submission to regional based section - must it have a specific street address?

Hi,

Firstly thanks for taking the time to look through the forum and answer questions

My wife and I run a photography business and we are based in a small town in England, in the contact page of the site we do not list a street address (though the name of the town is in the site title on the front page, front page text and text on the contact page).

To comply with the ODP guidelines does the site have to list a street address on the contact page, I would rather avoid this because though we are location based much of our work is outside the studio and as the studio is also our home we only allow visits by appointment.

Thanks!

Sil

We prefer that you provide a street address but if you have good reasons not to do so, strong circumstantial evidence will suffice.

Mentioning the name of the locality prominently and a geographic phone number help. A post code (which doesn't identify your dwelling) is even better. Saying that you're based in the South West and giving an 0870 or 0800 phone number wouldn't be acceptable.

it says on the contact page

Please call any time on (town name) (local phone code)
or enter your enquiry on the web form below.

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I was thinking perhaps I would need to include some text about why our street address is not listed but I'd rather not have to make changes which I wouldn't normally include in the hope of satisfying ODP guidelines (sorry am not saying I wouldn't add them - just I'd prefer not to if I can avoid it).

Thanks!

Sil

If you do "callers to the studio by appointment only", please make sure you say that on the website.

I once tried to visit a company having found their address on a website, and was met with a "No appointment? No entry." sign only after I got to their front door.

giz said:

If you do "callers to the studio by appointment only", please make sure you say that on the website.

I once tried to visit a company having found their address on a website, and was met with a "No appointment? No entry." sign only after I got to their front door.

Click to expand...

yes - that's the kind of thing I want to avoid and the very reason that I don't want to add my studio (+ home) address to the pages

Sil

??????? <url removed -- no signatures, even pseudo-signatures>

But remember, no address is a red flag to many Regional editors and put the burden of proof on your website to convince the (potentially very suspicious) editor that your business is real.

I rarely list a site within Regioal that does not have an address -- but I don't edit on that side of the Atlantic.

I think what I'll do is put a rough map on the page we an arrow saying 'we are here' or something - I don't want to put a full street address as most of the work we do is not at the studio itself but in and around the town - so we are 'region based' though not specifically at a fixed location,. humm

Sil

I don't know whether or not this applies to you, but it might be relevent to others reading this thread with similar situations...

We list sites in regional by their location - and we need evidence on the site that shows us (and therfore general surfers) that the site does belong in that regional category. If someone just puts "Big Town" as their address, one has to wonder whether they're actually based there or in some nearby village. If the latter, then the site should be listed in the category for the village (should one exist) and not under the category for the nearby town. This raises the the question of whether the submitter is deliberately confuising their location in order to get into a category they perceive as being better for their business.

So, the upshot is, please try to be as specific as you feel able to be about your location (eg. the "Such-and-Such area of SomethingTown", "near the centre of OtherVille", or like you say a rough map), since it will make any checking by editors much easier.

I'd rather not have to make changes which I wouldn't normally include in the hope of satisfying ODP guidelines

Click to expand...

You definitely shouldn't need to do this. If you are adequately meeting your users' needs, you'll be meeting ODP's also.

If you do "callers to the studio by appointment only", please make sure you say that on the website.

Click to expand...

If you make it clear on your website that you work either on location or at your studio by appointment, and then include just the rough location (street) plus a phone number for contact, you'll have provided enough information that potential customers need, and incidentally, what ODP needs.

thanks for all the advice,

I've put a map onto the contact page with a red circle outlining our location and specified visits by appointment only and re-submitted, hopefully this is sufficient (fingers crossed)

Sil