1. Find a Business Directory Niche
It seems simple to start a listing directory business so that many businesses go into it without a proper strategy and fail because of that. And one of the most important measures for a strong start is knowing the range of activity and action.
There is no best way to find a niche for a listing directory business website, it’s probably a spark that suddenly formed in your mind or based on previous experiences and businesses you’ve been involved with. But in general, a good niche has the following features:
- It is a topic that you are already interested in and have good information about.
- It’s something evergreen, i.e. businesses that are unlikely to die out (health, relationships) and avoiding businesses only in demand at certain times of the year (festivals).
- There is a lot of attention on them now and in the future and people want to know more about the best of them. (home office furniture/equipment/ real state/ cryptocurrency and … ).
2. Start a business directory listing website using WordPress
With 3 simple steps and no programming knowledge, you can quickly start a listing directory business website:
A. Choose Your Website Host And Domain
There are many services for buying hosting and domain, from this link you can compare these services and choose the best one. Then it’s time to install WordPress on it.
B. Install WordPress
Installing WordPress is very simple and quick, see how to install it here.
C. Add A Business Directory WordPress Theme On It
By adding a suitable listing and directory theme, your work to start a listing directory business becomes very simple. This theme should have plenty of features for categories, classifications, and everything a business directory needs.
That’s why we recommend the Listdomer directory theme. Read the article below about this.
Listdom is a WordPress listing directory plugin It provides many possibilities for designing your website for free. Key features such as:
- Listings price configuration
- Advanced Google Maps
- Category form builder
- Use shortcodes in all page builders
- Add custom CSS so simple
- Shortcode creator
- Search Builder
- Change plugin colors with a color picker
- So many different views like slider views, cover views, carousel views, list/grid views, map views and etc.
- Frontend add/manage listings
- WPML Compatible
- SEO ready
- Developer friendly
Also, by using Listdom pro, you can access many advanced features to start a business directory website and make everything possible. On this page, you can see more features of Listdom lite and Listdom pro.
3. Start a Listing Directory Business and Make Money From Directories
From the beginning of starting a business, you should know how you want to earn from it. A business directory offers you several ways to earn income, and here we mention a few of them.
A. Subscriptions Businesses
Receiving a monthly or annual membership fee is one of the most interactive ways to earn income from directory businesses. And individuals and businesses welcome paying this amount if it provides them with more leads. Show Me Local is a worldwide business directory that offers a monthly subscription. As a WordPress directory plugin, Listdom has an addon called Listdom Subscription Addon that helps you have paid listing functionality. You define the packages in the admin area and the users buy those packages from the Listdom dashboard and then add listings based on their package policies.
B. Put Up Special Items (Top Up)
It is possible that some items placed on your business directory website need more visibility. For example, a property needs to be sold urgently, and you display it at the top of your list for a certain amount.
With Listdon Topup Addon, users can make their listings show on top in results easily. This feature will be so practical when you want a new listing to show on top automatically. This addon is using WooCommerce to handle the gateways, so we support all bank gateways that WooCommerce already supports.
C. Booking
You can add booking and reservation to your listed items. To start a listing directory business you can configure Listdom Booking Addon based on your needs. Like, switch your booking feature to reservation mode. Also, You can allow guest users to book and enable payment for users over the bookings as well. Moreover, You can define a search policy for your booking addon search form.
