Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is Manchester Local?
Manchester Local is a huge source of information for your local town and neighbourhood. You can easily find local businesses, clubs and societies and entertainment and travel web sites as well as post a wide range of classifieds. If you want to publicise an event, or see what's going on in your town, then use the events calendar and keep yourself and your neighbourhood up to date. It's all free!

Who is Manchester Local for?
We hope everyone can use this web site and find it a great free source of local information. Because we aim it at everyone, we respectfully ask you to be careful about what your post in your classifieds, events and profile. Please don't make offensive, defamatory or "adult" posts. Our users can report any post or profile that they find offensive and we will delete anything that may upset people and, if necessary, ban you from using our site.

Do I need to upgrade to commercial membership?
No! If you are happy being able to place one link, which may be to a commercial website, in the directory and to post up to two events and classifieds, then you are more than welcome to remain a "personal" member - we're glad to have you around! Please note, though, that we don't allow personal members to promote commercial products and services in classifieds, events or their profile.

So why should I upgrade to "Commercial" membership?
You should upgrade to commercial membership if you want to promote your products and services into your local market. We help you do this by allowing you to post up to ten links, which can be to the same web site, but only one per town; to post classifieds in the jobs, services and special offers sections and to provide further commercial information in your profile. As this only costs £19 GBP per year, we hope that you think this is excellent value.

How do I upgrade to commercial membership status?
You can do this from your control panel. There is a link on the right hand menu that takes you to an upgrade page. We use PayPal to set up a renewable subscription on an annual basis. Once you have set up the subscription, you will be diverted back to Manchester Local and your membership will be automatically upgraded. We are fully PayPal verified.

How many links can I add to the directory?
You can add one free link to any town and category you choose, if you have free personal membership. If you upgrade to commercial membership you can add a total of 5 links, however we only allow one link per town, unless you are a web developer with many customers in the same town (see below).

Why do you restrict the number of links allowed?
We want to make this a useful local resource for a wide range of people and therefore want a large number of diverse web sites listed for our users benefit. We don't want people and businesses "spamming" every category in their town to boost their presence. Instead we want to give local businesses an opportunity to market their products and services in their neighbouring towns as well as in their own locality.

Can a "personal" member post a link to a commercial web site?
Yes! We recognise that many people are happy with the personal level of membership, but still want to list their business in the directory. We are pleased to support this as it helps promote local businesses as well as be of use to our users.

What about web designers?
We know that many web designers have customers in the same town and want to promote their websites as part of their service. This means that they may need to post more than one link for the same town. Once a web designer has upgraded to commercial status, we can arrange for the one site per town restriction to be removed for their account. A point to mention, though, is that it will be the web designer's profile that is shown for each listing and not their customers so it might be better for the web designer to create an account for each customer if they want to enable profiles.

How do web designers remove the link restriction?
Once a web designer has upgraded to commercial member status, please contact us and we will remove the "one link per town" restriction. Please note that we still only allow 5 links per commercial account so if you require more than this, you should subscribe to another commercial account with a different user name.

What is a profile?
A profile is a great way of telling people more about you or your business! If you are a looking for friends in your neighborhood, or have a business and want to promote your products and services, then a profile is perfect for this. Clubs, societies and charities can also provide more information about what they do with their profile. Its there, free for you to use, if you want!

Do I have to publish my profile?
No! You only need to provide a profile if you want to and then you need only provide information that you want. You can turn off your profile in the control panel.

Can people contact me through my profile?
Yes! - but only if you want them to. We never publish your email address so if anyone wants to contact you, they fill in a form at the end of your profile and then it is sent as a private message. If you don't want people to contact you, then turn that feature of in the control panel. You are fully in control of what you want to publish and how any communication proceeds.

Can I post an image in my profile?
Yes, but only if you have commercial membership.

Can I post a link to my web site in my profile?
Yes, but only if you have commercial membership. If you have listed an image in your profile (commercial members only) then the image will also click though to your web site.

What is an event?
An event in Manchester Local is basically a way of publicizing a meeting, festival, gig or some other event to your local community. It's an ideal way for businesses to promote a special sale or limited time deal, for example, as long as they have upgraded to commercial status.

How many events can I publish?
If you have personal membership you can have two events at any time and an unlimited number of events if you are a commercial member.

What does "Report to Admin" mean?
You can report any event, classified or profile to the administration team if you feel that it offends you or if it disobeys our rule of no publishing of commercial content by personal members (other then one commercial web site listing in the directory). Complaining about a posting in this way is completely anonymous so please use this facility to keep Manchester Local a wonderful local resource for everyone.

What happens when I send a report to admin?
We investigate the comments that you enter on the form and should we feel that your view is justified for the good of the site, we will act accordingly. As we don't know who is making the report we cannot keep you informed of our decision unless you choose to include an email address in the report form.

Is "Report to Admin" just for complaints?
No! If you see a category that has been entered wrongly or a town mispelled or just plain wrong, for example, please use the "Report to Admin" facility to let us know. It's all about keeping Manchester Local a great resource for your local community.