Market Your Directory Site with these 8 ideas in 2025

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Market Your Directory Site with these 8 ideas

“If you build it, they will come.”

Not so fast.

This well-loved quote is a bit of a fallacy, especially when it comes to how to market an online directory.

Because the truth is, once you’ve built a directory website, you’ll need to promote it. (Don’t worry, both building your directory project and marketing it can be easy and fun.)

Because once you learn how to market an online directory like a pro, you’ll be getting your business out in front of not just more eyes, but the right, relevant eyes.

Meaning, promoting an online directory can help get more leads. 

Marketing an online directory is essential – It’s as equally important as the building phase of the project.

So, let’s dive in to how to advertise a directory site and proclaim, “If you build it, then market it, they will come.”

What Makes a Good Business Directory?

Gone are the days of waiting for a giant yellow book to be tossed onto your doorstep for you to access a decent business directory. Today, good directories are not only digital, but they also look (and work) amazing.

And while everyone’s business directory is different, there are a few key elements that many good online directories share:

  • A blog with relevant content to draw in more traffic.
  • An option for visitors to sign up for your email list so you can market to your subscribers.
  • High-quality, visually appealing, and organized listings that are easy to navigate.
  • Online payment provider integrations so you can make sales online.
  • A self-service sponsor area that lets advertisers create and manage their own listings, so you save time while offering them flexibility.
  • A banner system for directory owners to earn revenue through advertising space on your website.
  • SEO-optimized content to help your listings and website show up higher in search rankings.
  • A membership website integration to accept recurring revenue for things like exclusive members-only content.

So now that you’ve got an idea of some basics to making a business directory good, let’s see how to market an online directory (now that you know yours is great).

Make sure to check out how to create a directory website if yours isn’t set up yet.

How to Market an Online Directory (8 Tips)

If you’ve already published your website, but you’re still asking yourself how to market an online directory, this post will help.

Let’s go ahead and check out the top ways to market an online directory.

1. Populate Your Listings

It’s going to be hard to sell your directory to advertisers before it’s fully developed.

Once you’ve got a directory website up, it can be tempting to start reaching out to potential sponsors immediately. But before you do that, you’ll need to build some of your directory yourself. After all, a local business directory that has no listings won’t get much attention.

It’s best practice to always show leads a fully functional, populated directory. This will help tell a story to your lead about how your directory site can help bring more visibility to their business.

So, filling it with data yourself not only makes your site look professional, but it can also bring in more traffic, which is super important. Because without website traffic, your directory has no value to someone who may be interested in paying to be listed there.

Sure, it takes a bit of elbow grease to populate listings yourself as you build your online directory, but it’s absolutely worth the time. Your content and listings are the heart of your directory site. Without them, it’s nearly impossible to achieve organic growth through search engines.

2. Use Social Media

Social media is a great platform to market an online directory. This is because no matter your niche, your target audience is definitely using social media (and they’re ready to engage with you on those platforms).

People love interacting with brands on social media. Which is awesome, because not only does it build brand awareness and bring you more website traffic, but it also develops trust while getting your directory’s name out there.

For example, hashtags are an excellent tool to help generate some quick and easy interactions and visibility. You can use hashtags on most social media channels like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Brands using hashtags see an average of a 50% increase in engagement, too.

Some examples of this could be a recipe or cooking directory asking people to post photos of what they’ve prepared with hashtag “#itswhatsfordinner”. Or a golf course directory asking players to tweet photos of their clubs and equipment with the hashtag “#inmybag”. You can then re-share these posts on your own social media (a wonderful source of user-generated content). Plus, to make the most of these hashtagged posts, eDirectory lets you connect your Twitter feed to your directory website and automatically display your feed to your website visitors.

Don’t forget the power of advertising your sales, contests, and promotions via your social media channels too. People who follow you are ready and willing to hear what’s going on with your brand, so tap into that.

3. Run a “Best of” Contest

Another popular way to market an online directory is to hold a contest that asks people to vote on their favorite businesses in your niche.

For example, a local parenting directory could run an annual contest that honors businesses in the community by asking visitors to nominate the “Best Swim Class”, “Best Playground”, or “Best Kid-Friendly Restaurant”. You could pick and announce winners yourself, or you can have website visitors nominate businesses for you.

Image Source: cherryvalley.macaronikid.com

It may take more work, but having the public vote is fantastic for business growth because:

  • Businesses will share the contest with their customers by word of mouth and invite them to vote.
  • You can see more traffic as voters visit your website.
  • Your brand will get more exposure as people share the contest on social media asking for votes.
  • You can grow your email list by asking for the email address of everyone who votes.
  • Your other listings will get exposure and notoriety if they’re “nominated” in a certain category, building trust with your sponsors and authority for your directory website.

And building trust is incredibly important to make sales. Why? Well, trust is now the 2nd most important factor people take into consideration before making a purchase, just after price.

So just like in these online directory advertising examples, lean into the interests of your target audience. Choose categories by selecting the restaurants, businesses, people, or locations that fit your industry best.

4. Use Google Ads

When using Google Ads to promote an online directory, it’s important to understand the power of keyword targeting. By choosing the right keywords, you can make sure your ads are shown to the right people, who are searching for the type of products or services your directory offers. Google Ads also allows you to set your customized budget, so you can control your expenses and ensure that you never pay more than your monthly cap.

Another great feature of Google Ads is the ability to display ads to people searching in a specific location. For local search site owners, this can be a game changer as it enables them to reach a more targeted audience and drive traffic to their site. By choosing a specific location, you can ensure that your ads are only shown to people who are in your area, which can help increase the chances of getting conversions and growing your business.

Google Ads also gives you the ability to control what’s shown based on the time of day searched, which can be useful for businesses that are open at specific hours or for those that offer time-sensitive promotions. This way, you can make sure that your ads are only shown to people who are searching for your products or services when you’re open for business.

In conclusion, Google Ads is a powerful tool for promoting an online directory and driving traffic to your site. By using the targeting options available, you can reach a more qualified audience, get more site traffic, and increase conversions. Don’t forget to take advantage of the $100 credit offered by Google to start a new account, which can help you get started with advertising at a lower cost.

Start Your Online Directory

5. Trade Free Advertising

If paying for advertising is out of your budget, or you’d like to learn how to promote an online directory for free, bartering can be a solid option.

You’ve got a fantastic resource for offering free ads right on your directory website. In the same banner area where you can place Google Adsense ads that earn you revenue, a good directory website software will give you the power to place your own ads there as well. That way, you can sell or trade that ad space.

Here are some great trades to ask for when offering free ad space on your website. Ask for:

  • A day where you can hand out branded promotional materials at their location.
  • To be mentioned on their social media channels.
  • A link on their website to yours.

…and there are plenty of other creative ways to go about bartering.

The important piece is to remember to use the space you have available on your website to your advantage. You’ll likely be surprised how bartering leads you to new opportunities, connections, and growth for your business. Bartering isn’t exclusive to local directories, but if you’re wondering how to start a local business directory, this type of promotion can be extremely effective.

Offering free ads is a fantastic way to you leverage your community to create content for you.

6. Write Blog Posts for Other Sites

Guest blogging is a powerful tool to consider mastering when learning how to advertise an online directory. Creating good content takes a lot of focus, so the idea of writing posts to give to someone else’s website for free can seem counterintuitive at first. But truthfully, not as many business owners and entrepreneurs take advantage of guest blogging opportunities as often as they should.

Guest blogging is a great way to:

  • Get traffic to your website by getting in front of a new audience.
  • Build a strong reputation with search engines that helps you rank higher.
  • Find leads that are already visiting sites within your industry and expressing interest.
  • Gain authority by sharing your subject matter expertise.
  • Build relationships with other thought leaders in your field.

Guest blogging is not unlike “product placement” in the entertainment industry. Leads are made aware of your existence through another medium, which just happens to be someone else’s blog. It’s a popular method, with the average blogger writing 1-5 guest posts per month.

Image Source: Referral Rock

Some people find guest posting outreach daunting, but it’s actually standard practice these days. Many website owners are looking to consistently publish new content, so offering a guest post can be a welcome offer that some site owners will be happy to accept and publish your post. Just don’t forget the important of sending over a high-quality piece of content that’s helpful and not full of self-promotion so they’ll actually want to publish your piece.

Simply set up a technique to repeat for finding sites you want to guest post on and reach out to them offering a unique and relevant post just for their site.

7. Email Your Subscribers

Email marketing has an astounding ROI of 4200%. Meaning, for every $1 spent, $42 is earned. With numbers like that, it’s easy to see why email is one of the most powerful ways to drive engagement for your business.

Promoting your online directory through your email can be done in lots of ways, but here are some popular methods:

  • Send out promotional emails letting people know about timely events, exclusive content, or deals and offers (great for direct response advertising).
  • Send an informative, helpful, weekly newsletter that doesn’t sell anything so that it builds trust (to help get those promotional emails to convert).
  • Segment your list so you can send different emails with customized content to your customers vs members vs leads.
  • Promote your “Best of” contest before, during, and after it runs.
  • Create multiple drip campaigns that automatically send a series of pre-built emails. Popular drip campaigns include nurturing leads, onboarding, and recommendations.
  • Set up automated renewal reminders so listing owners are automatically notified when their listings are expiring, saving you time and money.

 

8. Provide Door Stickers to Storefront Customers

Printing and giving stickers to those listed in your directory is an exceptional marketing tactic if you’re running a local directory site. In an increasingly digital world, this tactic is a great way to get a step ahead of the competition.

Large directory websites like Yelp use this tactic often –  you’ve probably seen a Yelp sticker on the door of a local restaurant, inviting you to rate them. This is a fantastic way to market an online business directory by building awareness and driving website traffic.

Additionally, sending promotional materials is a perfect conversation starter or icebreaker for businesses that aren’t listed on your site just yet (bringing you more leads).

Get the Tools to Promote Your Online Directory

Hopefully, this post on how to market an online directory has given you some excellent and effective promotion ideas for your own project.

We know business directory advertising is no small feat. That’s why many successful directory sites use software like eDirectory to help them get there.

eDirectory is the most complete directory website builder available. It’s an easy-to-use software that offers every tool you need to build, manage, and promote a successful directory site, and plenty of extra perks. The robust feature list includes some fantastic tools to help you market your online directory like:

 

  • Beautiful Listings: Easily create professional directory listings with images, video, and coupons inside a beginner-friendly and intuitive interface.

 

    • Flexible Customization: Customize your pages to meet your project’s exact needs. Use a visual editor to build different types of category templates for every listing type imaginable.

 

  • Social Media Integration: Seamlessly integrate with the most popular social media platforms and encourage advertisers to promote their own listings with social sharing links. Plus, display your Twitter feed directly on your website in just a few clicks. 

 

    • Events Page: A stunning page to display and promote upcoming events for your directory.
    • Advertiser + Member Dashboards: Let your advertisers and members create, edit, and control their own profiles.
    • Membership Site Capabilities: Create member profiles and tap into the power of recurring payments by repeating collecting dues.

 

  • Google Maps Integration: Watch pins automatically appear on an interactive map as new listings are added.
  • Renewal Reminders: Automate your payment collection process by notifying listing owners when their expiration dates are approaching.
  • Deals and Offers: Drive business to your advertisers by letting them create their own coupons and offers, right from their listings. Activate the power of viral sharing when someone redeems an offer on Facebook and shares the deal to their feed.
  • Banner System: Sell or barter banner space in a variety of areas, with granular control over where they show up. Plus, a Google Adsense integration to further monetize your traffic through ads.
  • Online Payments: Securely accept payment over your website via PayPal or credit cards, and even set up automatic recurring payments.
  • Blog: An easy-to-use, built-in Blog Module that lets you create beautiful content to drive traffic and sales.
  • App Builder: Create your own app with no-coding knowledge directly through the site manager’s mobile application builder. Modernize your brand by going mobile and get your app to show up in Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store for extra visibility and awareness.
  • SEO Center: Control every aspect of your site’s SEO with Titles, Meta, and your own keywords. Set rules for pages, use keyword-optimized URLs, and sitemap generation.

…and so much more.

With eDirectory, you’ll have everything you need to create and grow an information-packed, interactive directory and membership website.

So don’t wait!

Sign up for an eDirectory demo today to start promoting your online directory project right away.

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How to Create a Directory Website in 8 Steps

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How to create a directory website: essential tips to launch a successful directory

how to create a directory websiteTo create a directory website, follow these:

  1. Choose the type of directory you will launch.
  2. Sign up for any eDirectory plan
  3. Define your Top Level and Sub-Level Categories
  4. Create your Membership Levels or Pricing Plan options
  5. Create or import your first listings
  6. Create quality content
  7. Optimize and publicize
  8. Include new features

1. Choose the type of directory you will launch.

The great thing is, a directory website can be launched for almost any industry or purpose with an opportunity for members to add all kinds of great content like videos, articles, special deals, and photo galleries. There are several ways to create a directory website that you can choose from. The most common ones are local business directories, professional service provider directories, and membership directories or association websites. To make it easier, you can start in the area that you have the most experience in or the location where you are residing. For example, if your city does not have a strong local business or tourism guide, you have a good opportunity to create an online community that generates recurring revenue. If you are a special service provider, you can create a directory for your industry, starting with you and your colleagues and ultimately making some money from your competitors while featuring your business at the same time. Or perhaps choose an interest or topic that you are passionate about and create a national or international directory website or membership community around that. There’s room for a lot of innovation with the online directory business plan.

2. Choose the technology partner for your directory software

There are several different approaches here. You can, for example, hire a developer and a web designer to build your own directory script, yet the chances are they will most likely use an inexpensive off-the-shelf product that they charge you a lot of money to maintain. Worse yet, they disappear or get a bigger job and you’re left behind with a directory solution you can’t use. Another approach is that can go with a low-cost high-maintenance option like a WordPress directory theme and WordPress directory plug-in. They still require you to have someone with technical knowledge on your payroll to maintain. Also, the difficulty to build a directory with WordPress is that WordPress was not built for directories, it was made for publishing blogs, so you’ll have to invest a lot of time patching various components together and it is not best suited to scale for a powerful directory solution. With eDirectory, you can create your professional directory website quickly and easily. The monthly plans make it affordable to start quickly with all the essential features for a successful directory website right where you need them so you can focus on the directory business plan rather than back-end maintenance.

3. Define your Top Level and Sub-Level Categories

A directory website is really just a large amount of information (business listings or member profiles) that is highly organized for visitors to search, browse, and connect. With top levels and perhaps various sub-levels of categories for visitors to search through, online directory websites allow users to find what they are looking for quickly and easily. If you need general business categories, eDirectory will provide them free of charge. You can also add them manually. 25 top-level categories with an average of 10 sub-levels for each is generally sufficient, yet with eDirectory you can go down to 5 sub-sub levels for a very granular search experience. Your members or business listing owners can also be charged to appear in more categories, which in essence creates more visibility and this impressions, and conversion. This is another great way to build a “ladder” with your pricing levels to encourage the sales of your most premium membership level, by limiting the number of categories your directory website listing owners will appear in.

4. Create your Membership Levels or Pricing Plan options

Early on the name of the game is to get people to join your online community website, so a Free membership level is highly recommended. Free members add a ton of value early on as they will contribute content (although limited), provide invaluable feedback, share their listing to their social media, and may upgrade to a paid listing down the road if you really give them some quality attention from the beginning. With setting up the remainder of your pricing levels, make sure to have the top level get everything under the sun to really encourage purchase, even do some promotional discounts on the first 100 paid sign-ups with 20-50% off, perhaps even free banner ads for a month or two. With the pricing level(s) in the middle, make sure they get enough to warrant the price they’re paying for yet to limit or restrict the most valuable directory website features, so maybe they can only add 1 special “deal” to your deals engine for example. Do some testing knowing that nothing is set in stone and that you can adapt your directory website pricing and update your directory business plan as you learn and grow.

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5. Create or import your first listings

If you have a list of businesses or members to import, that’s great! With the eDirectory.com directory solution, all you need to do is use the import template and you’re ready to go. You can also add a few listings manually for businesses or members you hope will join. Start including several listings and gradually add more. You can start with a goal to include, for example, 10 listings per day. Once members join, encourage them to share their listings to social media to gain more visibility to your directory website. As your online community starts to grow and get noticed by people, they will come to you and create their own listings by themselves. Until you reach that point, you need to assert by yourself or hire someone to do it for you, if you plan to scrape a few public sites for example. In this other blog post, we shared a few other marketing ideas as well.

6. Create quality content

Publishing and curating high-quality content is an important factor to bring new and qualified visitors to your site. If you have a local directory, talk about what makes that local directory business unique and highlight its qualities. Think about what type of content would be useful to your readers and write it down, schedule based on priority, and get started with a content-creation schedule for your directory website that you are comfortable with, like 1-2 hours per week for example. You can also invite and encourage contributors and members to add content to your online community website. If you have an online directory website for specialized dentists for example, they usually will be happy to contribute valuable content to your directory solution so they can start to be seen as authority on that subject, showcase their practice, and help visitors get to know them a bit better before making the connection; all of which helps bring them more views and traffic.

7. Optimize and publicize

Once you start the process of quality content and attracting target customers, keep it going by consistently asking yourself these questions:

* How can I make my directory website so appealing that members will visit and want to join my online community and contribute content as a paying member? Take the lead!  Build a directory website you would want to join.  With our easy directory software at eDirectory, you can get started right away on adding all kinds of great content like blog posts, articles, industry or local events, even classified ads that can be used for all kinds of purposes like jobs, business opportunities, and even products to be showcased on your directory website.  

* How can I make sure that the listings have enough depth to ensure a high utilization for directory website visitors? Listings with just title and phone number are less attractive and useful than listings with photos, videos, maps, deals, classifieds, and descriptions. Invite every new member to create content, talk about their mission/vision, and share a video about themselves and what they do.

* How can I monetize my directory? Online directory websites have many ways of generating revenue, which really adds to your directory business plan. The model is so successful because once you have a large captive audience, it creates many more opportunities to generate revenue like with membership dues every month or year, leads you sell to your members, affiliate links to other ecommerce products or services, banner ads you sell to publishers and members, sponsored social media posts, donations, and you can also connect a storefront to your online directory website with the new eDirectory Storefront MOD.

* What type of content will bring more visitors? There are always opportunities for content creation with a potential to bring a lot of visitors to your website. Find out who the other players in your industry are as far as direct and indirect competitors, complimentary service providers, industry publications, forums, portals, and even social media groups. Get inspired by what works well for others and even what may NOT work well for your brand or community (sometimes it makes things a lot easier to get started when you at least know what to focus on).

 

8. Include new features

Treat every new member and newsletter subscriber early on as GOLD! Ask them what they’d like to see available to them on your site as far as any new features or functionalities. Try to truly identify what your niche can be with this as well. You will learn this by making an effort to connect and ask questions. You may be surprised by what you learn and it could create new opportunities for your online directory website. As you start to grow the directory website builder in you, you might find it useful to add a Community Forum, integrate with services like Infusionsoft or Salesforce, or perhaps connect an eDirectory storefront in the MOD Store. All these services can provide the perfect environment for growing your business.

These are a few tips to help you to create a directory website. Contact us if you have any questions and we will make sure you have a dedicated account executive to answer all your important questions before getting started.

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Webinar: Local SEO for Online Directories

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1. What is Local SEO for Online Directories

Local SEO is a specialized digital marketing approach to refine a website’s visibility within local search engine results. Its core objective is to tailor online content and strategies to resonate with nearby audiences and attract local customers effectively. This optimization involves a multifaceted approach that encompasses various techniques, such as optimizing website content with location-based keywords, ensuring accurate business information across online directories and platforms, enhancing Google My Business profiles, and actively encouraging customer reviews and ratings. By implementing these strategies, businesses can significantly improve their chances of appearing prominently in searches made by individuals seeking products or services within their specific geographic area, ultimately driving more foot traffic and leads to their physical locations or online platforms.

  • Location-based Optimization: Enhancing website content, metadata, and online profiles to target specific geographic areas.
  • Google My Business: Claiming and optimizing listings on Google My Business to appear in local searches and Google Maps.

2. What is Google Looking For

Google values accuracy, relevance, and prominence for local search rankings.

  • Consistent NAP: Name, Address, Phone number consistency across all directories and online platforms.
  • Reviews and Ratings: Positive reviews and high ratings signal credibility and trustworthiness.
  • Local Citations: Listings in reputable directories that validate a business’s existence and relevance.

3. Local Keyword Research

Local keyword research serves as the cornerstone of an effective local SEO strategy, providing invaluable insights into the specific phrases and terms potential customers use while searching for nearby services or products. This process involves identifying and targeting location-based keywords, including city names, neighborhood identifiers, or regional descriptors, to align website content with local search intent accurately. Moreover, delving into long-tail keywords, which are more detailed and specific phrases, allows businesses to mirror the precise queries made by local users. Analyzing competitor strategies aids in uncovering effective keywords that successfully engage the local audience. By strategically incorporating these findings into content and metadata, businesses can significantly enhance their visibility in local searches, attracting more relevant traffic and potential customers to their website or storefront.

  • Focus on Location Keywords: Incorporate city, neighborhood, or regional terms in keywords.
  • Long-Tail Keywords: Utilize specific phrases that mirror local search queries.
  • Competitor Analysis: Analyze keywords used by successful local competitors for insights.

Webinar: Mastering the Listing Template Editor

Conclusion

Local SEO for online directories requires strategic optimization, emphasizing local relevance and targeting. By leveraging precise keywords, consistent information, and authoritative directory listings, businesses can enhance their visibility in local searches, driving more targeted traffic and potential customers to their websites.

USEFUL LINKS AND TOOLS MENTIONED IN THE WEBINAR

This session was recorded on December 20th, 2023.

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Webinar: Prepare your Website for the Holidays

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Prepare your Website for the HolidaysWebinars

During the end of the year, there are plenty of opportunities and chances to take advantage of. In that regard, we discussed some guidelines to prepare your website for the Holidays, keeping your eDirectory website running smoothly.

In our discussion, we talked about end-of-year promotions and how to make your planning for the year ahead. As part of the design segment, we also offered ideas for making your website more holiday-themed we have two easy-to-use professional tools to help change colors, images, and the sliders on your website.

eDirectory also offers possibilities for automation such as recurring payments, welcoming new users, sending newsletters, and more. Prepare your articles/blog posts and banner ads for your sponsors, let your directory app following the same theme too.

Find out how to balance new sales opportunities, tweak some design elements, and save time by enabling the automation features of eDirectory.

Watch now: prepare your website for the Holidays

USEFUL LINKS AND TOOLS MENTIONED IN THE WEBINAR:

*We are not affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected to the tools and sites mentioned in the webinar.

This session was recorded on December 6th, 2023.

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Webinar: The eDirectory Real Estate Theme

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How To Build a Real Estate Website

A well-designed real estate website is crucial for the success of any real estate business. It helps to connect buyers and sellers and provides a central location for all relevant information. Furthermore, it can help to streamline the buying and selling process.

The eDirectory’s Real Estate Theme is designed for desktop and mobile devices. It ensures that users can easily find what they’re looking for, whether it’s property listings, filters, contact information, or other essential features. This reduces frustration and enhances overall user satisfaction.

In this Webinar, we’ll cover the main aspects of how you can configure your eDirectory Real Estate Website using a pre-determined setup of Listing Categories and Listing Templates.

First, create 3 main categories: Real Estate Agencies, Realtors, and Properties. Based on these 3 profiles you will create 3 new Listing Templates, feel free to add or remove any widgets and other fields you believe are important for each profile. Pro tip: don’t forget to turn on the real estate fields in the Property template so it will give you access to all information needed to list a property such are type of operation, pricing, area, number of bedrooms, and so on.

Webinar: The eDirectory Real Estate Theme

Conclusion

Our eDirectory Real Estate theme was created after gathering extensive feedback from both our customers and the market. Unlike a plugin, this theme is included in the newest version of eDirectory and can be found under the Design Menu, themes. If you are not currently running eDirectory V13.3, please visit our website and fill out a form to request an upgrade.

*We are not affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected to the tools and sites mentioned in the webinar.

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This session was recorded on November 08th, 2023.

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Webinar: Meet The New eDirectory v13.3

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The eDirectory v13.3 is out now!

We’re are excited to present the newest version of eDirectory: Version 13.3. Now, with the brand new Real Estate theme and our biggest innovation yet, the ChatGPT integration to create content and rich listing descriptions. This integration facilitates the creation and optimization of long and short descriptions, search keywords, and SEO elements for Listings, Events, Classifieds, and Deals. Additionally, for Blog Posts and Articles, the integration offers an Assistant to aid in content ideation. Experienced users can input their own prompts, enabling Chat GPT to generate customized content.

In this webinar, we covered thoroughly the aspects of this new integration, presenting in detail the possibilities on how to achieve quality results in terms of written descriptions.

We briefly covered the new updates to the Real Estate Theme, which includes a refreshed layout, enhanced labels, and full compatibility with eDirectory mobile apps. In addition, it introduces two exclusive search widgets.

The Marketplace Widget also undergone an important update. Introduced in version 13.2, publishers can now generate their own catalog of products and services. The pricing field is optional and text, such as “Special Pricing,” can be included.

Webinar: Meet The New eDirectory v13.3

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This session was recorded on October 26th, 2023.

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eDirectory 13.3: now integrated with Chat GPT for Artificial Intelligence

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eDirectory 13.3_ now integrated with Chat GPT for Artificial Intelligence

The new eDirectory 13.3 powered with artificial intelligence is now available. This new version brings the integration with Chat GPT, the most known artificial intelligence platform so you and your advertisers can create and optimize descriptions, keywords, and even write articles from scratch.

See all the new features and improvements of the new eDirectory 13.3!

Chat GPT – create and optimize content

The ChatGPT integration with eDirectory websites is a game-changer in the digital world. It streamlines operations, reduces costs, enhances user experience, and bolsters the SEO performance of your listings, events, blog posts, articles, and more.

While ChatGPT can generate initial descriptions, it’s important to note that you have full control. You can customize and edit the content to align with specific business requirements or unique selling points.

For Listings, Events, Classifieds, and Deals, this integration allows you and your advertisers to create/optimize long and short descriptions, keywords for the search, and SEO elements.

For Blog Posts and Articles, the integration is even more complete, providing an Assistant that helps you to determine the content you want to create. If you are experienced, you can type your own prompt so Chat GPT can deliver a tailored piece of content.

To enable this integration simply go to Open AI website – the creators of Chat GPT – sign up for an account and get your API key. Paste this key inside your eDirectory’s admin dashboard and you’re done.

Then you must configure if all levels of Listings and other modules will have access to this feature. Tip: if you enable this feature only for premium packages, it may help you boost sales and package upgrades.

Scheduling blog posts and articles

Now you and your advertisers can write and schedule when the piece will be published. Scheduling is a valuable tool for improving your content strategy, enhancing the reader experience, and increasing the efficiency of your content marketing efforts.

Timezone for Events and Listings

As many of our customers run national and even international online directories, they publish content for different time zones. This new release adds the ability for advertisers to select the timezone for their Events and Listings.

Now the end user will have more precise information about businesses opening hours and event times.

New widgets for the Page Editor

Adding more versatility to the general page’s content you can now add Client Testimonials and Photo Galleries, this one available on grid and carousel modes.

Updates on the Marketplace Widget

With this exclusive feature, listing publishers can create their catalog of products and /or services. This new release changes the pricing field to be optional and even accepts text in it, such as “Special Pricing”.

The Real Estate Plugin

Our most recent innovation has now revamped layout, and better labels, and is ready for the eDirectory mobile apps. It also brings two exclusive search widgets.

More improvements

The default location data import has been completely restructured, allowing site owners to import locations even when the site already contains content.

The display of logo images on the listing detail page has been updated to support larger logos in the new eDirectory 13.3.

Read the full list of enhancements of eDirectory v13.3 here.

Upgrade to the latest version of eDirectory today!

For active clients looking to take advantage of the latest and greatest eDirectory.com offers, fill out the Upgrade Request form or contact your account manager.

For new clients looking to launch their online Enterprise with the most complete directory software, please request a demo here, call us directly at +1-800-630-4694, or send an email to sales@eDirectory.com.

Webinar: Adsense Alternatives to Monetize Your Online Directory

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Monetizing an online directory is a lucrative endeavor in today’s digital landscape. Google AdSense has been a go-to platform for many website owners to generate revenue through display ads. However, relying solely on AdSense may not always be the most profitable choice. In this article, we will explore some of the top AdSense alternatives to help you maximize your earnings from your online directory.

eDirectory Monetization Options

eDirectory offers a versatile range of monetization options to empower online directories and community-based platforms. These include revenue streams such as listings, classifieds, events, articles, and banner ads. Directory owners can generate income by charging businesses and individuals for premium listings and classified ads, organizing and promoting events within their community, providing a platform for informative articles, and offering strategic banner ad placements to advertisers. This comprehensive suite of monetization features enables eDirectory users to diversify their income streams while enhancing the value they provide to their audience.

Adsense Alternatives to Monetize Your Online Directory

1. Media.net

Media.net is a prominent AdSense alternative that specializes in contextual advertising. It serves high-quality ads and offers various ad formats to choose from. Media.net is known for its user-friendly interface and excellent customer support. It’s a popular choice among publishers, especially those with niche websites or online directories.

2. PropellerAds.com

PropellerAds.com is a global advertising network that provides a wide range of ad formats, including push notifications, native ads, and interstitials. It’s a great choice for publishers looking to diversify their ad inventory and increase revenue. PropellerAds.com also offers detailed analytics and optimization tools to help you maximize your earnings.

3. Adsterra.com

Adsterra.com is another alternative that caters to both publishers and advertisers. It offers a variety of ad formats, including popunders, banners, and push notifications. Adsterra.com is known for its competitive payouts and user-friendly platform. They also provide advanced targeting options to help you reach your desired audience.

4. Adversal.com

Adversal.com is a premium CPM ad network that focuses on providing high-quality display ads. While they have strict approval requirements, their payouts are often higher than other networks. Adversal.com offers a 100% fill rate and provides excellent support to its publishers.

5. Monumetric.com

Monumetric.com is an ad management platform that offers a range of monetization solutions. They work closely with publishers to optimize ad placements and increase revenue. Monumetric.com provides access to premium ad exchanges and offers competitive CPM rates.

6. Infolinks.com

Infolinks.com specializes in in-text and in-frame ads, making it a unique AdSense alternative. They provide a non-intrusive way to monetize your content. Infolinks.com is easy to integrate and offers various ad customization options.

7. Yllix.com

Yllix.com is an ad network that provides a wide range of ad formats, including popunders, mobile redirects, and sliders. They offer competitive rates and a user-friendly platform. Yllix.com is suitable for online directories looking to monetize their traffic effectively.

8. SheMedia.com

SheMedia.com is a leading platform for female-focused content and advertising. If your online directory caters to a female audience, SheMedia.com can be an excellent choice. They offer a variety of ad formats tailored to women’s interests.

9. Outbrain.com

Outbrain.com is a content discovery platform that focuses on native advertising. It’s a great option for online directories that want to promote sponsored content in a non-disruptive manner. Outbrain.com provides personalized recommendations to engage users effectively.

10. Taboola.com

Taboola.com is a prominent native advertising platform similar to Outbrain. It offers content discovery solutions that can seamlessly blend with your online directory’s content. Taboola.com is known for its vast network of publishers and advertisers.

Affiliate Marketing Strategies

In addition to ad networks, affiliate marketing can be a powerful monetization strategy for online directories. Promoting relevant products or services to your audience and earning commissions on sales can boost your revenue. Some top players in the affiliate marketing field include:

  1. Amazon Associates: The Amazon affiliate program allows you to promote a vast range of products and earn commissions on each sale.
  2. ShareASale: ShareASale is an affiliate marketing network that connects publishers with a wide variety of advertisers and products.
  3. ClickBank: ClickBank specializes in digital products and offers high commissions for affiliates promoting ebooks, software, and more.
  4. CJ Affiliate: CJ Affiliate (formerly Commission Junction) is a well-established affiliate network with a diverse range of advertisers.
  5. Rakuten Advertising: Rakuten offers a global affiliate marketing network with opportunities to partner with top brands.

Webinar: Adsense Alternatives to Monetize Your Online Directory

Conclusion

In conclusion, diversifying your monetization strategies beyond Google AdSense can significantly increase your online directory’s revenue. Explore the mentioned alternatives and consider incorporating affiliate marketing to maximize your earnings. Remember to test different approaches and analyze your results to find the best combination of strategies for your specific audience and niche.

*We are not affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected to the tools and sites mentioned in the webinar.

USEFUL LINKS AND TOOLS MENTIONED IN THE WEBINAR

This session was recorded on May 1st, 2024

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How to Build a Real Estate Website with eDirectory

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How to Build a Highly Effective Real Estate Website with eDirectory

Building a real estate website with eDirectory is a quick and simple task. In this comprehensive guide, we will walk you through the process and the dos and don’ts of this type of online directory that will attract more visitors, generate leads, and help you establish a strong online presence in the real estate industry.

We will give you access to a fully-featured, well-designed, and SEO-ready real estate website. Excellent for both brokers and real estate/property agencies looking on How to Build a Real Estate Website. Let’s dive into it.

 1. THE IMPORTANCE OF A WELL-DESIGNED REAL ESTATE WEBSITE

A well-designed and user-friendly website significantly impacts the success of a real estate business in several ways.

A positive user experience encourages visitors to stay longer on the website, explore different listings, and engage with its features. This increases the chances of potential buyers or renters finding the perfect property and converting it into leads or clients for your advertisers.

The eDirectory’s design, for both desktop and mobile devices, ensures that users can easily find what they’re looking for, whether it’s property listings, filters, contact information, or other essential features. This reduces frustration and enhances overall user satisfaction.

2. OPTIMIZE CATEGORIES’ STRUCTURE AND WEBSITE NAVIGATION

With eDirectory you can build a well-structured real estate website with optimized categories and intuitive navigation. It is essential for both users and search engines. Here are some key tips to optimize your real estate website.

2.1 Clear and Logical Hierarchy for Categories

Ensure that your real estate website’s pages and content are arranged in a coherent hierarchy. Utilize categories and subcategories to establish an organized architecture that facilitates effortless navigation and discovery of property listings and general information.

How to Build a Real Estate Website - categories

With eDirectory, you have the flexibility to create unlimited categories and subcategories, allowing you to organize your website exactly as you desire.

Each Property Listing in an eDirectory real estate website can be associated with up to 10 Categories and Sub-categories, making it easier for the potential buyer/renter to search, filter and find what they are looking for.

2.2 User-Friendly Navigation

In addition to organizing your website’s content effectively, it is crucial to prioritize user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) in the context of a real estate website. A user-friendly navigation menu plays a vital role in enhancing UX/UI. By implementing a clear and intuitive navigation system, visitors can effortlessly explore your website, leading to higher engagement and improved satisfaction.

The eDirectory software allows site owners to adjust the navigation menu and the links on the footer according to the website’s objectives.

3. SHOWCASE PROPERTY LISTINGS EFFECTIVELY

An essential aspect of a real estate website is showcasing property listings in an appealing and user-friendly manner. Remember that the listing detail page is the place that connects the user to the property, so trying to answer possible questions in advance is a good strategy.

Here’s how you can do it:

3.1 Detailed Property Descriptions

Take full advantage of the eDirectory’s exclusive Listing Template Editor. With this feature you can create custom fields for each property category in your real estate website, helping your advertisers to showcase the best they have while creating rich and unique pages – perfect for users and search engines.

Highlight the key features, amenities, and unique selling points of each property type. The richer your description gets, the better it will engage with the visitors.

How to Build a Real Estate Website - listing detail

3.2 High-Quality Design

Visual content significantly impacts users’ perception of a property, and professional-quality visuals can make a substantial difference in attracting potential buyers and renters.

The eDirectory’s exclusive Listing Template Editor also allows you to create a unique design for the Listing Detail Page. From the header to the content, there’s a lot you can create for your real estate website.

You can create unlimited tabs to distribute the content (fields) whether it is text, icons, image gallery, and videos.

How to Build a Real Estate Website

4. CRAFT ENGAGING AND SEO-OPTIMIZED CONTENT

To get your site ranked in Google, Bing, and other search engines, you need content, and content is king in the world of SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Your real estate website should have high-quality, informative, and keyword-rich content that resonates with your target audience.

With eDirectory you can easily optimize all of your pages and content: locations, categories, blog posts, listings, and more.

Focus on conducting thorough keyword research, identifying relevant search terms, and strategically incorporating them into your content. This way you can increase your chances of having maximum exposure and outranking competitors.

Moreover, the eDirectory Real Estate website is coded within the Schema.org parameters. Explaining in broad terms Schema.org is a collaborative project by major search engines like Google and Microsoft, providing a common language for organizing data on web pages.

By using Schema.org markup, websites can make it easier for search engines to understand their content, which improves search engine optimization (SEO) and boosts visibility in search results. For real estate websites, using the correct Schema.org type, known as RealEstateListing, is essential. It helps search engines recognize and categorize real estate listings effectively, displaying important details like property information and prices directly in search results.

5. FACILITATE OPERATIONS

Managing a real estate website can be a daunting task so you should be looking for a platform that allows for a good level of business automation and user-generated content management.

eDirectory allows advertisers to create, manage, pay, and publish content on their own, through the Advertiser Dashboard.

The payment gateway integrations associated with recurring payments and billing reminder emails make it easy to collect online payments. If an item is due or not renewed, it will be automatically suspended from your site. You don’t have to lift a finger.

You can also approve the listing before them goes live to ensure the quality of the content. It all saves you valuable time and effort.

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6. ADDITIONAL MONETIZATION

To outrank other real estate websites in your target market, it’s vital to implement effective local SEO strategies. Identify and optimize your website for relevant local keywords. Include location-specific terms in your content, meta tags, headings, and URLs to improve your visibility in local search results.

Add the country, states or provinces, cities, and neighborhoods that your real estate directory will encompass.

Monetizing a real estate website should not be complicated. A good software like eDirectory will allow you to create different listing levels with different features in each such as custom fields, videos, number of images, etc.

Besides property listings, you can also monetize your eDirectory real estate website by selling events, articles, service classifieds, and banner ads.

7. use the right platform to Build a Real Estate Website

By following the strategies outlined in this guide, you can build a highly effective real estate website ready to outrank competitors and attract more quality traffic. Remember to focus on delivering exceptional user experience, and valuable content, and implementing proven SEO techniques to achieve long-term success in the online real estate market.

Launch your real estate website today with eDirectory

If you own a real estate agency or are an independent broker, the eDirectory Real Estate Website is the ideal solution for your business. eDirectory is a complete platform ready to generate recurring revenue and offer value to advertisers and visitors. Take a free guided demo of eDirectory and learn how it can help you build your online business in the real estate market.

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Webinar: Leveraging the eDirectory Mobile App Feature

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Leveraging the Mobile App Feature

eDirectory, as the sole platform in the market offering a native mobile app builder, empowers site owners like you to effortlessly create, customize, and publish your online directory website on both Google Play and the App Store. Here are the key features of the eDirectory Mobile app integrated builder:

  1. Fully Native Apps: Your apps will be fully native, bearing your brand and residing in your app store account.
  2. Unified Data and Management Interface: Manage your app and web content using the same intuitive interface.
  3. Extensive Customization: Customize your app in multiple ways to align with your unique requirements.
  4. Dynamic Layout Updates: Publish changes to your app’s layout on the fly, ensuring flexibility and adaptability.
  5. Self-Submission or eDirectory Submission Service: Choose to self-submit your app or utilize eDirectory’s submission service for a seamless process.

By embracing a mobile app, you ensure that your online directory holds a prominent position on your users’ cellphone home screens, offering the following advantages of native apps:

  1. Brand Visibility: Your app icon will reside on your users’ home screens, maximizing brand exposure.
  2. Reduced Bounce Rate: Unlike web-based experiences, users are less likely to navigate away from your app.
  3. Seamless Interface: Native apps provide a smooth and optimized user interface for enhanced user experience.
  4. GPS-based Location Accuracy: Leverage GPS functionality for accurate location-based services within your app.
  5. Notifications: Engage with your users through push notifications, delivering timely updates and messages.
  6. Additional Monetization Opportunities: Native apps open doors to additional revenue streams for your online directory.

By leveraging these features and benefits, eDirectory empowers you to create a comprehensive mobile presence that ensures your online directory remains at the forefront of your users’ attention and offers a superior user experience.

Webinar: Creating Sponsorship Opportunities for Online Directories

*We are not affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected to the tools and sites mentioned in the webinar.

USEFUL LINKS AND TOOLS MENTIONED IN THE WEBINAR

This session was recorded on July 12th, 2023.

Want more tips? Shoot us a note at .

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