{"id":361,"date":"2026-10-06T16:14:57","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T00:14:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rainier-it.com\/blog\/?p=361"},"modified":"2026-10-21T00:06:41","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T07:06:41","slug":"shop-orting-free-local-business-directory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rainier-it.com\/blog\/shop-orting-free-local-business-directory\/","title":{"rendered":"Shop Orting: How We Built a Free Directory for Every Business in Our Hometown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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“Is there a plumber in Orting?” There are several. Until this month, the fastest way to find one was asking on Facebook.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Orting is a small town at the foot of Mount Rainier, and Rainier IT is an Orting business. Our town has about a hundred businesses: tow trucks and taco shops, accountants, a veterinary hospital, child care centers, a doughnut shop, farm stands. If you want to find them, you’re stuck with a map app that lists half of them and Facebook groups where the answer scrolls away by lunchtime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we built Shop Orting<\/strong> at shoporting.org<\/a>: a free directory of every business in Orting, with hours, a map, “open now”, an events calendar and a visitor guide. Listings are free forever. There are no ads, no paid placement and nothing to buy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This post is the tour: what it does, how it’s built, and a few pieces of code we’re proud of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The home page. The hero photo rotates every two hours between local shots.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\ud83e\udded What’s on the site<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The whole thing is designed around one question: what are you looking for in Orting, right now?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • The directory.<\/strong> 99 businesses in 11 categories, each with hours, contact info, photos and a map pin. An “Open now” filter does the time math in Pacific time.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • A map that stays readable.<\/strong> Nearby pins group into clusters that split apart as you zoom, so downtown doesn’t turn into a red smear.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Search that understands people.<\/strong> Type “vet”, “mechanic” or “donuts” and you get the animal hospital, the auto shops and the doughnut shop.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Events.<\/strong> 26 community events and counting, each with Add to Google Calendar<\/em> and Apple \/ Outlook<\/em> buttons, plus a calendar you can subscribe to once and forget.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Topic pages.<\/strong> Pages like “Child Care & Preschools in Orting” or “Auto Repair in Orting” answer the exact searches locals type into Google.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • A visitor guide.<\/strong> Annual events, history and getting here, for the thousands of people who come for the Daffodil Parade.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Owner accounts.<\/strong> Businesses claim their listing for free, then update hours, photos and descriptions themselves. Owners can also post their own events.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    \"The
    The directory. Pins cluster by area, and the numbers show how many businesses are in each group.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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    \ud83d\udcf1 Built for the phone in your pocket<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Most people find a local business on their phone, often while they’re already in the car. Every page is designed for a phone first, then spread out for a desktop screen. There’s no app to install.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"Three
    Home, map and an event page on a phone.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    On a phone, call, directions and website links are one tap away. The map is a lightweight Leaflet and OpenStreetMap map, with no Google Maps fees. Photos load at the right size for the screen, and every image reserves its space so the page doesn’t jump around while you’re trying to tap something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    \ud83d\udd0e Search that knows “vet” means “animal hospital”<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    WordPress search is literal. If a listing says “animal hospital” and you type “vet”, you get nothing. Real people don’t search the way businesses describe themselves, so we wrote a small layer on top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It does two things for each word you type:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    1. Synonyms.<\/strong> A plain list maps everyday words to how businesses actually describe themselves.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. Simple stemming.<\/strong> “Plumbers” also matches “plumbing” and “plumber”, and “donuts” also matches “doughnut”.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
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