•  How do I find a Plumber, Builder, Electrician, Hotel or other service local to me?
•  Why isn’t my town listed?
•  Why would I want to review a local business or tradesman?
•  How can I advertise here?
•  Can I have a banner add on the home page?
•  Can I upgrade a free listing to a Premium Listing?
•  Is it true MLS adopts a charity for each area?
•  We are a charity or non profit organization, can we have a free Premium Listing?
•  How do I place an ad in more than one category or area?
•  There is no events planner on my local county website!
•  Is “My Local News” available to everyone?
•  You keep saying contact us… how? and do you take our views seriously?

Easy. On the homepage, simply type in the business type or in the middle box the business name you are looking for. In the third box, just add whatever location you would like to see the results. This could be your village, town, county or even postcode. We’ve tried to make it as easy and friendly as we can, and if we can’t find your exact requirements, we have tried to offer suggestions.

We have a licensing agreement with the Post Office which means we should have every village, town and county in the UK. Sometimes, people have local terms for their village or town, which may not be in our database. Examples of local terms we have added are “Brum” for Birmingham, “Pompey” for Portsmouth and “Warks” for Warwickshire. We are constantly improving this service, so if you know of a local term for your area which our database doesn’t know, then tell us!! Likewise, if you think we have a category missing, let us know.

The idea behind the review system is twofold; the more positive reviews a company receives - the higher up the relevant category they will appear, and secondly, it allows you the Customer to choose a company by reputation (all businesses are listed in relevant categories by merit as opposed to alphabetically). You can leave a recommendation for any business listed on our database. To leave feedback, simply select the “add your own review” icon on the home page, and follow the instructions.

We are only interested in positive recommendations, in other words if you have had a good experience which you think other people may find useful. This isn’t the forum for trying to post negative comments. Any slanderous or obscene comments will not be published and will be deleted. There are plenty of websites dedicated to the slander of companies, we want to show that people have had good experiences and to highlight companies worthy of mention. If you have had a genuine bad experience, try contacting the company direct, failing that, try any professional body they belong to. If they are a genuine rogue company, seek advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau, who can offer a wealth of information and assistance.

There are three options, a free listing, a Premium Listing or a National Listing.

A free listing will allow you to enter the name of your company, address and telephone number.

A Premium Listing will allow you to have a complete page to advertise your business. You can have up to 1000 words to describe your company and services, upload 2 pictures, add your link to your own website, choose up to 3 categories for your company to appear, and have access to update the events planner. You will also have a map provided by Microsoft showing your location, allowing people to easily find you.

All of this will be fully editable and no extra charge, and you can edit as many times as you like. If you would like to advertise your business, select this link: Advertising with My Local Services

A National Listing follows the same structure of a Premium Listing, but will be displayed on every search that includes one of your categories.

We have listened to feedback from website users and customers alike. The general opinion is that banner ads tend to annoy people when they are plastered all over the place, especially with the tendency of new ads to include pop up features. So at MLS we have listened to you and kept the Home and County Portal pages free of Banner Ads. The only Banner Adverts we will show is one that appears when a user does a search, and one which appears on all free basic listings. If you would like more information about advertising, select this link: Advertising with My Local Services

Yes, if you select your free listing, and click the big green Edit this Listing Button, you will be able to create a Premium Listing at a discounted online price! Simply follow the onscreen prompts. Any problems, contact the team on 01564 794676 or contact us using the contact tab at the top of this screen.

Unfortunately this didn't prove to be a practical to implement. So instead we concentrate on a few Charities such as Age Concern and the Air Ambulance. You can see which charity an area supports by looking at the logo in the top right hand side of the screen.

Definitely. We welcome all charities, good causes or non profit organizations. By offering you a free Premium Listing, you can make use of the events planner to advertise any fundraising activities, as well as benefit from some free marketing, there is no catch – we are dedicated to fostering an online community for all. If you would like a Premium Listing, further information, or not sure if you qualify, then please contact us on either 01564 794676 or use the contact tab at the top of this page.

If you would like to see an example of a well known charity that has listed with us, then select the below link:

Londons Air Ambulance

If you take out a Premium Listing, you can select up to 3 categories. Your listing will be searchable from the County you are listed in, and is based on your businesses address. If you are looking for nationwide advertising, then why not consider taking out a National Listing? This will mean you are searchable from anywhere in the UK. For more information have a look at our prices tab above.

Events planners are now live on all County Portals, but will only appear if events have been listed.

Yes! The News is brought to you by live feed direct from your local BBC newsroom - Search for a builder in Paignton, and you will see regional news for Devon. Search for a builder in Antrim, and you will see regional news for Northern Ireland.

If you would like to contact us, select the contact tab at the top of the website. This will be displayed on most web pages. 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.