The top websites to be listed on to get your setting noticed

In order to boost your enquiries (and therefore enrollments and revenue), parents and carers first have to know you exist. If your setting is located away from a main road or a path with high foot traffic, it's even more essential you make the effort to make yourselves visible to prospective parents online.

While word-of-mouth is important, that only helps prospective parents who already have a network to refer to. If they're new to the area, for example, parents are far more likely to Google "find a nursery near me" and that means you want your setting to be top of the results they get.

So with that in mind, here's our list of the websites to make sure your setting is on so you can be found online.

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Build your Own Website

A website of your own is the best way for prospective parents and carers to find your nursery online.

Having your own site means you can ensure all the information about your nursery up-to-date, but don't worry if you can't code. Companies like Wix and Squarespace make setting up and maintaining a website relatively simple. You can choose your own beautiful design, friendly text, and the photos you want.

If you want to aim for the top of the list of nurseries in the search results, take a look at our beginners' guide to search engine optimisation. However, if that's more technical than you'd like to get, some of the out-of-the-box website companies will offer you this service as an add-on cost.

In regards to creating your own site, sooner really is better. Google and other search engines tend to favour more established sites when ranking search results. For example, if your closest competition already has a website that's many years old, they'll likely rank higher than you, and so get more clicks. Do it today!

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Create a profile on Google Business

By setting up your Early Years setting on Google Business, you’re increasing your chances of appearing near the top of the listings when people search for ‘nursery or pre-school near me’.

It's absolutely key that you give as much information as you can, including:

• Your opening hours, for example, full week or school hours only.
• Exactly where you're situated, with your full address and postcode.
• Whether you offer full-time care or you're term-time only and they type of education and care you offer, like Montessori, for example.
• Contact details of the setting.
• Professional photographs of your setting and the staff. Don't forget about parental consent if you're using photos of the children.
• Reviews from past and current happy parents.
• Who can apply, for example, children aged 3 months to five years.

This is where all the information that appears on Google maps and those cards on the right-hand side of a search comes from. Even better, it's free.

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Claim your setting on DayNurseries.co.uk

This website frequently shows up at the top of Google searches around nurseries and childcare, and many parents use it to find a setting for their child. Claiming and filling out your profile really can support you to get more traffic to your website and boost enquiries.

Setting up an account is easy and you can even pay a little bit extra to appear at the top of the listings - they have monthly packages for enhanced listings. Don’t forget to include as much information as you can in your profile, to make sure people can get in touch with you.

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Create a page for your setting on Facebook

The best way to get parents to see your setting is to meet them where they are. And, for many of this generation of parents, that means engaging with them on social media.

Not only are you able to advertise to potential customers on there, but many parents will use your Facebook page as a starting point to get an idea of what kind of day-to-day activities their children will be doing at your nursery.

Once again, the most important thing is to have information that parents need readily available. If they can't immediately see a link to your website, a contact number, or where you're located, you could be missing out.

Take a look at our free guide on how to promote your nursery for some inspiration and advice.

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Claim your profile on Childcare.co.uk

Childcare.co.uk appears highly in many of the searches that parents might be making, but many parents go there specifically to check out options in their local area. You can add photos, availability, general information and ‘tags’ so that if parents are using the advanced search to find something specific, they’ll get to you first.

The site orders profiles by how many reviews you have, and often nurseries only have one or two. So if you can get only a few of parents to leave reviews, you can guarantee that you’ll appear at the top of the search below the featured nurseries.

Free to register. Although you can upgrade to a gold membership which gives you access to a whole range of added extras, including being featured at the top of listings.

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Create a listing on Netmums

Netmums is a place for parents to find advice and information about a whole range of topics and they have fairly comprehensive listings of nurseries and daycare options, ordered by location. With a strong community on their site for parenting tips and advice, it’s likely that many parents will also be using them to find childcare options in their area.

Sign up first to start making your free listing, but can upgrade to a ‘gold listing’ which will stand out at the top of listings. Most nurseries on the site seem to use many long paragraphs to describe themselves in the ‘Description’ section. Instead, consider using bullet points to highlight your features, and make the listing more scannable for busy parents.