as user friendly as possible, and
welcome all of your views. If there is anything you would like to see on
the site, something you don’t like, found a link that doesn’t work, or
information that is out of date, please tell us. My Local Services is
evolving, and new features or styling are a result of your feedback.
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