A few things we can do to help our communities during the COVID-19 emergency

We can all help stop COVID-19 and if you are not a health care professional, the best way to do it is to stay at home.

At AyeCde we never had a central office, we all work remotely, and staying at home for us is just another day at the office.

It can be done and you should do an effort to make it the new normal for you too. At least until this emergency is over.

But what else can we do to help? As web and directories developers, there are a few things that we can do to help our communities.

Help spreading the correct information and not the virus

Every country, region, city, town, every single location has its own procedures to manage this emergency.

If you have a local directory, make sure to provide the right information for your local population and tourists.

Information about what people should and shouldn’t be doing during a complete shutdown is vital.

Especially about what to do in case someone suspects that they have contracted the virus. Who to call and or where to go and not to go.

Help your local businesses to survive

With cities in partial or complete shutdowns, local businesses may have a hard time surviving.

As a directory developer, they are all potentially your customers and if they disappear, you disappear.

This may not be possible for everyone, but for the most creative out there, it’s definitely an option and they should start selling some of their products and services online.

I’m not sure if deliveries are allowed everywhere, but they should still be possible in most countries. If customers can’t go to them, help them go to their customers.

Our Invoicing plugin can be of great help in a similar situation. Where a customer just needs to have a simple system to start receiving payments online.

Installing it is very easy and anyone can start accepting payments online with it, literally in a matter of minutes. If PayPal is enough, it’s also 100% free.

There are other solutions like WooCOmmerce or Easy Digital Downloads for those who need to manage more complex projects.

Make sure that business owners you are in contact with are aware of similar solutions and offer them your services to help them install and configure whatever they need to keep doing business.

Publish in your directories places providing delivery services

Because many will start providing delivery services, it is important to give them as much visibility as possible by listing them on your directory correctly.

Adding the “delivery” filter to your advance search setup will be important too.

Least but not last, think about sharing the info in the directory’s social media and everywhere. You’ll help your community members get what they want and your business to stay afloat.

Do you have other ideas?

Feel free to share what you are doing to help your community through your directory website, in the comment section down below.

You could provide inspiration to other fellow directory and web developers.