As a business owner, you want to ensure that your business is being presented in a true and accurate manner and you can do this by ‘claiming‘your listing.

A ‘claimed’ listing is one that has been verified by the business owner or someone who works at the business. This individual then takes control for the content of the listing.

Once a listing is claimed, there are a number of benefits that are available to you.

Ownership
Your listing is locked so that you are the only person who can update it. Accurate and up to date details are of the upmost importance from your customer’s perspective. From your contacts details & opening times to what services andor products you currently offer, keeping your listing up to date

Verified Listing
Your listing becomes ‘verified’ adding additional trust and credibility. This lets your customers know that your listing is being managed by the business and so will be accurate and up to date. It also shows your customers that you take a keen interest in communicating with then and keeping them informed with your latest activities.

Verified listings are marked as **** and so stand out from others.

Email Alerts
You’ll receive email alerts whenever anyone posts a review or add photos to your listing (users can upload photos for unverified listings only– see Ownership). This means you’ll be notified when customers are saying about your business.

Extra Images
You’ll be able to add and manage ‘official’ photos on the front page of your listing. Users can upload their photos to any unverified listing, once verified; only you can upload photos to your listing. This could be crucial as you’ll want to present your business I the best possible light.

Featured Listing
You’ll have the option to upgrade your listing (for a small cost) to ‘featured’ which means your listing will appear first on the home page.

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We all know that internet shopping is still growing and seems to shown no sign of abating. In 2011, 12% of UK retail sales were made online, that’s just over £50 billion! and is up from 8% in 2008 (source: retailresearch.org).

However, in the words of Sir Issac Newton, “for every action there is an equal and opposite action” and in the case of the Internet shopping boom, in contrast, High street shops have seen a slump in sales on a similar scale. But all is not lost, the tide is beginning to turn and the High st is fighting back.

The change in fortune is all down to new breed of customer, commonly referred to as the ‘local online shopper‘.

The Local Online Shopper

Local online shoppers like tradition online shopper, use the Internet to research products and find the best deal they can for goods & services they’re looking to purchase. The big difference being rather than place an order online, these type of shoppers instead prefer to find a local business.

Here’s a few thought provoking stats for you:

• 70% of households now use the Internet as an information source when shopping locally for products and services (Kelsey Group)
• 31% of all buyers turn to a Search Engine first when looking for a locally based product or service
• Product Research and Comparison shopping happens online, but 67% of those purchases happen offline (Accenture)
• 90% of purchases are made within 50 miles of a person’s home (Kelsey)

Let’s look at these stats a little closer:

• 43% of all searches on the Google network included a geographical identifier.
• 86% of those people followed up with a phone call
• 61% of those people ended up making a purchase offline
• 25% of all commercial Internet Searches are conducted by users looking for Local Merchants (Kelsey)
• 35% of all Searches are ‘local’ (DM News)
• More than 80% of people search online before they make a  purchase. (Constat)

Articles highlighting the trend in local shopping.

Local shopping driven by the internet

Nearly half of all UK consumers are using the web to find the best local shops, a new study has found. The 2011 American Express Spendsetters Report found that 46 per cent of British consumers now shop locally and 32 per cent said that they “now mainly shop for everyday purchases from local sources”. A similar number (31 per cent) said sourcing local products is “a priority when making essential purchases”.

Read full article …

Internet is indispensable when it comes to local shopping

If 97 percent qualifies as “everyone” (and it very nearly does), then everyone is using the web to enhance local shopping.

Read full article …

So Why ChepstowLife.co.uk?

Ok, so hopefully all the above has shown you the changing trend in online shopping and why you need to ensure your business doesn’t get left behind. So, back to the original question, why list on ChepstowLife.co.uk? Here’s a few reasons why we think you should choose us.

• Use us to help local customers find you: We work extremely hard at Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) to maximise your online presence. We’re a brand new site so it’s early days but we’re confident we’ll soon be ranking on page 1 in the search engines for search terms your customer’s use.
• Cost-effective marketing tool: A dedicated page on our high traffic site is often better than your own website. A direct link from ChepstowLife.co.uk to your own website will help to increase your search engine rankings and more important, send targeted customers to your site.
• Be part of the Chepstow online community: Sure they are many other online directory you could list your business with but remember, as a bricks & mortar business, the majority of your customers are going to be local.  Through this site, you’ll be see as an active participant in the Chepstow community.
• Our reviews help your business: By encouraging your customers to review your listing – positive reviews will encourage new customers to come to you, make your listing stand out on this site as well as improve your search engine rankings.

What Next?

So, if your ready, then go ahead and Submit Your Business. You’ll need to first  register as a user first as this will allow you to edit your listing as well as ‘claiming’ your business , which gives you many benefits – have a read of  The Benefits of Claiming a Listing.

Please note, all submission are subject to approval and we’ll do our very best to process your submission within 5 working days.

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