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Is anyone running a successful local business directory?

by problog
70 replies
Hi guys, I'm planning a new project - creating a local business directory; I was going through some posts and seems like some people think it's not a very good idea considering the amount of work involved and low ROI. I was considering this as more of a long-term type project but I'm really not sure about it. Is anyone on here running a successful local directory? Just need some feedback. Thanks!
#business #directory #local #local business directory #running #successful
  • Profile picture of the author Red Kaiser
    What value are you planning to give your clients with your directory? If you can answer this question confidently to the business owners then go ahead and try it out.

    Personally I tried, and failed.
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    • Profile picture of the author SoundsGood
      Originally Posted by Red Kaiser View Post

      Personally I tried, and failed.
      Red Kaiser, why do you think it failed? Any ideas??

      Thanks.
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  • Profile picture of the author problog
    Excellent point, thank you for the advice. I'm currently working on that.
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  • Profile picture of the author dantehicks
    How are you planning to monetize the directory? Charge for listings? Premium listings? Display advertising?

    I'm working on something similar at the moment and wouldn't mind sharing some thoughts, but I'd need to understand your situation a bit more.
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  • Profile picture of the author problog
    In short, the basic listings would be free, and then the premium listings will have a lot more features than the basic. I know it involves a lot of work getting the businesses on board though. You have to build up the directory and get some traffic before even approaching them otherwise it just won't work.
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    • Profile picture of the author John Durham
      Originally Posted by problog View Post

      You have to build up the directory and get some traffic before even approaching them otherwise it just won't work.



      What happens in reality is that the business owners who take out the listings also take out articles and do other things to market their listings and you end up all over the search engines anyway... Just sayin.


      That gets you even more mileage than your own optimization efforts do.
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      • Profile picture of the author savidge4
        Originally Posted by John Durham View Post

        What happens in reality is that the business owners who take out the listings also take out articles and do other things to market their listings and you end up all over the search engines anyway... Just sayin.

        That gets you even more mileage than your own optimization efforts do.
        "Just sayin" LOL you may be "sayin" but I will bet 9 out of 10 reading this.. have not a clue what that means - or better yet how to set that in motion.

        And then you can throw in a discount to listers that do a write up about their business, and maybe an additional location based piece to throw up on the directory as well, and SEO based content is done for you... Just sayin LOL

        John.. oh you make me laugh!
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        Success is an ACT not an idea
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  • Profile picture of the author DesertSand
    I never understood the use for this. I personally would use google before anything else. SCHOOL ME!
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    • Profile picture of the author Craig McPherson
      Originally Posted by DesertSand View Post

      I never understood the use for this. SCHOOL ME
      G'day Desert,

      I use a directory as part of my local domination plan. Not a stand alone business model.
      Apart from building a website for my clients I also put them in the directory as premier partners.

      These 2, along with numerous classified ad sites, you tube and targeted articles has given me between 4-6 spots on the first page for about 40% of my clients.
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      • Profile picture of the author mojo1
        Originally Posted by Craig McPherson View Post

        G'day Desert,

        I use a directory as part of my local domination plan. Not a stand alone business model.
        Apart from building a website for my clients I also put them in the directory as premier partners.

        These 2, along with numerous classified ad sites, you tube and targeted articles has given me between 4-6 spots on the first page for about 40% of my clients.
        You're definitely on to something with this Craig. I can see why you're having success with this strategy as it adds to the thud (added-value) factor.

        Just curious, do you find your success from this model yield positive results because you focus on one particular niche at a time? Or, do you fashion your directories on more of the general city/town/state platform with different business categories?

        Thanks for a glimpse of what you're doing.
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        • Profile picture of the author shockwave
          I been thinking about this for about a week regarding an apartment directory. Here's a little twist I've yet to work out (and it's certainly not new), but it would seem to work if excuted properly.

          1. EMD - I've found a few EMDs for "apartments {city,state}" or "apartments in {city}" or "apartments in {city,state}" - and some with several hundred exact match searches per month.

          2. Competition: I think EMDs still work pretty good - even in recent days/weeks. However, it seems that with most cities, you would have to outrank Google Places and other local directories like zillow, trulia, and whatever other local "apartment" guides there are. Still, from what I see, I don't think it would be too difficult.

          3. Monetize: Maybe rather than creating a real directory, you simply create a landing page like you would with a Rent A Site model. You would have to rank the site 1st, but once you do, it would seem that web property is golden.

          I think the real challenge with this whole concept would be selling the solution - that being to INCREASE OCCUPANCY RATES.

          The REAL Value: Exclusivity!.....it might sound like your site is a "directory" since the domain is "apartments" but the reality is, it only 1 apartment community. So NOW they prospective client doesn't have to compete with other advertisers listed.

          Then again, this could be just another one of those sounds good but not tested ideas.
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          • Profile picture of the author sbishop
            This is being done by rent.com check out their program Rent.com® Company Overview

            BTW Most states require a real estate license.

            Originally Posted by shockwave View Post

            I been thinking about this for about a week regarding an apartment directory. Here's a little twist I've yet to work out (and it's certainly not new), but it would seem to work if excuted properly.

            1. EMD - I've found a few EMDs for "apartments {city,state}" or "apartments in {city}" or "apartments in {city,state}" - and some with several hundred exact match searches per month.

            2. Competition: I think EMDs still work pretty good - even in recent days/weeks. However, it seems that with most cities, you would have to outrank Google Places and other local directories like zillow, trulia, and whatever other local "apartment" guides there are. Still, from what I see, I don't think it would be too difficult.

            3. Monetize: Maybe rather than creating a real directory, you simply create a landing page like you would with a Rent A Site model. You would have to rank the site 1st, but once you do, it would seem that web property is golden.

            I think the real challenge with this whole concept would be selling the solution - that being to INCREASE OCCUPANCY RATES.

            The REAL Value: Exclusivity!.....it might sound like your site is a "directory" since the domain is "apartments" but the reality is, it only 1 apartment community. So NOW they prospective client doesn't have to compete with other advertisers listed.

            Then again, this could be just another one of those sounds good but not tested ideas.
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  • Profile picture of the author massiveray
    I have a mobile directory in a specific niche as a web app.

    Basically I listed 10 of each sub niche within my niche in my app. Printed off about 1000 tent ads with a qr code and some funky branding.

    Gave the tents to a lot of places that people would be looking for this niche and asked the, to display them in prominent areas. My biggest scalps were the local visitors centre and I bought a display ad at the local train station and bought some mobile PPC from Google.

    Once people started using the app, I approached each of the businesses on my lists and offered them a premium listing (I had tested a "fake" premium listing and saw that it got around 60% of the traffic) for a substantial fee, there are 3 premium listings in each sub niche.

    I'm now expanding it into other cities and niches.

    If you use google, you find my app, if you come in on the train, you find my app, if you go to one of these places I have my tents, you find my app. That's some pretty good traffic and presents a compelling argument for buying my premium listings.

    Also the most important aspect of this is that I have great branding on this thing, and it looks really NO-NO-NO-NO-NO-NO-NO- cool. This means that people want to use it and most importantly people save it to their home screens and use it again and again.

    Helps the people who use it find what they're looking for, makes me monehs.
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  • Profile picture of the author problog
    Wow, congrats on your success, massiveray! And thanks for the detailed explanation, great stuff.
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve Solem
    The problem with a typical directory is you need traffic before a business will want to pay for a listing, and you need business listings in order to get people to visit your site.

    I've debated doing this, but only as a solid foot in the door to offer other marketing services after giving listings for free to local businesses. And by listings, I don't mean the typical name, address etc...stuff that you can find 101 other places online, I'm thinking either in depth articles with photos or perhaps video interviews - a chance for visitors to really get to know the businesses listed and what they have to offer.

    Of course I think you'd want to have a companion FB page to encourage friends and family to promote for you and I'd imagine you could easily get businesses you've listed to promote your site on their websites, fb pages and in store too.

    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author dantehicks
      Originally Posted by Steve Solem View Post

      And by listings, I don't mean the typical name, address etc...stuff that you can find 101 other places online, I'm thinking either in depth articles with photos or perhaps video interviews - a chance for visitors to really get to know the businesses listed and what they have to offer.
      Great point. Last thing these SMB's will be receptive to is another bare bones linkfarm, like Yellow Pages, Yellow Book, etc. Do something that Yelp isn't doing, because you're going to run into challenges with that. Steve makes the best point of all though: I think you need to position the directory as a gateway to other services you can offer. It could be your "loss leader" if you will, making for much softer cold calls since you have the ability to give something of value for almost nothing (or nothing).
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  • Profile picture of the author problog
    Thanks everyone for your suggestions, really appreciate your input.
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  • Profile picture of the author logstore12
    Good business directory is that which is helpful for users to promote their business and get quick results.
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    Wood store | log store | Log stores
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  • Profile picture of the author beckkiller
    Hmm... I agree with you that local directory helps a lot in getting business.
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  • Profile picture of the author problog
    Creating the directory is the easy part, the hard part is convincing business owners to pay for listings; on the other hand you can just use it as a stepping stone to get to know business owners and then offer them services like web design, SEO, etc. Many businesses in my area don't even have a website so that should be a pretty easy sell.
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    • Profile picture of the author mattfraser
      Hi

      Think about this for a minute. UrbanSpoon.com started with no venture capital what so ever and was eventually sold to IAC for millions of dollars. I had a the same idea, that is to launch a restaurant website directory back in 2006 called CuisineLovers.com, however I didn't know what I had in my hands at the time and let the domain name go. I recently reacquired it earlier this year and am in the midst of preparing to launch it. Just having a site like this has already gotten me in the door with a local restaurant and its not even live yet. I worked in the restaurant industry for 14 years and plan on specializing in restaurant marketing as while their margins aren't large, the restaurant and hospitality industry is a billion dollar industry.

      You can get listings for your site by investing in YellaBot - YellowPages Web Bot & Screen Scraper - US, UK, AU & CA without having to "wait" for people to add the listings themselves. I would highly suggest you use the Vantage WordPress Theme from www.appthemes.com as you can export the yellabot scraped listings as a .csv file and then quickly import them into the directory.

      You may want to check out the Local Directory Empire WSO as I learned a lot from it and consider it a very good investment.

      Indeed there is a lot more competition with local directories and it may be harder than it as to start one 6 to 8 years ago but if you can get a good domain name and follow the instructions in Local Directory Empire I'm sure you'll do well.

      Just so you know I do not personally know the owner of Local Directory Empire and neither is that an affiliate link above. Its just a great WSO.

      I'll let you know how well I start doing with A Restaurant Directory - Cuisine Lovers but if its going to do as well as I think it is, I'm sure you'll be hearing about it.

      To Your Success,

      Matt
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      • Profile picture of the author rjohnsen
        Originally Posted by mattfraser View Post

        I'll let you know how well I start doing with A Restaurant Directory - Cuisine Lovers but if its going to do as well as I think it is, I'm sure you'll be hearing about it.
        Matt,

        I like your landing page and tagline for the site name. Good luck with it.

        What part of the USA are you in, if you don't mind me asking?


        Bob
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      • Profile picture of the author osensnolf
        I am in the process of launching two business directories and thought I would chime in.

        One is for me and targets a specific type of business. It's an industry I've spent a lot of time marketing to and will hopefully do very well.

        The other site is a project for my wife and it promotes businesses related to her interest/side-business.

        In both cases I will start with many free listings and some "paid" listings. There is no way that I would launch either site without scrapped/purchased data/listing.

        Create the site, add the listings, and send the listing data to the vendor and ask them to update and make corrections. No one wants bad company data listed online so they will come to your site and fix it.

        Other than spending countless days making sure the addresses and content look good, the hard part for me was finding the right directory software to go with.

        Her site will have 400k-700k listings. Mine will have 2M-3M listings. I went with eDirectory and so far I am very happy with it. I've read many bad things about the company but I could not find anything that worked for my size of project without having to custom make something. If eDirectory goes back but the business model is great, then I can look into a custom build but for now, it is great.. and v9.7 is around the corner.

        Also, make sure you have you businesses setup in an auto-responder series and feed them valuable marketing tips and suggestions.

        Maybe I am naive, but to me, the sale should be pretty easy. I'll simply ask the business, "If you have a paid listing on my site for a full year and only get a single client, will it pay for it self?"

        In my case, the answer is yes due to the type of business I am working with.

        PS - I've been watching the forums for a while but finally decided to comment.
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        • Profile picture of the author problog
          Originally Posted by osensnolf View Post

          I am in the process of launching two business directories and thought I would chime in.

          One is for me and targets a specific type of business. It's an industry I've spent a lot of time marketing to and will hopefully do very well.

          The other site is a project for my wife and it promotes businesses related to her interest/side-business.

          In both cases I will start with many free listings and some "paid" listings. There is no way that I would launch either site without scrapped/purchased data/listing.

          Create the site, add the listings, and send the listing data to the vendor and ask them to update and make corrections. No one wants bad company data listed online so they will come to your site and fix it.

          Other than spending countless days making sure the addresses and content look good, the hard part for me was finding the right directory software to go with.

          Her site will have 400k-700k listings. Mine will have 2M-3M listings. I went with eDirectory and so far I am very happy with it. I've read many bad things about the company but I could not find anything that worked for my size of project without having to custom make something. If eDirectory goes back but the business model is great, then I can look into a custom build but for now, it is great.. and v9.7 is around the corner.

          Also, make sure you have you businesses setup in an auto-responder series and feed them valuable marketing tips and suggestions.

          Maybe I am naive, but to me, the sale should be pretty easy. I'll simply ask the business, "If you have a paid listing on my site for a full year and only get a single client, will it pay for it self?"

          In my case, the answer is yes due to the type of business I am working with.

          PS - I've been watching the forums for a while but finally decided to comment.
          Thanks for your reply, haven't heard of eDirectory before, will check it out.
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          • Profile picture of the author SoundsGood
            Originally Posted by problog View Post

            ...haven't heard of eDirectory before, will check it out.
            Better bring a lot of money with you. And be prepared to pay a ton of money after the purchase too.
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            • Profile picture of the author problog
              Originally Posted by SoundsGood View Post

              Better bring a lot of money with you. And be prepared to pay a ton of money after the purchase too.
              Hmm, just looked at the prices, you're right.
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              • Profile picture of the author osensnolf
                Originally Posted by problog View Post

                Hmm, just looked at the prices, you're right.
                Never said it was cheap... and I too was trying to find a cheaper solution.

                You have to ask yourself, "Self, how long will it take for me to recoup my expense." I figured it to take about a week. Once I got that part out of the way and did not let the price stop me, I let the features sell me.

                It's very clean and easy to use. They have some free videos posted that may be of help. These are free and the audio quality is bad but you get the point. They just recorded a new series so hopefully those will be up soon.

                Arca Solutions on Vimeo

                I looked into a nulled version of eDirectory and some cloned scripts but I did not feel comfortable with it.

                Be sure to try out the demo site at demodirectory.com

                FYI - I realize I am pushing them hard but only because I spent two months looking for something and ended up going with them. Hopefully this will keep you from wasting your time and consider investing early in your site.
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                • Profile picture of the author edman
                  There are other more affordable solutions out there like phpMyDirectory - Web Portal, Business Directory, Classifieds, Link Indexing and if you search google you will see a lot of fancy wordpress solutions, not sure if its me, I just feel this is a self promotion from the company
                  Originally Posted by osensnolf View Post

                  Never said it was cheap... and I too was trying to find a cheaper solution.

                  You have to ask yourself, "Self, how long will it take for me to recoup my expense." I figured it to take about a week. Once I got that part out of the way and did not let the price stop me, I let the features sell me.

                  It's very clean and easy to use. They have some free videos posted that may be of help. These are free and the audio quality is bad but you get the point. They just recorded a new series so hopefully those will be up soon.

                  Arca Solutions on Vimeo

                  I looked into a nulled version of eDirectory and some cloned scripts but I did not feel comfortable with it.

                  Be sure to try out the demo site at demodirectory.com

                  FYI - I realize I am pushing them hard but only because I spent two months looking for something and ended up going with them. Hopefully this will keep you from wasting your time and consider investing early in your site.
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                  Don't Google it... ASK Edward
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                  • Profile picture of the author AussieT
                    Originally Posted by edman View Post

                    There are other more affordable solutions out there like phpMyDirectory - Web Portal, Business Directory, Classifieds, Link Indexing and if you search google you will see a lot of fancy wordpress solutions, not sure if its me, I just feel this is a self promotion from the company
                    I think you are overly skeptical in this case edman. Either that or I'm getting more naive as I get older.
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        • Profile picture of the author AussieT
          I agree edirectory is great but the price is 15x more than many others and they charge you extra for each additional site you build as well. If it was for unlimited sie or even for 10 sites I would jump at it.

          It is a good choice for the size of your directory. What are you building a new yelllowbook!

          Why did you put "paid" listing in quotes when you wrote that you would start with free and "paid" listings? Will they be fake premium listings or..?

          Great idea about sending the link to the free business listings. I suggest you leave out vital info from the listing so that they will come and add their phone number or email address or whatever and then you will have the opportunity to upsell them a premium listing with and ad or pop-up on their listing page.

          You know we are all dying to know what niche you are targetting to have so many potential listings.

          Tom

          Originally Posted by osensnolf View Post

          I am in the process of launching two business directories and thought I would chime in.

          One is for me and targets a specific type of business. It's an industry I've spent a lot of time marketing to and will hopefully do very well.

          The other site is a project for my wife and it promotes businesses related to her interest/side-business.

          In both cases I will start with many free listings and some "paid" listings. There is no way that I would launch either site without scrapped/purchased data/listing.

          Create the site, add the listings, and send the listing data to the vendor and ask them to update and make corrections. No one wants bad company data listed online so they will come to your site and fix it.

          Other than spending countless days making sure the addresses and content look good, the hard part for me was finding the right directory software to go with.

          Her site will have 400k-700k listings. Mine will have 2M-3M listings. I went with eDirectory and so far I am very happy with it. I've read many bad things about the company but I could not find anything that worked for my size of project without having to custom make something. If eDirectory goes back but the business model is great, then I can look into a custom build but for now, it is great.. and v9.7 is around the corner.

          Also, make sure you have you businesses setup in an auto-responder series and feed them valuable marketing tips and suggestions.

          Maybe I am naive, but to me, the sale should be pretty easy. I'll simply ask the business, "If you have a paid listing on my site for a full year and only get a single client, will it pay for it self?"

          In my case, the answer is yes due to the type of business I am working with.

          PS - I've been watching the forums for a while but finally decided to comment.
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          • Profile picture of the author osensnolf
            Yes, edman is overly skeptical.

            Yes, "paid" listings are fake free listings.

            If you have good data, you can evaluate it to determine based on the profile of the company who is likely to upgrade and who isn't. Find a few of those companies in each area you serve and make them into an advanced listing. Naturally the bigger guys will want to have a similar spot.

            Once I have all of my listings together, I may not put them all on the site. The data that goes on the site has to be super clean and anyone who has scrapped data knows that you get some bad and weird records sometime. So you only want to add the really good stuff to the directory.

            I like the idea of leaving out a field on purpose to increase traffic. You can leave out the Services field or phone and website.

            Back to edman's comment... I looked at every other solution I could find as I have never paid more than $100 for any software (including Office and Windows) so spending $2000 was not an easy choice. And there are negatives. As I mentioned, eDirectory is coming out with v9.7 in a couple weeks which is to be a huge SEO overhaul. And then in 2013 they are revamping their basecode. I say all of that to point out a big negative. When you have a full paid license to eDirectory and have custom changes made to your site by them or someone else, you lose those if you decide to upgrade to the new version. Many of us who have used Wordpress are not use to this. So, if you spend 2k revamping your site functionality and then a super great update comes out, you'll have to pay someone to make the new updates for you. I do not like that part. But, the good thing is that you have full access to the code and can hire anyone you want.

            I am still in the pre-launch phase so there are many questions I cannot answer but I am still confident in the platform I have invested in.

            Originally Posted by AussieT View Post

            I agree edirectory is great but the price is 15x more than many others and they charge you extra for each additional site you build as well. If it was for unlimited sie or even for 10 sites I would jump at it.

            It is a good choice for the size of your directory. What are you building a new yelllowbook!

            Why did you put "paid" listing in quotes when you wrote that you would start with free and "paid" listings? Will they be fake premium listings or..?

            Great idea about sending the link to the free business listings. I suggest you leave out vital info from the listing so that they will come and add their phone number or email address or whatever and then you will have the opportunity to upsell them a premium listing with and ad or pop-up on their listing page.

            You know we are all dying to know what niche you are targetting to have so many potential listings.

            Tom
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            • Profile picture of the author Sue Bruce
              A local directory is a long term development. You need the site populated and that can from from free listings. The next step is the SEO. that is paid or unpaid, which depending on the size of the market you're in, could be a killer and you have the competition.

              It became a popular idea to start a directory after the big guys started doing it and we knew they were making money. It only takes a short amount of time to contact businesses and find out if the market has already been killed in your local area because the big guys got there first.

              I approached it from a local company point of view and it made no difference. If 10 (non local) companies beat you to the punch and the business owners have not seen a return on their investment it's a losing proposition.

              Sue
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          • Profile picture of the author CraftyStudios
            Originally Posted by AussieT View Post

            Great idea about sending the link to the free business listings. I suggest you leave out vital info from the listing so that they will come and add their phone number or email address or whatever and then you will have the opportunity to upsell them a premium listing with and ad or pop-up on their listing page.

            Tom
            You monster - I like it ;-)
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        • Profile picture of the author John Durham
          Originally Posted by osensnolf View Post

          I am in the process of launching two business directories and thought I would chime in.

          One is for me and targets a specific type of business. It's an industry I've spent a lot of time marketing to and will hopefully do very well.

          The other site is a project for my wife and it promotes businesses related to her interest/side-business.

          In both cases I will start with many free listings and some "paid" listings. There is no way that I would launch either site without scrapped/purchased data/listing.

          Create the site, add the listings, and send the listing data to the vendor and ask them to update and make corrections. No one wants bad company data listed online so they will come to your site and fix it.

          Other than spending countless days making sure the addresses and content look good, the hard part for me was finding the right directory software to go with.

          Her site will have 400k-700k listings. Mine will have 2M-3M listings. I went with eDirectory and so far I am very happy with it. I've read many bad things about the company but I could not find anything that worked for my size of project without having to custom make something. If eDirectory goes back but the business model is great, then I can look into a custom build but for now, it is great.. and v9.7 is around the corner.

          Also, make sure you have you businesses setup in an auto-responder series and feed them valuable marketing tips and suggestions.

          Maybe I am naive, but to me, the sale should be pretty easy. I'll simply ask the business, "If you have a paid listing on my site for a full year and only get a single client, will it pay for it self?"

          In my case, the answer is yes due to the type of business I am working with.

          PS - I've been watching the forums for a while but finally decided to comment.
          If you have a big enough list of free listings (prospects) you can just sell them through your newsletter.
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      • Profile picture of the author AussieT
        Thanks for sharing Mat. We look forward to hearing about your progress. Love the tagline also.

        I already have yellabot and a couple of other scrapers plus I bought a programmable bot that will scrape any site I want it to and any info on those site.

        I looked an Advantage when it wirst cam out but decided on GeoTheme for now. I laso have several others but GeoThem is the pick of the bunch with more options included and good support

        I also bought Josh's Local Directory Empire WSO but to be honest I can't recall too much about it now. WIll have to go back and revisit it after seeing your glowing comments about it.

        All the best with you new site. I hoe you have good self control because I'm sure you will get plenty of free meals out of it. I have an accommodation directory which has taken a hit in the rankings lately but when it was going strong a few years back I was getting regular offers of free weekend stays. Trouble was they were all over the country so I couldn't take them all up on their offers.
        Tom
        Originally Posted by mattfraser View Post

        Hi

        Think about this for a minute. UrbanSpoon.com started with no venture capital what so ever and was eventually sold to IAC for millions of dollars. I had a the same idea, that is to launch a restaurant website directory back in 2006 called CuisineLovers.com, however I didn't know what I had in my hands at the time and let the domain name go. I recently reacquired it earlier this year and am in the midst of preparing to launch it. Just having a site like this has already gotten me in the door with a local restaurant and its not even live yet. I worked in the restaurant industry for 14 years and plan on specializing in restaurant marketing as while their margins aren't large, the restaurant and hospitality industry is a billion dollar industry.

        You can get listings for your site by investing in YellaBot - YellowPages Web Bot & Screen Scraper - US, UK, AU & CA without having to "wait" for people to add the listings themselves. I would highly suggest you use the Vantage WordPress Theme from www.appthemes.com as you can export the yellabot scraped listings as a .csv file and then quickly import them into the directory.

        You may want to check out the Local Directory Empire WSO as I learned a lot from it and consider it a very good investment.

        Indeed there is a lot more competition with local directories and it may be harder than it as to start one 6 to 8 years ago but if you can get a good domain name and follow the instructions in Local Directory Empire I'm sure you'll do well.

        Just so you know I do not personally know the owner of Local Directory Empire and neither is that an affiliate link above. Its just a great WSO.

        I'll let you know how well I start doing with A Restaurant Directory - Cuisine Lovers but if its going to do as well as I think it is, I'm sure you'll be hearing about it.

        To Your Success,

        Matt
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  • Profile picture of the author problog
    Matt, thanks for the great advice, I'll definitely take a look at the WSO you suggested. For a theme I was looking at Geotheme, it offers all the features I need.
    And best of luck with your directory!
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  • Profile picture of the author freeadstime
    The competition on this market is too high. You should focus on getting traffic from elsewhere rather than Google. But then you have to do a lot of off page promotion. Highly doubt if it worth the effort right now.
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  • Profile picture of the author freeadstime
    You may want to start a local classified ads site instead. As we have mentioned earlier, directory sites are not the best approach right now.
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    • Profile picture of the author SoundsGood
      Originally Posted by freeadstime View Post

      You may want to start a local classified ads site instead.
      Said by the guy promoting local classified ads sites in his signature!
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  • Profile picture of the author problog
    Thanks for your ideas, everyone, I appreciate you taking the time to give me your opinions.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chad Kimball
    also, another idea for you folks, after you put together a local niche directory you can use a simple bot (ubot or imacros) to email potential businesses to place paid advertising on your niche directory, just create a custom email to send to everyone with a website in the area, explaining the site, stats, how many of their competitor businesses are listed, and would they like to get premium placement.

    Or, you could use the bot just to email businesses and ask them if they want to update their listing for free with hours/location/photos etc... and get content placed in your local directory by the business owners themselves!
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  • Profile picture of the author webgal
    Re: Edirectory

    Anyone investing in this software should know that there is a very important problem with it as it is currently designed in that even if you pay them for customizations each time they release an update they want to charge you again for the customization work.

    $$$$$ I've had to beg for certain types of documentation and it takes forever to get responses, so I'm not impressed with their support. If you have onsite coders who can learn their system and rewrite many key components than it may be a good choice, otherwise be prepared for lots of $$$$ down the road getting it to work and keeping up with the updates etc.

    They don't use even basic coding practices like there is with even a system like wordpress and child themes where you can have customizations as add on files so that you don't have to reinvent the wheel each time. I have had to work with several client projects where they had already used the software and it was not only a significant investment for the initial outlay of the software, but upgrading has been problematic and expensive with each and every release. I have one client looking into a totally different system because they are so fed up with this aspect of it. So buyer beware on using edirectory. Given a choice I would rather use a platform that is more extensible.
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  • Profile picture of the author osensnolf
    I was on the eDirectory website reading a recent blog post and saw this and thought it would be helpful to some of you.

    It's a free webinar of their software.

    Online Directory Software, Live Webinars from eDirectory

    As for webgal's comments, they are half correct.

    I sent an email yesterday evening asking them to upgrade my site to the latest version and received a reply overnight that the site will be upgraded today.

    I literally just received an email (which is what sent me to the site) mentioning the update apps coming out before Christmas. I replied with a few comments and suggestions. I received a reply addressing each question so fast that I thought it was a delayed auto-response.

    So, the part about them being slow has not been something I have experienced.

    The part about losing upgrades is correct and is the most unfortunate part of eDirectory. Keep in mind that these are not preference and listings - these are coded changes that are lost.

    eDirectory realizes that the original software was not coded for the best future growth and appears to be making significant changes to this. I expect v10 to really have a lot of code changes and anticipate it no later than mid-2013.

    I purchased eDirectory and have not made any code changes. I want to use the stock version and get as many of the good known upgrades as I can and then when I know of needed changes, I'll pay to have them made. But I'll run stock as long as I can.

    Hope that helps.
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    • Profile picture of the author dvduval
      Originally Posted by osensnolf View Post

      The part about losing upgrades is correct and is the most unfortunate part of eDirectory. Keep in mind that these are not preference and listings - these are coded changes that are lost.

      eDirectory realizes that the original software was not coded for the best future growth and appears to be making significant changes to this. I expect v10 to really have a lot of code changes and anticipate it no later than mid-2013.
      It sounds like they must have not been using a version control system to back up changes. It is also points to the idea there may not be all that many live instances or their software, or else they could just get the lost code back that way.

      We just released our new version we were working on for about 1 year this month, and can do upgrades in about 2 minutes with the new versioning system. I do welcome their competition as this is always healthy for the industry.
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      • Profile picture of the author SoundsGood
        Originally Posted by dvduval View Post

        We just released our new version...
        Have you developed a Wordpress version yet?
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        • Profile picture of the author nicholes
          Exceptional professional listing and advertising is that which is supportive for clients to push their business and get best results.
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  • Profile picture of the author Danny Cutts
    I bought the app themes one last night and it's going well

    Danny
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  • Profile picture of the author Tess D
    I have a local directory coupled with a monthly fun newsletter that I print and place around town in public places. It works well, but it is A LOT of work - you have to go out and sell it and then build it. Nobody wanted to pay for an online directory listing, even though it was niched to the area.
    Having said that, in a larger more competitive area it could work well. Also, you can just sign up with larger directory companies and become a rep, keeping up to 90% of the fees for your commission. Think e*lo*al.com - then you are providing a huge developed site with all the back end you want, and only having to go out and sell to make some really good money.
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  • Profile picture of the author StarkContrast
    It's interesting. People think that a hyperlocal news/journalism directory is a viable way to go but very few have figured it out. Even AOL tried their hand at it (patch) and failed miserably. The key to it is being able to keep people interested and keep them coming back, and at the same time making it a commercial success with businesses who would want to be on the site. I've seen bits and pieces of decent sites but the monetization seems to stump most. After you're able to make it more than merely a business directory, the people will come, especially in smaller cities/towns.
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    • Profile picture of the author MrFume
      Yes, i created two biz directories in different towns with 'extras', like a monthly featured business section, articles also featuring focus business-also local news and weather, even small commercial video interviews with biz owners-trick is to make them a bit like a community newspaper with directory, adverts, classifieds sections-take a LOT of work with no surety. These are back burner projects currently, keep plugging away(!)
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      • Profile picture of the author tahir100
        Local directory site business model ensures a longterm and passive income if set up and monetized correctly. broblog, I hope your directory site would be up and running by now.
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  • Profile picture of the author KMalo
    You can also send backlinks to your directory listings page and get that on page 1 of the search engines, along with your website...
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  • Profile picture of the author thaicompanypro
    There are few pin points to keep in mind while making a local business directory
    which are
    how much features and offers you will provide to users and customers
    how good is the design & user friendly?
    how the individual listing page appears
    the credibility and quality of data and local search

    here is one example of local business directory in UK.
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    Thai Business Directory

    All about thai business listings. Great website to explore Warriorforum is such a good forum.
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    • Profile picture of the author AussieT
      Originally Posted by thaicompanypro View Post

      There are few pin points to keep in mind while making a local business directory
      which are
      how much features and offers you will provide to users and customers
      how good is the design & user friendly?
      how the individual listing page appears
      the credibility and quality of data and local search

      here is one example of local business directory in UK.
      So who makes this theme?
      Your Sig link is not working!
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      • Profile picture of the author deepconcentratn
        Has anyone had any success. Let me tell you how I helped grow a directory and it got so much traffic, it was crazy.

        For one, you can't start off charging for listings...unfortunately you got to do a lot free stuff before business owners will trust you. Two, if you plan on boasting your business as a local business directory, you need to get out in the community and do a lot free promotion and parties. Get on the school website and host some parties. Make sure your business is involved in everything possible. Does your city host fall festivals? You better somehow get your business LOGO on the advertisements. Does your city host 5K marathons or some type of popular sporting competition? You need to find ways of getting your name on every piece of literature possible.

        Number three, you can't go wrong with helping children and when you do, it turns into a feel good story that everyone wants to hear. Do you have $500? Start a scholarship and give it to someone that deserves the money. Sponsor a classroom. Thats something that has become popular lately, a lot of local businesses have started sponsoring classrooms by helping with funding of field trips and other activities.

        If you want to build incredible traffic, take your time and think about how you respond to NEWS. How would you respond to something positive? Would you want to support a business that helped kids fulfill their dreams? Would you support a business that helped victims of unfortunate circumstances like natural disasters or untimely deaths?




        How do I know this things? I have helped a friend with a directory and he sold for a huge amount.

        Has anyone had any success thus far?
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  • Profile picture of the author Gladiator
    deepconcentratn, Good post,how about prices for the listings anybody have a tried and tested pricing for city directory sites? I know that every city might be different but maybe there are some prices are common? What is Yellow Pages charging!
    free
    Silver - $
    Gold - $
    Diamond - $

    *Some have used edirectory on this thread how are things working out and is anybody experienced entering listing data with edirectory?
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  • Profile picture of the author Hydraman
    I use local business directory as a way to get new clients. I offer them a free listing in my directory. When they list or send details of their website. I take a look at the website and find any weaknesses and make suggestions as to how they can improve it or if they want I can do it for them.
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  • Profile picture of the author mjzim40
    I think that running a Business directory with consumer reviews is a great idea in the rural cities and verticals like legal, dentists, accountants and doctors. The turnkey product I am considering to build and rank these directory sites is the Directory Site Business System from Luther Landro.

    Anyone familiar with this software and could offer any firsthand experience with Luther's system?

    Thanks ,
    Mike
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    • Profile picture of the author Underground
      Originally Posted by mjzim40 View Post

      I think that running a Business directory with consumer reviews is a great idea in the rural cities and verticals like legal, dentists, accountants and doctors. The turnkey product I am considering to build and rank these directory sites is the Directory Site Business System from Luther Landro.

      Anyone familiar with this software and could offer any firsthand experience with Luther's system?

      Thanks ,
      Mike
      Guy is full of shit, despite being an ex-cop and wringing out the authority and trust element that comes with that. I've gone through that course. Madness thinking it's really generating 499 a month with some crap theme and ranking for some long-tail keywords that get maybe one truly qualified lead once in a blue moon.

      I checked out the example sites in the course. Gone.

      The concept is sound. If you can build cool little niche directories and get them seo traffic that will drive leads to businesses, and can show them that, you're going to get people who will pay you if it makes sense and that traffic and leads are enough, and you've built a good brand..

      They're not make a 15'000 a month just fom 20 businesses who all have to share traffic of around 2-300 visits a month.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Durham
    Originally Posted by savidge4 View Post

    "Just sayin" LOL you may be "sayin" but I will bet 9 out of 10 reading this.. have not a clue what that means - or better yet how to set that in motion.

    And then you can throw in a discount to listers that do a write up about their business, and maybe an additional location based piece to throw up on the directory as well, and SEO based content is done for you... Just sayin LOL

    John.. oh you make me laugh!

    Glad I could provide that; laughter is healthy. See? I made you healthier Savidge!






    On another note:


    "9 out of 10" is pretty extreme. You don't give very many Warriors credit for being smart as you, it seems.

    Here is what my post means:


    It means that you will get ten times more mileage and placements on the search engines by selling listings to people who go out and promote their own listings "offsite" in 3 months, than you will in 12 months of sitting around messing with onsite SEO and waiting to start selling listings until everyone on the Warrior forum says it's time.


    This happens naturally as people who take out premium listings on your site go out and promote their own listings by taking out ads, writing articles, as other people write articles ABOUT them, posting on blogs, linking from their face book pages... all promoting their listings all kinds of other ways.


    Each one of those articles your listers put out (in an effort to promote their own page), or blog posts, or other promotions shows up on search engines and leads back to your site. Before long there are hundreds of them.

    The next thing you know, you look up and half or more of the descriptions on the first page of the search engines, lead to YOUR directory site!


    In short: it doesn't cost you a dime to get indexed highly when you sell enough listings. Your customers promotions will do more for you than any SEO professional could ever dream of doing.


    You can even be the person who they PAY to promote it, like findlaw, and the yellow book offers their listers...


    So, that's what it means.


    Much simpler, much more effective, much less costly, much less time in limbo waiting to be "ready to launch"...


    All kinds of benefits to selling listings.


    Yes, it is good to encourage your listings to promote their own page, and yes I do know this from experience of my own directory site that I once had, and not merely from selling listings for Bowers.


    I learned it accidentally. One day I looked up and we were ALL OVER the search engines for our selected keywords, without having done any intentional SEO. It seems that the people who took out listings for us were promoting their own pages and driving us up the search rankings.


    So, you can wait until the critics think you DESERVE to be selling listings, or you can sell and inadvertently become more valuable for it naturally.


    I hope that clarifies a little.

    JD
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    • Profile picture of the author savidge4
      Originally Posted by John Durham View Post

      "9 out of 10" is pretty extreme. You don't give very many Warriors credit for being smart as you, it seems.
      I don't intend for it to be that I am "smarter" than them.. its fact.. I hate to say it that way.. but Most every call I have ever gotten, and most conversation on this sub forum is who to sell a listing and how much to charge. And when I say sell, they want to know if the have to cold call F2F or can they just put it on auto pilot.

      Originally Posted by John Durham View Post

      Here is what my post means
      Originally Posted by John Durham View Post


      It means that you will get ten times more mileage and placements on the search engines by selling listings to people who go out and promote their own listings "offsite" in 3 months, than you will in 12 months of sitting around messing with onsite SEO and waiting to start selling listings until everyone on the Warrior forum says it's time.

      This happens naturally as people who take out premium listings on your site go out and promote their own listings by taking out ads, writing articles, as other people write articles ABOUT them, posting on blogs, linking from their face book pages... all promoting their listings all kinds of other ways.

      .....Yes, it is good to encourage your listings to promote their own page, and yes I do know this from experience of my own directory site that I once had, and not merely from selling listings for Bowers.

      .....I learned it accidentally. One day I looked up and we were ALL OVER the search engines for our selected keywords, without having done any intentional SEO. It seems that the people who took out listings for us were promoting their own pages and driving us up the search rankings.
      The language here is pointing somewhere... For me personally.. I call it pre-qualification. I look for the business that are a good fit. A good fit is one that promotes. IF they don't promote... I subsidize the effort by offering discounts for links and articles so that they FIT my ideal candidate.

      I will more than bet when you were selling "listings" you didn't call and say "hey want to be listed in my directory for $50 a month?" - that is what the MAJORITY if not all the calls I get say. I have an angle... you have / had an angle. And most people here ( and I can run through this this sub forum if you like, and start pulling quotes from a good chunk of users ) that think business owners are stupid and don't have a clue how this stuff works. ( directories )

      When I say this.. that you and I and a few others have been there done that - I still do it... selling this stuff is not about the name and phone number... its not even about the potential traffic the client will see... there is FAR more there. THIS is the part that 9 out of 10 don't get.

      You can look back at any number of these Directory threads... you will find me asking what value will your directory have. I have discussed the angles that I sell from, and I believe that just short of 100% of the time someone somewhere is trying to blast it down because that wont work, or the clients are to stupid.. or whatever.

      The reality is this. if done RIGHT... they work. if done lazy... not a chance. And when I say they work... I mean for all 3 levels involved; YOU, Your Client, and the end user - you clients potential customers.
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      • Profile picture of the author zoro
        Originally Posted by savidge4 View Post

        I don't intend for it to be that I am "smarter" than them.. its fact.. I hate to say it that way.. but Most every call I have ever gotten, and most conversation on this sub forum is who to sell a listing and how much to charge. And when I say sell, they want to know if the have to cold call F2F or can they just put it on auto pilot.
        [B]


        The language here is pointing somewhere... For me personally.. I call it pre-qualification. I look for the business that are a good fit. A good fit is one that promotes. IF they don't promote... I subsidize the effort by offering discounts for links and articles so that they FIT my ideal candidate.

        I will more than bet when you were selling "listings" you didn't call and say "hey want to be listed in my directory for $50 a month?" - that is what the MAJORITY if not all the calls I get say. I have an angle... you have / had an angle. And most people here ( and I can run through this this sub forum if you like, and start pulling quotes from a good chunk of users ) that think business owners are stupid and don't have a clue how this stuff works. ( directories )

        When I say this.. that you and I and a few others have been there done that - I still do it... selling this stuff is not about the name and phone number... its not even about the potential traffic the client will see... there is FAR more there. THIS is the part that 9 out of 10 don't get.

        You can look back at any number of these Directory threads... you will find me asking what value will your directory have. I have discussed the angles that I sell from, and I believe that just short of 100% of the time someone somewhere is trying to blast it down because that wont work, or the clients are to stupid.. or whatever.

        The reality is this. if done RIGHT... they work. if done lazy... not a chance. And when I say they work... I mean for all 3 levels involved; YOU, Your Client, and the end user - you clients potential customers.
        Hi Paul,

        I have stared a new niche directory site and I posted on another thread about the idea of doing On Page SEO for the Listing so that it will show in search results. I was thinking this might be a good way to get a business to pay for a listing if I can prove (show) that their listing page shows up in the search results. What are your thoughts on that?
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        • Profile picture of the author hafiz
          Hi,

          I'm late to the thread, however, perhaps someone will see my post and get back to me.

          After reading through most of the posts, I didn't see any references to a "multi-business" type directory, like "Angie's List."

          I recognize the value of the niche directory. However, is a multi-business type directory feasible?

          Thanks.
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  • Profile picture of the author thehypnoguy
    It is not a standalone proposition. Using online and offline marketing is the only way you can get it off the ground. I use it as an add on for businesses doing a group mailing. This way there is no resistance.
    You need a total community takeover with your owned assets to make this profitable. But profitable it can be if you put all the pieces together.

    I use a mobile directory that was put out over 3 years ago that I have been upgrading with features my users have been asking for. It has continued to work with every WordPress upgrade and had no problems. Since I use it I will continue updating it.

    Whatever directory you use in your market just be sure to add other assets to what you do to make a good profit.

    Martin
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  • Profile picture of the author eccj
    So a local directory for a town of around 20,000 with only one other directory (the chamber of commerce), would a well put together directory be of value to businesses? As in will it help in getting to the top of local search results.

    And yes I get that business is in the eyes of the money holder but I'm not looking to **** on my front door with false hype.
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    • Profile picture of the author Ron Lafuddy
      Originally Posted by eccj View Post

      So a local directory for a town of around 20,000 with only one other directory (the chamber of commerce), would a well put together directory be of value to businesses? As in will it help in getting to the top of local search results.

      And yes I get that business is in the eyes of the money holder but I'm not looking to **** on my front door with false hype.
      What does your gut feeling tell you?

      When you remove the Forum Hype, what's left?

      Do you think, based on what you know to be true, that this would work in Your town?


      Even the chamber of commerce, can't get the majority of local businesses to buy in - and they have a rigged game.

      Some things to consider.

      Ron
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    • Profile picture of the author savidge4
      Originally Posted by eccj View Post

      So a local directory for a town of around 20,000 with only one other directory (the chamber of commerce), would a well put together directory be of value to businesses? As in will it help in getting to the top of local search results.

      And yes I get that business is in the eyes of the money holder but I'm not looking to **** on my front door with false hype.
      If for a moment you take the idea of this being a money maker ( directly ) and start looking at it as an asset for future business... I think it may look different and present a whole slew of new more directed questions.

      I would say that you are bypassing a critical step on the thought pattern here. Forget the local business' for a moment.. whats in it for you? IF you are thinking you are going to sell spots... please re-read what Ron is saying.

      IF you are providing services for local business' and are so moved to also have a directory that could be used as a advertising venue for YOUR business. as a point of citation for YOUR clients. as a point of link back for your clients sites. As a tripwire to getting your foot in the door. then I would still re-read Rons but now you would have some better answers to his questions.
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      • Profile picture of the author eccj
        Originally Posted by savidge4 View Post

        If for a moment you take the idea of this being a money maker ( directly ) and start looking at it as an asset for future business... I think it may look different and present a whole slew of new more directed questions.

        I would say that you are bypassing a critical step on the thought pattern here. Forget the local business' for a moment.. whats in it for you? IF you are thinking you are going to sell spots... please re-read what Ron is saying.

        IF you are providing services for local business' and are so moved to also have a directory that could be used as a advertising venue for YOUR business. as a point of citation for YOUR clients. as a point of link back for your clients sites. As a tripwire to getting your foot in the door. then I would still re-read Rons but now you would have some better answers to his questions.
        I am talking about from a pure SEO stand point. If me and the businesses that I interact with in my community do a directory and do it right will it help any of us show up on Google better than the national guys? Is there any advantage for the local business club to have a directory where our businesses can be on a local directory and other not local businesses are not allowed?

        I really have no idea. I am not looking to sell anything so the only thing that matters to me is if it would help in a town of 20,000, where there is only one other directory, to give me and maybe 50 other local businesses a heads up on the competition.

        I know that you do small town business so you probably know more than anyone.
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        • Profile picture of the author savidge4
          Originally Posted by eccj View Post

          Is there any advantage for the local business club to have a directory where our businesses can be on a local directory and other not local businesses are not allowed?
          The answer here is yes.. there is a pretty decent advantage. What could make it even better is if you have a local fiber-optic company, and can have them host the site geographically locally.

          The GREATEST advantage here would be content... if you have 50 members.. then you have say 30 authors of content. You would want to make this as local inclusive as possible.. festivals - nights out - firework displays etc. When in small town USA you can do this.. and while you are here.... try this, experience this, have lunch here, try dinner there.. the ice cream here is to die for etc. [ Developing commerce in this manor - develops service based industries ]

          I might in this case go so far as to offer free events listing space ( for churches and schools ) and maybe even want ads job ads... any and all instances of an address is going to solidify your positioning.

          I would think of it this way... If you provide a resource that your local community would use.. then so will others.
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  • Profile picture of the author Outsourcingbee
    Hey Mate,
    Idea is superb, I agree but do care that your site is well in the eyes of google means it is having good DA, PA, and TF because these things are really worthy to note.
    Wish you good luck!!!
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