Working with the lovely bunch at Carbon DX, I recently took part in the development of a new site build for Calm, an interesting beauty therapy service you can experience from the comfort of your home. Calm provides a range of treatments, therapies and products without you having to leave the house.
Take a look at the new Calm site. And if you fancy a massage or perhaps some aromatherapy, contact Fiona over at Calm.
As part of the ongoing growth and development of My Neighbourhoods we’ve teamed up with two new partners to bring our members some excellent local content and a source of making money from the site. First up, is ParkatmyHouse.com, an innovative service that allows you to make money from your unused car space or find somewhere to park, without having to pay extortionate prices. Created by Anthony Eskinazi, ParkatmyHouse.com is a niche idea that is set to revolutionise the parking industry. Whether you are a member of My Neighbourhoods or not, you can see parking spaces within a 5 mile radius from your postcode listed under “Parking” in the My Area section of the site.
Our second new partner is JobTonic, the refreshing recruitment referral web site that lets you refer friends for jobs and gives you the finders fee (starting at 75% of the total amount rising to 100% the more you use the site). Again, jobs from your city are listed in the My Area section of the My Neighbourhoods web site.
Find out more about ParkatmyHouse.com and JobTonic.
Today we launched a new site for GP Studio working with Chris Poulton and his lovely team. GP Studio are an excellent bunch of designers with expertise in many different areas (interiors, packaging, product and all things creative). We translated their design and interesting concept of a one page web site into reality and I think the results are excellent.
Take a look at the new: www.gpstudio.uk.com
Dan Taylor over at Fabric of Folly has posted an interesting article on niche social networks, compiling a list of those already out there. My Neighbourhoods makes it on the list under ‘Neighbours’.
Although I feel My Neighbourhoods has the potential to reach more than a niche market (most people in the UK belong to a community by nature of where they live) it’s extremely interesting to see a significant list of niche sites. As the market share for global social networks is eaten up by My Space et al I’m sure niche sites will continue to launch. The success of sites like Dogster is testimony to this.
After little over 3 months My Neighbourhoods has surpassed 1,000 registered users. It’s a small milestone but one that should help make the site even more appealing as it grows. After all, the site is all about the people who join and getting to know them, whether they live locally, in your city or across the UK.
As well as new features and various improvements, there are a number of partnerships in the pipeline that will help take the site further. I’m more than happy to discuss other potential partnerships so feel free to call or email.
It’s been a busy few weeks at both Digi Nut and My Neighbourhoods. We’ve added the first few in a range of new features to the site as well as upgraded the server to cope with increased demand (the old server was creaking under the strain). Here’s a quick breakdown of what’s been introduced over the past few weeks:
New server
So the site is quicker and ready for even more new features, which are in development as I type…
WeeWorld partnership
I’m delighted to say we signed a partner contract with WeeWorld so you can now easily use your WeeMee character in your My Neighbourhoods profile. Check out an example here. Thanks to Lexie and Obi for their close work in getting the API tested and implemented. (We are one of the first, if not the first, to make use of their newly opened API.)
Profile image
Users can now upload their own profile image so you can get an even better idea of your neighbours and other members.
New local area and city information
We’ve increased the content provided about your area and city, including local health information, regular events, jobs and news. Our members and site users can find out even more about their local community and city.
Enhanced profile
Further improvements and additions have been made to our user profiles based on feedback from current members, including tag based data that will help define new features in the months to come. The new additions also help users get to know their neighbours and other members even more.
There’s much more in development so keep checking back for more details or subscribe to the RSS feed. As always, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
We all know how important inbound links are to Search Engine Optimisation. A new and easy-to-use service has recently launched allowing you to achieve this in a few simple steps. The web app, King of the List, allows site owners to create links (with chosen keywords in the link, which is also important) and push these links to the top of a list, dubbed “crowning”.
One user even claims to have been included on Google within 24 hours as a result. I’m not entirely sure this is the direct result of using King of the List but it’s an interesting concept and a cost effective way of starting the essential task of building inbound links.
I attended Monday night’s Creative Out evening organised by Robert Loch, of Internet Peeps fame, and it was a thoroughly entertaining night. The format was informal with attendees invited to talk for a minute or two on creative concepting, with socialising and mingling afterwards. There were a variety of people from designers and entrepreneurs to writers and journalists.
I met Jemima Kiss, a journalist for the Guardian New Media, who wrote an excellent breakdown of the night and had kind words to say about My Neighbourhoods on the Guardian blog:
Also present was Danny Bull, creator of myneighbourhoods.co.uk. It’s a fledgling social net that he described as a combination of UpMyStreet, Fish4 and MySpace. The idea is to help people communicate with their neighbours and, though it’s still early days, he said members have already started emailing each other. Two of them have started jogging together. From small seeds.
Find out about future events at the Creative Out web site. I would highly recommend attending if you are based in or around the London area.
My Neighbourhoods was again picked up by the national press last week; Lucia Adams from the Bricks & Mortar section called to find out more about the site. The short article mentioned My Neighbourhoods in relation to to a report by the National Association of Estate Agents.
Fortunately it [neighbour-networking] is also an activity which is increasingly achievable online: www.myneighbourhoods.co.uk is a new website that will enable you to get to know the locals without actually having to meet them.
