Creating a Business Directory: 10 Tips for Creating a Professional Business Directory

Thousands of online directories are available on the Internet today: paid directories, city portals, and article directories, to name just a few. Starting an online directory can be a bit of a challenge if you are looking to establish yourself online. However, an experienced person should be able to create a new type of directory and immediately achieve some success with it.

The Essentials at a Glance

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Creating a Business Directory: 10 Tips

When creating a business directory, you first need to choose the type of directory, define the desired functionality, and select an appropriate technology for programming. Depending on the complexity, the implementation costs and possible technical infrastructures will vary.

Choose the Type of Directory You Will Launch

The great thing is that a directory website can be launched for almost any industry or purpose for members. All kinds of rich content such as videos, articles, specialized shops, or photo galleries can be listed. There are several types of online directories you can create. The most common are local business directories, service provider directories, membership directories, or association websites. To make it easier, you can start in a limited area where you have experience, knowledge, or a strong position, such as your own hometown.

Google My Business is a business directory focused on companies.

For example, if your city does not have a local business or tourism guide, you have a great opportunity to create an online business directory that generates recurring revenue. If you are a specialized service provider, you can create your own business directory for the industry to start with you and your colleagues and eventually even make money at the expense of your competitors while running your business at the same time. Or perhaps you are interested in relationships and want to create a national or international business directory or establish a special membership community? There is plenty of room for innovation in creating an online business directory.

Choose the Technology Partner When Creating a Business Directory

There are several methods. For example, you can hire a developer or web designer to create your own business directory. Another option is to start with an affordable directory theme from WordPress. However, that still requires you to have someone with expertise on your payroll to maintain a high standard. Additionally, the challenge with creating a new business directory with WordPress is that WordPress was not built for directories. It was made for publishing blogs. Therefore, you will have to invest a lot of time to assemble various components. WordPress is very cost-effective, but not an optimal solution for creating a business directory.

Your best option would be a professional web design agency that is capable of assisting you. This way, you will achieve the best possible quality and a reliable, long-term solution that consistently generates a significant income.

Define Your Top-Level and Sub-Level Categories

Creating a business directory involves a large amount of information such as business listings or member profiles, which should be highly organized for visitors during their search. With main and possibly various sub-level categories, visitors can quickly and conveniently find what they are looking for in the directory.

Decide Which Members You Want and What Prices to Offer

Initially, most providers recommend offering a free membership when creating a business directory in order to recruit as many participants as possible. These free members will soon add significant value as they contribute to the content. They also provide invaluable feedback and share their listings on social media. This increases the number of members who will want to use the paid listings when you offer a quality of information that cannot be found elsewhere. Other members are more likely to be persuaded to subscribe to paid services through price discounts or special offers.

Yellow Pages is the classic example of a business directory.

Create or Import Your First Business Directory

Initially, start with several business directories and gradually gather more information as you create your directory. You can begin with a specific goal, for example, generating 10 listings per day. Once members join, they can encourage you to share their listings on social media to gain more attention for your business directory. As your online community starts to grow and get noticed by others, they will come to you and contribute their own listings. Until you reach that point, you may need to manage it yourself or hire someone to do it for you if you plan to utilize some public pages.

Ideally, you will have a list of businesses or members to import into your directory to give you a head start.

Create Quality Content

Publishing quality content is an important factor in attracting new and paying visitors to your website. When creating a local business directory, you will need to demonstrate what makes it unique and highlight its qualities. Consider what content is useful for your readers and outline everything in a plan. Executing this plan should be a priority when creating your business directory. You should dedicate 1 to 2 hours daily to review, expand, and optimize your directory in every possible way. You can also invite others to participate and encourage contributors and members to add content to your website.

When you create an online business directory, for example for specialist dentists, they will usually be happy to contribute valuable content to your directory. This way, they can start being seen as an authority on the subject and showcase their publications. They can help their visitors get to know them a little better, as that familiar connection strengthens the sense of community and promotes long-term customer loyalty.

Optimize and Promote

Once you are creating quality content and attracting target customers, you should ask yourself the following questions:

How can I make my directory website so appealing that members will visit it, join my online community, and contribute content as paying members?

How can I ensure that the listings have enough depth to be highly useful for directory website visitors? Listings with only a title and phone number are less attractive and useful than those with photos, videos, maps, business details, classified ads, and descriptions. Encourage every new member to contribute content or other information to the directory and to share a video about themselves and what they do.

How can I make money with my business directory? There are many ways to generate revenue when creating a business directory. The model becomes successful once you have captured a large audience. There are also many opportunities to generate additional income, such as through memberships on a monthly or yearly basis, or by selling your members subsidiary links to other e-commerce products or services. Additionally, there are headline ads that you can sell to members, or that can be distributed or sponsored through social media.

Which content brings you more visitors? There are always opportunities for a satisfying solution with high potential to attract many visitors to your website. Find out who the other players in your area are, including direct and indirect competitors, industry-related service providers, other industry announcements, forums, portals, and even social media groups. Also, determine what customers appreciate about your competitors, what improvements others have made, and what might be detrimental to your brand or community. Knowing what to focus on can make the task much easier.

Yelp is a good example of building a strong community.

Add New Features

Treat every new member and newsletter subscriber like pure GOLD! Ask them what they would like to have available and provide that service through new features or functions. Try to honestly identify the niche in which you can succeed. You will learn this by making an effort to ask new questions or create new connections. You might be surprised by what you discover, which can create new opportunities for your online directory website.

SEO

Consider search engine optimization (SEO), as it is commonly called, because SEO is a challenging matter for those who are not familiar with it and can quickly leave you doubting your own technical expertise. SEO can be made easier if you focus on a few key factors to optimize your site. However, if after three wasted months you eventually throw in the towel, at least you will know that you should have hired a professional for this task. These experts can ensure that your website achieves an excellent ranking on all search engines in a short amount of time.

Conclusion

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