Childcare Provision...... NannyNick??

[OrganiseMe]

I know there are a lot of rules from the care commission which govern the provision of nannies / mothers helps etc, however, I was wondering what the "rules" as such would be regarding advertising my own services and that of fellow nannies?

Having seen nannies post on here, I´m guessing it might be ok but wanted to check out the metaphorical red tape first.

Thinking along the lines of a message board for nannies and parents (advertising locally etc) strictly looking at matching up work for families who require childcare?

Hope this all makes sense.

Thanks

Not sure on the rules, but it sounds like a good idea. Would it be local or national?

sounds a bit like [ww.netmums.co.uk]] and their childcare board

obviously no one matches them up,but you read and reply to those who might be suitable for your requirements -wehther a nanny looking for work, or a mum looking for childcare

whoops forgot a w

www.netmums.co.uk

You mention Care Commission - that alerts me to your location as being in Scotland. Scottish legislation is different to England, so you would need to check what local legislation exists - for example, if you listed nanny jobs, would that make you an agency - or are you like a newspaper?

I would suggest that you avoid any kind of matching up - you purely provide a service where people can list themselves - such as that provided by VivaStreet.

So next question... If like a newspaper, not an agency, would such a site make any money or would it be more of a goodwill gesture? Sounds silly as I´m saying it but I´m assuming that by having a fee that it may be looked upon as matching up? Maybe not though thinking of a local paper which we have which advertises positions, pay a fee to advertise but they don´t do any actual matching.

Voicing thoughts here. Any advice / thought / opinions appreciated.

Hi organiseMe, i know of a similar Newsletter that is printed every two weeks, they charge parents looking for childcare a fee, not sure how much and if your a nanny advertising yourself then you have to send x amount of stamps to cover postage, seems a popular read with lots of jobs/nannies!! HTH

the mag is called simplychildcare

www.simplychildcare.com/

Looks pretty similar to what I was thinking of, perhaps solely online to start with.

Tech questions - how easy is it to get a site up and running?

Best providers / hosts for webspace? Know of how to get a free site but think it would look more professional if the site address wasn´t linked to one.

Again hope i´m making sense.

Looks pretty similar to what I was thinking of, perhaps solely online to start with.

Tech questions - how easy is it to get a site up and running?

Best providers / hosts for webspace? Know of how to get a free site but think it would look more professional if the site address wasn´t linked to one.

Again hope i´m making sense.

Things on the internet tend to be free. It can be very hard to get people to pay for things.
NannyJob used to be free... then they started charging parents. There are ads from parents appearing, but I do wonder if there are less than before they charged.
Gumtree charges in some areas, but is free in others. They have other revenue streams - such as Google ads (Gumtree are a large publisher of Google ads, so Google does special ad layouts for them).

I think the way to go is with niche markets. SimplyChildcare has the London nanny market. They do have ads from elsewhere, but I feel it is only really beneficial to those inside the M25. They are a traditional print media publication, which means they have print and distribution costs. But I feel that people like paying for something physical. I think their wanting stamps from nannies is a bit odd - far easier to give a credit card detail, paypal etc - though by accepting stamps they make it open to nannies who don't have credit/debit card - and I presume they will use those stamps to send out publications.

Who is your target audience? Where are they located? Would they want something online, or physically printed? Who are your competitors, why would someone want your publication rather than your competitors.

Websites - see Geeky Stuff - for example this recent thread about Domain Names.
I would suggest getting hosting and domain name from the same provider - at least initially. Commercial webhosting does not cost that much - my webhost, 34sp charges from £17.95 per year, plus the cost of your domain name (£5-£10 per year). Domains can be got cheaper elsewhere, but then you would need to get involved with DNS things, so I'd suggest keeping it simple and getting hosting and domain from the same provider. Another host/domain provider is 1and1 - hosting from £2.34 per month.

Thanks Nick. All advice much appreciated. I don´t know of anything similar locally and I´m quite excited about getting started. However, it may be over before it´s begun depending on what the big CC say!