AN online campaign to boost local businesses has been launched to encourage locals and visitors alike to discover what is on their high street.

Bedale High Street will take part in the Rediscover Bedale campaign for 30 days, starting from Sunday, November 23.

The aim is to help the town’s businesses thrive by encouraging locals to rediscover what lies behind their doors, and visitors to find out more about the area and its shops.

Each day during the campaign the town’s website, Facebook and Twitter pages will feature special offers to use in the town.

The campaign is an initiative of web design company Liquid Creation, based on the junction of Market Place and Sussex Street in Bedale.

Liquid Creation’s director, Katherine Byers, said she wants to provide a new way for Bedale’s businesses to work together to draw more customers through their doors - and she thinks the best way is to use social media to spread the word.

She said: "Businesses in the town are concerned that there is confusion for residents and visitors of where to go to find information about them or local events because in the past information has been spread over several different sites."

The campaign has launched one main website, Facebook and Twitter page for Bedale that are constantly up-dated and giving relevant information.

“A key aspect of the Rediscover Bedale campaign will be a 'business of the day' promotion,” said Ms Byers.

“This will involve promoting the named business on Facebook and Twitter and also adding them to bedale.org, where visitors can find out more.

“Visitors will be able to see a photo of the outside of the business, as well as the inside which they may have never seen before.

"They can then read more about the business and find a special offer to use within the town. Local businesses will all club together to tweet and share the information to a wider audience.

“Bedale is a fantastic town, we want to encourage people to rediscover what lies behind businesses doors and what makes Bedale great.”

So far 49 Bedale businesses have announced their involvement in the campaign, which will run until December 23.

Each business has pledged £10 to the campaign which Ms Byers said has made the project self-funded.

For information about more about Bedale businesses and offers visit bedale.org daily during the campaign, or follow Official Bedale on Facebook or Twitter.