As a local Mum and someone who loves to plan for future endeavours, sometimes I have found it super hard to find important details for groups, clubs, activities etc for the kids to join now and in the future, without having to contact every organiser and be that annoying person asking a million questions, and speaking to other Mums it seems like this is a widespread problem. Therefore (as a Web Developer too) I have gone ahead and created the BTLR Directory!
I know that a lot of organisations run on a small budget or are non-profit, therefore building their own website can be an unnecessary expense and people still have to find you online.
The Directory (at this stage) is mainly for all activities, businesses, clubs, cultural or community groups that provide services for kids aged 0-16years and is completely FREE to add a listing! It is not a “business directory”, although if you offer services as a business such as tutoring or other paid services that is absolutely fine, but it is for all types of organisations and clubs to make it easier for locals to find the info they need to sign their kids up.
It allows local organisations to register and add all their information to their own listing/page and also manage/edit it going forward, with no added expenses, and makes it super simple for local families to find the information they need.
And not only that, it is also completely free for anyone to submit events to the Events part of the directory, without having to register, just fill out the event form!
You can also just register as a ‘Subscriber’ so that you can save your favourite listings to find them easy later, or leave reviews for your favourite groups and organisations too.
BTLR stands for Big Trees Little Roots, at the moment we are focusing on our Little Roots (kids), the ones that keep us grounded, require nurturing and guidance, and are growing way too quickly! Looking forward we are also going to be opening it up to Marlborough and the West Coast too, and then looking at other groups such as our Big Trees (Adults) – 65+ years and Pregnant/New Mums because we know how important it is for those groups to socialise and find support easily too!!
First of all… it’s FREE, so you’re not losing anything!
Other than the benefits this directory will bring families in making it easier for them to find groups and extra-curricular activities, as we grow and more people become aware of the directory we will also be sharing the listings and events on Facebook & Social Media, so you will be getting free advertising!
If your group or organisation cannot afford to get your own website designed too, then this Directory will be a big help as it will allow you to be found on Search Engines… without having to pay for your own site!
If you click 'Add Listing' and you are not yet registered or logged in you'll be taken straight to the registration form. Here you can sign up, then you will receive an email to verify your email address (if you do not receive one, check your spam or contact us because there may be an error in your address).
Click 'Add Listing', and you will be taken to the Add Listing part of your Profile/Account, scroll down to the listing form to add all of the details, images, links and even forms/files for people to download.
It is always best to click 'Preview Listing' first so you can see what your listing looks like, check all the details are correct, and make sure you have chosen the best possible image for your feature image!
Once you are happy with the details, simple press Submit, then sit back and relax!
Under 'Events', click 'Add an Event'. You don't even have to be registered or logged into add an event!
Fill out all the details for the event. Share as much as you can, including images, location, costs, links to event pages on Facebook, Organiser contact information, everything!
Once you are happy with the details, simple press Submit, then sit back and relax!
Since we don't require people to be registered to submit events, we do have to approve it before it'll show, just to check for errors or make sure it's a real event! But this should take less than 24 hours so keep your eyes peeled and share it once it's up!
