What we would build for a local media and directory
Advertisers book and pay on your site. The directory earns. The events calendar sells tickets.
We build the whole commercial side of a local publisher: a fast site in your brand, self-serve advertiser checkout with card and Apple Pay, a paid business directory with lead capture, an events calendar with Apple Wallet tickets, an email campaign system built for every inbox, and a native what's-on app for TV and phone. Owned by you.
Built and delivered remotely from Cheshire, UK · fixed price agreed up front
What goes wrong today
The advertise page says 'request our media pack'
No rates, no booking form, no card payment. A bar owner who wants a banner this week has to email, wait, get a PDF, transfer money and send artwork by WhatsApp. Most give up at the second step.
The directory is a list of posts
Businesses are listed for free as plain pages with no click-to-call, no lead capture and no renewal. The most valuable page on the site earns nothing.
Events are announced, not sold
A quiz night, a charity walk, a tribute act: the post gets views, the venue sells the tickets elsewhere, and the publisher keeps none of it.
The newsletter is a plugin that broke
Sign-ups fail, emails render badly on phones, and the list you spent years building is stuck in someone else's tool.
What we build for you, from the ground up
A fast site in your brand
Articles, sections, property and what's-on, hand-built with self-hosted fonts, structured data and per-route metadata so every story ranks, and an editor's admin that does not fight you.
Self-serve advertiser checkout
Rates on the page, pick a slot and dates, upload artwork, pay by card or Apple Pay, done. The booking checks availability inside a transaction so two advertisers never buy the same banner week. Invoice issued automatically, renewal reminder before it expires.
A paid business directory
Tiers, featured listings, opening hours, click-to-call and WhatsApp, an enquiry form that lands in the business's inbox with your name on it, and annual renewal by card. Businesses edit their own listing.
Events with tickets
Venues submit events, you approve, tickets sell on your site with a split you define, and the ticket goes to Apple Wallet. The door scans it from an iPhone.
An email campaign system
Table-based 600px builds with plain-text parts so they render in every client, sign-up that works, segments by interest, and sponsored slots sold through the same advertiser checkout. Built the way the AWOW Jukebox campaign was.
A native what's-on app for TV and phone
This week's events as a programme guide on Apple TV, Android TV, Mac and iPhone, the way AirCast presents television, so bars and hotel lobbies can show it on a screen.
Publisher finance
Ad invoices, directory renewals, ticket splits owed to venues, expenses and a tax set-aside in one place, from Hillcraft Finance, the system Hillcraft runs itself.
The Apple layer your guests actually notice
Tickets in Apple Wallet
Every ticket sold is a Wallet pass with the venue pinned in Apple Maps, a reminder before doors, and a QR the door scans.
Event night on the lock screen
On the night, the ticket holder's iPhone shows a Live Activity: doors at eight, the quiz starts at half past, the raffle result when it is drawn, using the same iOS 27 technology Hillcraft Finance ships today.
A QR in print that claims a listing
A QR in the printed edition or on a poster opens the directory listing as an App Clip: the business owner claims it, pays by Apple Pay and is live before the coffee is finished.
Native TV guide
A tvOS and Android TV app of this week's events for venue screens and hotel lobbies, in your brand.
Editor widgets
Ad bookings this week, directory renewals due and tickets sold tonight on the editor's Home Screen.
Payments in Türkiye, done properly
Built and running: the examples this comes from
Questions we get asked
Our site is on WordPress. Do we have to rebuild everything?
No. The advertiser checkout, directory and events can run as their own system linked from your existing site, and we migrate articles later if you want the whole site fast.
Can venues manage their own events?
Yes. Each venue has a login, submits events and sees ticket sales; you approve and set the split.
How is it priced?
Fixed price agreed up front for the whole system after a video call about your rates, your directory and your events. No cut of your advertising revenue.
Our owner lives in the UK and the readers are in Türkiye. Is that a problem?
No. Payments can run through a UK provider for UK advertisers and a Turkish one for local businesses, and the admin works from anywhere. Hillcraft delivers remotely from Cheshire in the same time zone as a UK owner.
Who owns the subscriber list?
You do, along with the code, the directory data and the accounts. Nothing sits in a tool that can hold it hostage.
Send us your media pack. We will turn it into a checkout.
A link to your site and your current rates is enough. We reply with a plain description of the advertiser checkout, the directory and the events system we would build, delivered remotely from Cheshire with a video call whenever you want one.