Work with L1Local

Help us build a better way to discover Liverpool

Work with L1Local See how partnerships work

Every day, somebody opens their phone and searches for Liverpool.

It might be somewhere to eat on Saturday night.
Something to do with the kids.
Why a road is closed.
When an event starts.
A new restaurant they’ve heard about.
A council decision they don’t understand.
Or simply somewhere nearby they’ve never discovered before.

Those searches look small individually.

Together, they’re part of how people experience a city online.

L1Local exists because we think that experience can be better.

Illustration generated with ChatGPT for L1 Local

Why we’re building it

Useful shouldn’t be unusual

There is no shortage of Liverpool content online.

The harder part is finding the useful stuff among the clickbait, recycled press releases, intrusive advertising and articles that take hundreds of words to answer a simple question.

We want L1Local to be different.

If we cover a council decision, we want readers to understand what was decided, what it costs and what happens next.

If we publish a guide, we want to include the opening times, prices, transport information and other details people actually need to plan their day.

If we recommend somewhere, we want to explain why it is worth their time.

Sometimes the most useful story isn’t the most dramatic one.

It might simply be telling somebody when their recycling centre closes, which train they need, where they can park, whether an attraction is suitable for their children or what changed at a council meeting.

Not everything needs to be sensational.

Sometimes being useful is enough.

And we want that information to remain free to read.

Local discovery

Liverpool is more than the stories making headlines

A city isn’t only the things that make the news.

It’s the café somebody opens after saving for years.
The restaurant taking a chance on its first premises.
The pub that’s been part of a neighbourhood for generations.
The shop competing with companies hundreds of times its size.
The theatre trying to fill a Tuesday night.
The family attraction planning for half-term.
The barber, florist, tattoo studio, hotel, bakery, tradesperson, accountant, venue and independent business trying to make something work.

Those businesses aren’t separate from the Liverpool story.

They’re part of it.

When somebody searches for somewhere to eat, something to do, somewhere to stay or somebody who can help them, we want L1Local to be useful there too.

Good local discovery should help people understand Liverpool.

It should also help them participate in it.

Illustration generated with ChatGPT for L1 Local

Our growth

People are already finding L1Local

Every day, people search for Liverpool.

Somebody wants somewhere to eat on Saturday night.
A parent is looking for something to do during half-term.
Someone needs to know why their road is closed.
A visitor is planning a day in the city.
Another person simply wants to understand something they’ve heard about Liverpool.

Increasingly, L1Local is appearing when they look.

Google Search impressions: 223K
Organic Google clicks: 3.24K
Average Google position: 7.2
7 September – 4 October 2026: 28 days

In 28 days, pages from L1Local appeared more than 223,000 times in Google Search results.

Those aren’t bought advertising impressions.

They’re moments when somebody searched Google and an L1Local page appeared as a possible answer.

More than 3,240 of those searches resulted in somebody choosing an L1Local result and visiting the site.

Across those searches, L1Local’s average Google position was 7.2.

That doesn’t mean every L1Local page ranks seventh.

Search positions vary by query, page, location and time.

It is the average position recorded across the searches included in this Google Search Console data.

“People aren’t only finding L1Local because we put something in their feed. Increasingly, they’re finding us because they’re looking for Liverpool.”

Google Search Console performance report for L1Local web search, 28 days from 7 September to 4 October 2026: 3.24k total clicks and 223k total impressions, with average CTR of 1.5% and average position 7.2, and a daily line chart of clicks and impressions. — Source: Google Search Console. L1Local web search performance, 7 September–4 October 2026.

The opportunity

People don’t search for “advertising”. They search for Liverpool.

The reason those search numbers matter isn’t simply that they’re getting bigger.

It’s what sits behind them.

People search because they want something.

Where should we eat?
What’s happening this weekend?
What can we do with the kids?
How do I get there?
What’s opened?
Where should we stay?
Why is this road closed?
What did the council decide?
Who can help me with this?

Those are useful moments.

And some of them naturally lead to Liverpool businesses.

We don’t want to force an advertiser into every article.

A family attraction doesn’t need to advertise beside a council committee report.

A restaurant doesn’t need to sponsor a transport story simply because the page gets traffic.

The partnership should make sense for the reader and the business.

That’s where we think local publishing can do advertising better.

L1LOCAL answers

NewsWhat’s changing?
What’s onWhat’s happening?
Food & drinkWhere should we go?
TransportHow do we get there?
L1LOCAL
FamilyWhat can we do?
Local businessesWho can help?
HistoryWhat’s the story?
City guidesWhat do I need to know?

Why partnerships exist

Good local publishing still costs money

Being useful sounds simple.

Producing useful information isn’t.

Researching stories takes time.
Council papers need reading.
Claims need checking.
People need contacting.
Guides become outdated.
Opening hours change.
Prices change.
Businesses open and close.
Events move.
Transport information changes.
Photographs need taking.
The website needs maintaining.

Sometimes a story takes hours of work before there is anything worth publishing.

All of that costs money.

We have choices about how we pay for it.

We could chase more clicks.

We could fill pages with more intrusive advertising.

We could produce more low-value stories simply because they generate traffic.

Eventually, we could put useful information behind a subscription.

But that’s not the publication we’re trying to build.

We think there’s another way.

How it works

A partnership should work for everyone

Instead of treating Liverpool businesses as advertising inventory, we’d rather build relationships with businesses that are part of the city we’re covering.

They get useful local exposure.

Their support helps L1Local produce useful work.

Readers continue getting that work without having to pay to access it.

Nobody should be the loser in that relationship.

Illustrations generated with ChatGPT for L1 Local

Where the money goes

When a Liverpool business spends money with L1Local, that money doesn’t disappear into an enormous media company.

It helps us keep doing the work.

It can help pay for the morning spent reading through a council committee report.

It can help keep a transport guide accurate.

It can help us photograph something ourselves rather than relying on another generic image.

It can give us the time to check another source before publishing.

It can help maintain a guide months after the excitement of publishing it has disappeared.

It can help keep L1Local online and available without asking readers for a subscription.

“Businesses get useful exposure.
L1Local gets the resources to produce better work.
Readers get a better publication without having to pay to access it.”

Everybody should get something worthwhile from the relationship.

Trust

What money doesn’t buy

Commercial support only works if readers can tell the difference between something we’ve been paid to promote and something we genuinely decided editorially.

So we want the line to be obvious.

“Working with L1Local doesn’t buy our opinion.”

Independent

News reporting
Investigations
Council coverage
Independent guides
Editorial recommendations
Reviews
Rankings

These aren’t for sale.

Commercial

Featured Business placements
Business Spotlights
Sponsored guides
Social campaigns
Longer-term partnerships

These are paid relationships and we identify them clearly.

Working with L1Local doesn’t buy a favourable review.

It doesn’t buy the number-one position in an independent guide.

It doesn’t determine what we report.

And it doesn’t stop us reporting something because it might be uncomfortable for an advertiser.

Paid partnerships and promotions are clearly identified.

We think that’s better for readers and better for businesses.

When somebody sees a business working with L1Local, we want them to understand exactly what that relationship is.

And when they read an independent L1Local article or recommendation, we want them to know nobody bought the conclusion.

Trust isn’t an obstacle to the commercial side of L1Local. It’s what makes the commercial side valuable.

Ways to work with us

Start where it makes sense

A café opening its first premises doesn’t have the same marketing budget as a large hotel.

It shouldn’t need one to work with local media.

Some businesses might need one useful promotion.

Others might want to appear throughout the year.

Larger organisations might want a longer relationship across several parts of L1Local.

We’ll offer different ways to do that.

Featured Business

From £19/month

Best for

Being easier to discover throughout the year.

Featured Business gives a business additional clearly labelled commercial visibility within appropriate areas of L1Local.

It is designed for businesses that want an ongoing presence without committing to a large advertising campaign.

Featured placements stay separate from our independent editorial rankings and recommendations. Where appropriate, availability can be limited by category or location so that Featured Business placements remain useful rather than becoming an endless paid list.

Ask about Featured Business

Business Spotlight

From £59

Best for

Telling people something worth knowing about your business.

A Business Spotlight gives us room to properly introduce a business.

It might be:

a new opening
a new menu
an expansion
an anniversary
a new service
a relocation
or simply the story behind a Liverpool business people should know about.

Paid status is clearly identified.

Tell us your story

Guide Sponsorship

From £99

Best for

Being visible around a relevant subject or moment.

Some businesses naturally fit the guides people use to plan Liverpool.

That might include:

half-term
Halloween
Christmas
food and drink
family days out
visitor guides
events
neighbourhood guides
or another relevant subject.

Sponsorship should be clearly labelled.

Sponsorship supports the guide. It doesn’t purchase its recommendations.

Ask about upcoming guides

Local Partner

From £149/month

Best for

Businesses and organisations that want an ongoing relationship with L1Local.

A Local Partner relationship can combine appropriate elements of:

Featured Business visibility
sponsored content
guide sponsorship
social promotion
seasonal campaigns
and future L1Local products

The exact mix should depend on what the organisation is trying to achieve. There’s no fixed bundle to fit into.

Become a Local Partner

Not sure? That’s normal.

You don’t need to understand media buying before contacting us.

You don’t even need to know which option you want.

Tell us what you’re trying to promote, when it is happening and roughly what you’re comfortable spending.

If the smallest option is enough, we’ll say so.

Where we are

We’re still building

We’re not going to pretend L1Local is already one of Britain’s biggest publishers.

It isn’t.

We’re growing it.

In one recent 28-day period, L1Local appeared more than 223,000 times in Google searches and generated more than 3,240 organic clicks.

Behind those numbers are people discovering L1Local because they searched for something about Liverpool and found one of our pages.

That’s the audience we’re building.

And we’re only at the beginning.

There is an advantage to becoming an L1Local partner now.

You aren’t joining after everything has already been built.

You’re helping us build it.

As L1Local develops, we want those early commercial relationships to develop too.

That might happen as:

our search visibility develops
the business directory grows
our guides become more established
our social audiences develop
new editorial products launch
and new ways of discovering Liverpool are added to the site.

We won’t promise guaranteed future audience growth.

Nobody can honestly promise that.

What we can offer is the opportunity to become part of L1Local while the publication is still taking shape.

Plan ahead

Liverpool through the year

Liverpool doesn’t have one advertising season.

People are constantly planning something.

The opportunity changes throughout the year.

Autumn
- Freshers
- New openings
- Halloween
- October half-term
- Bonfire Night
Winter
- Christmas markets
- Christmas shopping
- Festive food and drink
- New Year’s Eve
- January
Spring
- Valentine’s Day
- Mother’s Day
- Easter
- Spring days out
- Bank holidays
Summer
- School holidays
- Festivals
- Outdoor events
- Waterfront
- Tourism
- Visitor season

People often start searching before the event itself.

Someone looking for October half-term ideas doesn’t necessarily wait until the schools close.

Visitors plan Liverpool weekends weeks or months ahead.

Christmas searches start while most people are still thinking about autumn.

That means the best partnership isn’t always one added after a guide becomes popular.

Sometimes it makes more sense to talk while we’re planning it.

Planning something later this year?

Tell us what’s coming up

Start small

You don’t need a huge marketing budget

We don’t want L1Local partnerships to become something only large organisations can afford.

Liverpool’s independent businesses are part of the reason people want to explore the city in the first place.

A small restaurant might want help with a new menu.
A florist might want visibility around Mother’s Day.
A family attraction might want to appear around half-term.
A new shop might simply want Liverpool to know it exists.

Those businesses shouldn’t need a four-figure campaign before local media will speak to them.

Start with something small.

See whether it makes sense.

Build from there if it works.

Get in touch

Let’s talk

You don’t need to know which package you need.

Tell us who you are and what you’re trying to promote.

We’ll take it from there.

Questions

Common questions

Do I need a big advertising budget?

No. Businesses can start from £19/month or use one-off options.

Can I pay to rank first in an L1Local guide?

No. Independent editorial rankings aren’t for sale.

Will sponsored content be labelled?

Yes. Paid relationships should be clearly identified.

Can you build something around an event or launch?

Yes. Tell us what is happening and when. We can suggest an appropriate option.

I don’t know what package I need. Can I still contact you?

Yes. That’s the point of the short enquiry form.

Let’s build something useful for Liverpool

Better local information.

Better local discovery.

Supported by businesses that are part of the city we’re covering.

Work with L1Local

Our goal is bigger than selling advertising.

We want to make discovering and engaging with Liverpool online better.

Better local reporting.
Better guides.
Better information.
Better ways to discover Liverpool businesses.

And fewer reasons to resort to clickbait, intrusive advertising and low-value content to pay for it.

If Liverpool businesses help support that work, we can build something useful for the city together.

Useful shouldn’t be unusual

Liverpool is more than the stories making headlines

People are already finding L1Local

People don’t search for “advertising”. They search for Liverpool.

Good local publishing still costs money

A partnership should work for everyone

Liverpool business

L1Local

Reader

What money doesn’t buy

Independent

Commercial

Start where it makes sense

Featured Business

Business Spotlight

Social Campaign

Guide Sponsorship

Local Partner

Not sure? That’s normal.

We’re still building

Liverpool through the year

Autumn

Winter

Spring

Summer

You don’t need a huge marketing budget

Let’s talk

Common questions

Let’s build something useful for Liverpool

Liverpool this week