Instructions and tips: Creating the best listing possible

Instructions

Step 1 Prepare images

To make sure your images are optimised correctly for the website they must meet the following criteria.

  • Orientation: must be landscape not portrait.
  • Dimensions: 1500 pixels wide along the longest side is best (otherwise they will appear blurry).
  • Resolution: 72dpi (any bigger doesn’t improve quality)
  • Size: no bigger than 300KB. That’s a third of 1MB. Any bigger and the form will not submit.

Need help re-sizing your images? You could try the free online tool PicResize.com. Upload your image then edit it as follows:
Resize Your Picture: select Custom Size and type in ‘1500’ pixels for width and ‘1000’ pixels for height.
Save As: select File Type ‘JPEG’ and File Quality ‘Good’ and Max Filesize as ‘300’

Step 2 Prepare your business information

  • Description. This is where you describe your organisation and what it does.
  • Organisation email – will be shown online
  • Organisation phone number – will be shown online
  • Website URL. If you don’t have a website you can list a Google Business page or a social media platform.
  • Social media URLs – optional
  • Opening times – optional
  • Organisation address . The listing will not submit without an address. If you prefer not to show your address, please enter the address of your nearest tube station.

Step 3 Have your bank details to hand

You will need your bank account number and sort code to set up a direct debit. We cannot accept card payments for subscriptions. We use GoCardless to process our direct debit mandates.

Step 4 Create a user account

You must have a Roman Road LDN user account to access the Place listing form. If you haven’t yet created one, you will need to register. If you already have a Roman Road LDN account you will need to login. If you have forgotten your password you can change your password here.

Step 5 Return to this page

Once you are logged in you must return to this page: https://romanroadlondon.com/add-place-listing

Step 6 Select the package

Select the correct package before completing the form. See more about membership options.

Step 7 Checkout and discounts

After you submit the form, you will automatically be taken to Checkout where you will be asked to enter your bank account and sort code numbers. Once the debit mandate is confirmed, your listing will be checked and published. The checkout page is where you can enter a discount code.

Tips

What should the photo be?

Images that have a smiling face catch the attention. For example, shops that show a photograph of the owner standing outside the shop with a big smile on their face tends to get more positive reviews. We recommend you use this for the feature image.

If your membership allows several photos you can also include photographs of the interior of your venue, any additional space as well as products.

How do I optimise the photo?

You can optimise the image for search engines by filling in the field called Caption as this also acts at the Image Alt Tag. We suggest the Caption/Alt tag includes your organisations name.

How many words should my description be?

How many words We strongly recommend between 250 and 300 words as this is optimum amount for an information page to rank well online. TIP: You can submit with fewer words to get it live and then edit your listing later.

What do I write?

Try writing an opening sentence the briefly summaries some of the most salient FIVE Ws: Who, Where, What, Why, When. For example:

Established in 2021, Creative Cakes on Wellington Street in Bow sells baked goods for people on specialist diets.

Then write a paragraph on each of the Ws.

Where? The culinary boutique enjoys a central location on Roman Road, near the junction with Bexhill Road. Look out for the pink-painted shopfront.

When? Creative Cakes opened in Bow in 2021 following the lockdown, when owner Parbina Begum first got the idea. Before then Creative Cakes operated only as a mail order service.

What? The shop sells a range of cakes, cookies ,biscuits and pastries for people with specialist diets including celiac, diabetes, dairy-free and gluten-free. Bakes goods are sold individually for walk-in trade or can be ordered for parties. There is also a postal delivery service.

Who? The shop was launched by local Bow resident Parbina Begum, who brings her mixed heritage to the kitchen table, drawing on Bengali, British and French cultures for her culinary creations. She appeared in the Great British Bakeoff in 2018 and has since gone on to write a book called Candy-Free Kids. Begum left her career as a teacher at Central Foundation to follow her baking passion. Before opening the shop, Begum used to sell cakes at Spitalfields Market.

Why? Parbina Begum was born with Type 1 diabetes. She remembers never being able to share celebratory cakes and sweet treats at her friends’ birthday parties. When she was 14 years old Parbina realised that sugar-free cakes were not only good for people with diabetes but were also better for all children. So Parbina started experimenting with sugar-free versions of favourite cakes that children would love but were also sugar-free. Soon family friends were asking her to bake these healthy, sugar-free cakes for their children’s birthdays. When she couldn’t keep up with the volume of orders, she decided to expand.

What should I add in ‘special offers’?

Special offers can include things such as 10% off for first purchase or a special deal for seasonal days such as Free glass of champagne for Valentines Day. Don’t forget to edit your listing and remove the offer when it’s over to make sure your listing doesn’t look dated.