More by the Shore Leith: a website checklist

Your website is ready for More by the Shore Leith if visitors can see the offer, find you and book or enquire without getting stuck. Check the opening times and try the buttons on your phone. You may need a page edit, not a redesign.

When does More by the Shore start?

The campaign’s opening Specials phase runs from 1 October to 8 November 2026. It starts today. The council had announced an early October launch in its 11 September 2026 leader’s report.

That gives Leith and Newhaven businesses a reason to check where campaign visitors will land. It does not mean every visitor will book, or that every business needs a separate campaign website. The useful job is to remove anything that stops someone understanding your offer or taking the next step.

More by the Shore business sign up: prepare your page

Before signing up, have your customer page ready to check. Use the official campaign information linked above to check the current joining instructions. Don’t assume that publishing an offer on your own site registers you for anything.

If you’re asked for a website address, open that exact address on your phone before submitting it. It should go straight to the relevant offer or service, rather than making someone hunt through your homepage.

Check any preview you’re given, including the business name, offer wording and link. Treat campaign registration and website readiness as separate jobs. Getting the first done doesn’t prove the second works.

What should a landing page for a local business show?

A landing page is simply the page someone arrives on after clicking a link. For this campaign, its job is to answer the questions that could otherwise stop a visit or booking.

Use this small business website checklist while reading your page:

• The offer: what does the customer get, and what is excluded?
• Availability: when can they use it, and must they book ahead?
• Cost: is the total charge clear before they commit?
• Location: where is the business, and how do they find the entrance?
• Opening times: when are you open, including any exceptions?
• Next step: should they book, call, enquire or simply come in?

For example, a cafe in Leith promoting a campaign special should say what’s included and when it’s available. A photograph of the food can help, but it cannot replace the conditions. Don’t make someone ring just to discover whether the offer applies on the day they want to visit.

Put the offer and next step near the top. Your business history can sit further down; someone deciding where to go should not have to read it before finding the booking button.

Give directions to the door, not just the postcode

Show the full address as text people can copy. Add a short note if your entrance is round the corner, upstairs or through a shared doorway. A map alone doesn’t explain those details.

For a shop near the Shore, describe the entrance using a permanent feature you have checked. Don’t promise easy parking or step-free access unless you know that is accurate. Where access is limited, say so plainly rather than leaving a customer to discover it outside.

Keep normal opening times separate from the hours when an offer is available. If a salon in Leith takes bookings outside its usual shop hours, explain that difference beside the booking button.

Test the booking route all the way through

A button that opens a form is only part of a working enquiry route. Submit a clearly labelled test enquiry, check that it reaches the right inbox and see what confirmation the customer receives. Then reply to it to check that the conversation can continue.

For a booking system, follow the route through to the available appointment or table options. Check that the campaign offer is recognisable and that any conditions remain clear. Coordinate a test with whoever manages the diary so you don’t accidentally hold a slot or take a payment.

Read the button wording too. If pressing “Book now” only sends a request for someone to call back, change the wording or explain that before the customer submits it. A request is not a confirmed booking.

Tap the phone link and check which number appears. Make sure someone knows who will answer enquiries during the campaign, including messages arriving when you’re closed. A form cannot rescue an unattended inbox.

Check the page on a phone you don’t normally use

Open the public page without signing into your website account. Try it on a mobile connection as well as your usual Wi-Fi, and ask someone else to read it on their phone. Your own device may already have parts of the page saved.

Look for practical problems: an oversized photograph delaying the offer, text that needs pinching to read, or a pop-up covering the booking button. If the page feels slow, record what appears late and ask whoever maintains it to investigate. Don’t accept a redesign proposal that cannot explain the fault it would fix.

Ask your tester to find the offer, opening times and next step without help. Watch where they hesitate rather than explaining what they should click. That hesitation tells you more than asking whether they like the colours.

When you should not pay for a redesign

Joining a campaign does not automatically justify a redesign. If an existing page has a clear offer, current opening times, useful directions and a tested booking or enquiry route, keep it. Doing nothing to the design is fine.

You might only need to change some wording, replace an old photograph or point the campaign link at a better page. An unfashionable layout is not, by itself, evidence that customers cannot use it. Spend against a fault you can show, not a feeling that the site ought to look newer.

If the current site cannot support a clear page or a dependable enquiry route, website creation or redesign may be worth discussing. Ask what the proposed work will fix and how you will check that it has worked.

My guide to website redesign, rebuilding or leaving it alone helps separate small repairs from larger jobs. Make that decision before agreeing to replace pages that already serve customers well.

Check enquiries and plan what happens after 8 November

Write down what you want the page to produce: completed bookings, genuine enquiries, calls or visits to the premises. If you already have a way to count page visits, compare those with the useful actions coming through. More page views are not proof of more work.

Ask new customers how they found you when it fits the conversation, and note repeated questions about the offer. If people keep asking whether booking is required, put the answer beside the button. If nobody is reaching the page, changing its colours won’t solve that problem.

Before the Specials phase ends, decide what the page will show next. Remove any expired offer wording and replace it with your normal offer, or send visitors to the relevant current page. Check the button again after editing so an old saved link still leads somewhere useful.

If you want a second pair of eyes on your campaign page, the consultation (opens in a new tab) is free. I’ll help you work out what needs fixing and what can stay.