Nextdoor customers come from one thing: neighbors who vouch for you. A recommendation from someone on the same street counts for more than any post you write about yourself. So the plan that costs nothing is to claim your Business Page, ask your happiest customers to recommend you, and reply to "does anyone know a good..." posts like a neighbor, not like an advertiser.
That plan works for local trades, home services, pet care, tutoring and anything people hire close to home. It does nothing for businesses that sell to other businesses across a region. Below is how to set it up, what to say, what gets a post removed, and how to track whether it pays.
How Nextdoor works for a local business
Nextdoor is organized by neighborhood, and members verify their address. When a neighbor needs a handyman or a dog walker, they post a question, and other members answer by naming businesses or tagging a Business Page. Nextdoor's own materials say recommendations come from verified neighbors, and that businesses with more recommendations are listed higher within a category in the Businesses section. Nextdoor can change how it ranks things, so treat that as a reason to collect recommendations, not as a promise.
A business gets three kinds of free tools: a Business Page, Business Posts to the people who follow it, and the ability to receive and answer recommendations. Paid advertising is a separate product. You can use the free tools indefinitely.
Claim and fill in the Business Page
Claim the Page for your business, choose the right category, add your service area, a phone number that gets answered, hours, and a short description of what you do in plain words. Add six to ten real photos of finished work. Copy your Page's link, because you will use it in the next step.
If your area spans several neighborhoods, set the service area to match where you actually work. A Page that shows up where you don't serve creates calls you can't take.
Ask happy customers for recommendations
This is the part that works. Recommendations can only come from people who live in a neighborhood on Nextdoor, so ask customers whose address is in your service area. Ask within a day or two of finishing a job, while they are pleased. Do it in a text or an email with the link:
Hi Mrs. Okafor, thanks again for having us out to fix the porch steps. If you're on Nextdoor, a short recommendation from you would help neighbors find us. Here's the link: [your Page link]. No pressure at all, and thanks for the work.
Don't offer a discount or gift in exchange, and don't ask only the customers you expect to say good things. Write the same note to everyone. How to ask for referrals has more wording for the ask, including what to say when you work in person.
Thank each person who recommends you, publicly in the reply, and answer every comment on your Page. Beth, a fictional handyman in a Raleigh suburb, sends this note to 12 customers in one week. Seven recommend her. That gives her seven neighbor endorsements on one page, which is enough to start appearing when someone searches for a handyman.
Answer "does anyone know a good..." as a neighbor
Nextdoor's community guidelines, as described in its help materials, give businesses the Business Page, Business Posts and ads for promotion, and discourage unsolicited promotional posts in the general feed. Replying to a neighbor who asks for a recommendation is a different matter. If you reply, say that you own the business. Read the current guidelines yourself, since they get updated.
A reply that works:
I own a small handyman business in this area, so I'm biased. For a sagging gate like that, it's usually the post that has shifted, and it's often a one-visit fix. Happy to take a look if you want a free estimate. Message me and I'll send photos of similar jobs. No hard feelings if you go with someone else.
The second-best reply is a short one that points to someone else. If a neighbor needs a roofer and you are a handyman, naming a roofer you trust earns goodwill, and neighbors remember it. The best outcome is another neighbor tagging your Page before you've said a word, which is why the recommendations step comes first. How to find people asking for recommendations online and how to find customers in Facebook groups cover the same idea in other places.
What gets a post removed
Neighbors can report posts, and moderators remove ones that break the guidelines. These are the usual reasons for trouble:
- A post that is an advertisement placed in the general feed rather than through your Page.
- The same message sent to many neighborhoods.
- A reply that does not say you own the business.
- A reply that pushes a price list or a coupon when the neighbor asked a question.
- Bad-mouthing a competitor by name.
- Asking friends or staff to post fake recommendations, which also breaks the trust the platform sells.
If a post is removed, don't repost it, and don't argue. Read the reason, adjust, and carry on with the Page and the real recommendations.
Ten minutes a day
Spend the time in this order. Minute 0 to 3: answer any message or comment on your Page. Minutes 3 to 8: search the neighborhoods you serve for words like "recommend" and "anyone know," and reply to one you can really help with. Minutes 8 to 10: after any finished job, send the recommendation note. In 20 working days that is a little over three hours a month.
Post to your followers on the Page now and then, with a finished job, a seasonal reminder or an opening in your schedule. Keep it to once a week or less.
Paid ads come after the free part works
Nextdoor sells ads that reach neighborhoods you choose, and that is a legitimate way to spend money if the free work is already running. Wait until you have recommendations on the Page, because an ad sends people to your Page and the Page sells for you. Start small, and treat it as a test with a stop date. I can't tell you how ads will perform for your trade or town.
Track the jobs that came from it
Ask every new customer "How did you find us?" and write down "Nextdoor" when they say it. Keep a simple count each month: recommendations received, replies you wrote, messages, quotes and jobs. Suppose Beth's month looks like this: seven recommendations, nine replies, four messages, and three jobs averaging $320, which is $960 for about three and a half hours of work finding and answering. Those numbers are an illustration. If your first month produces nothing, check that the Page is filled in and that you served the right neighborhoods before you give up.
If your trade is landscaping, getting customers for a landscaping business has seasonal ideas that fit well with Nextdoor. For an overview of local channels, see how to sell services on Facebook and Google Business Profile leads, and Rocketship for home services for the system behind them.
Nextdoor brings in the neighbors who find you. Rocketship finds the buyers who aren't looking yet, emails them from your own Gmail, follows up, and books the meeting on its own. Plans that get you customers start at $24.99 a month (Launch), and every monthly plan starts with a 7-day free trial, card required.