How to Create a Buyer’s Guide Website?

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How to Create a Buyer's Guide Website

How to Create a Buyer’s Guide Website?

Buyers’ guide websites are essential for providing information plus reviews for customers to make informed decisions prior to the purchase. The objective of this category of online business directory is to provide detailed information about products, software, and services.

A good buyer’s guide should also include reviews from real customers who have purchased the product, providing a basis for other users to make an informed decision based on their experiences.

As a result, the added information will help users find the products they want and increase the conversions on your buyer’s guide website. 

When a customer searches for a specific product, they want to know why one product fits their needs better than another. Think about choosing software for web development. There are some tools you know you need. However, through a buyers’ guide, you might find that the software of interest requires even more features. The added information about the product will show how your product can solve your users’ problems.

Throughout this article, you will learn how to create a killer buyer’s guide website and the best platform to start your project. Let’s get started!

Topics covered in this article

  • What is a buyer’s guide website?
  • Why is creating a Buyer’s Guide website so Important?
  • Popular types of buyer’s guide websites
  • Create a Buyer’s Guide Website with eDirectory
  • Conclusion

What is a Buyer’s Guide Website?

You may be asking yourself what is a buyer’s guide. A buyer’s guide is designed to streamline purchasing by supplying all the necessary data about a determined product, service, or company. Customers should be able to access a clear message about a product with a simple click. 

The purpose of a buyer’s guide website should be to increase the user’s confidence before making a purchase. It doesn’t matter if you are simply showcasing products and services or if you are also promoting your own affiliate links. The most important thing here is to provide trustful content, especially through user reviews.

Why is creating a Buyer’s Guide website so Important?

In this topic, we will cover four points to explain the importance of creating a buyer’s guide website. As mentioned above, we learned that educated customers become well-reasoned customers. These users are not just browsers; they are people who want to get the best product facts. Buying guides are essential as they help consumers with valuable content and maximum sales potential. They should include product specifications, and customer reviews to help customers make an informed decision.

  • Keep your Audience Well Informed

Imagine you are looking to purchase a new smartphone, a laptop, or even a new marketing software for your company. Where do you start your search? Probably going to Google to find the reviews and opinions from people who actually have purchased and used the product you’re looking for. 

The same goes for everyone else searching for any kind of product on the web, and here’s where creating a buyer’s guide website can be very interesting. Focus on your area of activity and offer comprehensive reviews based on user-generated content. People tend to trust other people’s experiences.

Remember: social proof drives sales and well-informed customers and around 90% of online shoppers read at least one review before making a purchase.

  • It’s great for SEO

When shoppers decide what to buy, they will look at search engines like Google and Bing, or even Amazon. All of these websites index and rank content (products) differently. However, all algorithms value original content, and customer reviews feed the search engine website which can be translated to a better ranking of your buyer’s guide website to surface among the results on the SERP (search engine results page).

How reviews boost SEO

source: https://www.yotpo.com/blog/reviews-seo

Sixty-three percent of all shopping starts online. If your optimized guide’s visibility increases for particular search terms, you can drive more traffic to your site. For that to happen you will need to work on content first, be sure to go after sponsors that will advertise on your buying guide website, make sure to include all the products that are relevant to your niche, and take advantage of keyword tools such as SEMrush, Ubersuggest or Google Keyword Planner to understand what are the search terms used by shoppers when looking for product reviews and make sure to incorporate these keywords to the results page and product pages of your buyer’s guide website.

For example, Shopper Approved and G2 rank highly on search engines for gathering user-generated content in the form of reviews, demonstrating how reviews are a powerful form of customer content that boosts organic traffic.

  • Increase your conversions

Through SEO or paid ads, your buying guide website is likely to gain traffic as well as rank higher in search engine results. Once you’ve generated enough traffic, you need to convert that traffic into leads. This is what we’ll call conversions.

Your audience’s purchasing patterns can vary as new trends emerge. You may uncover new customer groups as you research your buyer’s guide. Remain flexible and acclimate to the facts you discover. It’ll help you create more compelling content that drives sales.

 Take Advantage of User-Generated Content (UGC)

One of the top benefits of user-generated content is that it serves as excellent social proof. Seeing content from real customers increases the advertiser’s credibility and brings their brand’s promises into perspective. In addition, people trust user-generated content over most other types of review content. Therefore, incorporating user-generated content will enhance the trustworthiness of your buyer’s guide website.

Consumers have different reasons for wanting to try a product, and UGC can play an important role in this decision. Numbers are very clear about the impact UGC has on them, more specifically, UGC increases conversion rates 85% better than other content types. 

A recent study from Harvard Business School found out that the more stars a brand or product has on Yelp, there is a boost of 5% to 9% in sales and lead generation. eDirectory is prepared to receive UGC in the form of reviews and stars that will be displayed for other users to read and make informed decisions.

eDirectory Reviews Boost Website

source: www.edirectory.com

Popular types of buyer’s guide websites

Here are a few buyer’s guide websites you could take as inspiration for your own project. 

  1. Capterra
    The Capterra online marketplace acts as an intermediary between technology buyers and suppliers within the software industry. Here, users can read other users’ opinions on a vast variety of software and online products to make an informed purchase decision. This is a classic buyer’s guide website that relies on UGC to take inspiration.
  2. Software Advice
    In more than 300 market categories, Software Advice provides consulting, research, and user analysis services on software applications. Similar to what we see on Capterra, but with  Business intelligence, marketing automation, CRM, HR, and construction are a few of them.
  3. Glass Door
    In addition to being a web-based review company for job boards, Glass Door is another kind of review website, where you don’t actually buy anything, but rather, get the opinions of actual employees about companies, jobs, salaries, and other work-related matters. Just to illustrate what types of buyer’s guide websites you can build with eDirectory.

Create a Buyer’s Guide Website with eDirectory

Now that you understand how effective a good buyer’s guide website can be, it’s time to choose the right platform to build your own. eDirectory is a software where you can easily build classified ads sites, online directories, events guides, and, of course, buyer’s guides and review websites. 

best classified website software tool

With eDirectory, you can take your idea from scratch to the finished product easily. With its intuitive drag-and-drop page editor, you can quickly create pages and insert widgets for anything you need. Your sponsors will benefit from eDirectory’s powerful categories and subcategories, as well as flexible listing templates that let you completely customize the layout and features of the listing for each level of subscribers. 

Quick steps to create a buyer’s guide website with eDirectory

  • Sign up and create your account in eDirectory

First things first, go to edirectory.com and sign up for a free guided demo. As your first contact with the platform, you will have access to the site manager back panel. For a complete understanding of what eDirectory can do for you to create a great buyer’s guide, we recommend you try the demo first!

edirectory site manager

Here you’ll manage your buyer’s guide, create listings, moderate reviews, create categories, design new and existing pages, etc.

  • Select your target location

You can set up your buyer’s guide websites in any location you’d like, no matter if they’re local, regional or national. When offering local deals or classifieds, as well as for SEO purposes, this is quite important. Make sure you select your time zone and the language in which you want your dashboard and website to be displayed.

edirectory language location

  • Adding categories and subcategories

Depending on the niche of your Buyer’s Guide website, you will have different categories. If your business is focused on food and restaurants, it is most likely that your website will have categories related to it. Creating categories in eDirectory is quick and easy, you will find the categories feature inside Content > Listings, and then click on categories. Create as many categories as you need with up to 9 subcategories.

edirectory create category

  • Import your first products or business

Now that you’ve created your categories, you can import your products or services. In the initial stages of your buyer’s guide website, you can either register all items individually (which can be a time-consuming task) or use bulk imports to expedite the process.

On the Content tab, click the Import option and then click Listings. You can upload your CSV or XLS spreadsheet file and follow the instructions. This will only take a few seconds, as you’ll be asked to match the fields on your spreadsheet and that’s it.

edirectory import tool

  • Connect your domain name and spread the word

Lastly, don’t forget to set up your new domain name using your favorite platform, and don’t worry about the SSL certificate and hosting, as it comes included in every eDirectory plan. If you want to self-host your buyer’s guide in another service, go ahead as this is also an option.

Don’t forget to set up the Google services like Maps, Analytics, and Tag Manager. 

Once your buyer’s guide is live, is time to promote it and spread the word about your service. Remember that Google loves good and unique content, and buyer’s guides are an excellent source of UGC, so leverage this strategy. Go after partnerships with local brands or suppliers, offer them exposure or free premium subscriptions for a couple of months, investing in paid advertising on social media and PPC (pay per click) campaigns. You’ll very likely drive way more traffic and attract new sponsors.

Wrapping up

The purpose of this article was to demonstrate what could be accomplished with a buyer’s guide website. Additionally, it allows users to generate content, making it a reliable source of information for people to make informed decisions. This makes it not only a great business model for recurring revenues but also one that encourages user-generated content. 

Your buyer’s guide website can cater to any niche, not only tech products and services. There are review-based websites for everything, like jobs, food and restaurants, cars, games, apps, events, lawyers, dentists, and doctors. It truly fits every industry.

If you want to create a powerful and easy-to-manage buyer’s guide website, Directory is your best choice. Don’t wait, sign up for a free eDirectory demo today. 

Edirectory Free guided demo

 

Webinar: How to Populate Your Online Directory

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how to populate your online directory - edirectoryOne of the most common questions for new and existing directories is how to populate your online directory. Since high-quality content is the most valuable asset of directory-based websites, having an up-to-date database is key to driving more traffic to your website.

It is your data (as content) that will attract people to your website more than any other part, whether it is technology, hosting or features. Look for data in your niche that is hard to find or that is too complex, so you can simplify it and make it easier for your audience to understand. Curation is key for this stage.

Remember: focus on both the breadth and depth of your information, creating goals for the number of listings you want to achieve as well as for the quality of those listings.

In this Webinar with our CEO James Chubb, learn more about how to populate your online directory with good and quality curated data, software for data scraping, list brokers, and best practices on listing management.

How to Populate Your Online Directory

This session took place on July, 13th 2022.

  • * We are not affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected to the tools and sites mentioned in this article.
  • * Before using Octoparse, please read the terms and conditions and privacy policy carefully. Do not use it to scrape data from social media and password-protected websites.

post - how to populate your online directory

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Webinar: Agency Services to Increase Revenue

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Agency Services to Increase Revenue

When running a classifieds website or an online business directory, there are several types of services you could offer as a way to generate extra revenue. Acting like a small marketing agency or publisher, your sponsors could benefit from a professional take on areas they might be lacking, such as good photos, SEO, content creation, etc.

These are strategies especially important when you have just released your classifieds website, which can take some time to get traction and take off. These agency services are a very helpful way to generate revenue while building content and traffic.

If you are able to offer a good service experience, it is more likely that sponsors will stick to your online business directory. Be sure to know your clients and their pains, providing the solution for their business weaknesses.

And the easiest part is that you can bill these services directly inside the listing itself. Making it a smooth process with minimum friction.

In this webinar our CEO James Chubb shows how to offer agency services as a way to build additional revenue. He discusses different offerings, how to price them, and execute the services.

Agency Services to Increase Revenue

A few ideas of agency services

  • Website & Email hosting
  • Create newsletters for clients
  • Make videos and photos (food, real estate, cars, events)
  • SEO services
  • Manage paid ads such as Google ads and Facebook
  • Content writing for blogs

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 June 29th, 2022.

Want more tips? Shoot us a note at .

 

eDirectory Facebook Group

Webinar: Newsletter Ideas to Grow your Traffic

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Newsletter Ideas to Grow your TrafficIt is true there are other ways to engage with your audience, but when it comes to getting closer to them, e-mail marketing is still king. Having direct access to your intended audience’s inbox is a great advantage you do not have with social media, live chats, blogs, and other methods of communication.

Successful email marketing campaigns can bring an ROI of $38 per dollar spent, making it an essential technique for any online business. But to start your first newsletter campaign on the right foot, you must understand the principles of a good email marketing strategy. Remember to put your customer and their needs first, then they will reward you with being loyal. Try to work with these three key pillars of customer experience marketing in mind:

  1. Is your message helpful for the customer?
  2. Is your message customer-centric?
  3. Is your message personal?

The key is to send the right message, to the right person at the right time. Not that this is easy, not at all, but with a good amount of testing and refining, you’ll start to understand your audience and get better engagement.

In this week’s webinar, we covered the main points from the technical aspects of creating your first email campaign, as well as segmentation, monetization, and strategies for both sponsors and visitors.

Useful links and tools mentioned in the webinar:

*Except for Campaign Monitor, 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 May 4th, 2022.

Want more tips? Shoot us a note at .

eDirectory Facebook Group

Meet the new eDirectory Marketplace Widget

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Meet the new eDirectory Marketplace WidgetWe are thrilled to announce a killer feature that changes the game for the online business directory community: the eDirectory Marketplace Widget. Publishers now have a perfect tool to showcase and sell their products or services directly from your directory with the click of a button, making your online directory a much more attractive option for new and existing sponsors.

This feature has been developed over several months by the eDirectory product team to be useful and easy to manage. You can maximize your online directory by offering more value to sponsors looking to sell online to a wider audience.

The Marketplace Widget is a brand new addition to eDirectory’s most recent release, and we’ll explore how to utilize it in detail in this article. Let’s get started.

Make it possible for your advertisers to sell products and services

Marketplaces have become some of the biggest and most valuable companies in the world. It is expected that B2B eCommerce site sales will reach nearly $1.77 trillion in 2022*¹, an increase of 12% over the past year as online business trends continue to influence everyday B2B operations.

Globally, 40% of all online spending post-pandemic*³ occurs on marketplaces, a number that is predicted to increase in 2022 as the world reopens. With the new eDirectory Marketplace Widget, your advertisers can offer their goods and services directly to their audience through your website.

Easily add a direct payment link (from any payment gateway) to the “Buy Now” button and that’s it! The sponsor can make sales and receive the payment instantly. They can also use the custom buttons to book services (book now, make an appointment, etc), which is something we will explore in more detail in the next topic.

We have a detailed article on how to use the eDirectory marketplace widget to its full potential.

edirectory marketplace widget

Offer services and book appointments from your online directory

If your advertisers aren’t selling physical or digital products, but are instead providing services like classes, consultations, or any activity that requires an appointment, they can use the products and services widget in conjunction with their favorite booking tool (such as Calendly or YouCanBookMe) to drive leads directly to their landing pages.

eDirectory Marketplace Widget

In niches such as Wellness & Health, where sponsors can offer services such as yoga classes, individual boxing lessons, nutritionist consultations per hour, and personal training sessions, this can be a very valuable feature for listing owners. 

For other consultancy or coaching-related niches, the “Book Now” button is also a differential that adds value to your online directory and could attract new clients, as these professionals work mostly on an appointment basis. Consider upgrading your eDirectory to v13.1 to take advantage of these and more features.

For Restaurant and Food Services

The eDirectory Marketplace Widget is also a killer feature for the restaurant and food niches because now your sponsors can create special offers that can be purchased or booked on the spot! 

edirectory marketplace widget - fajitas

For instance, the demand for personal chefs has grown significantly since June 2020, according to Fanny Suen Hiu-yan, founder of MobiChef, a Hong Kong startup that provides private chefs for hire*². Listing owners can then create unique offers combining products and services to uncover new revenue streams, such as adding a “Chef at home” service with a “Book Now” button linking your favorite booking app, letting the customer choose their own time and date.

eDirectory marketplace widget - Chef at home

In addition, a reservation service can be added so clients can book tables directly from a listing, thereby avoiding needless phone calls. Restaurants can also sell pre-cooked meals, wine bottles, condiments, and more.

Mix and match calls to actions

It is possible to redirect clients not only to shopping links (like PayPal or Stripe) and booking links (Calendly) but also to custom pages, messaging applications, CRM applications, and so forth.

Take this Golf club example, players can schedule 1 on 1 lessons via text message directly to the club’s reception by clicking the Golf Lessons button. The offer appears on the listing and can be visited by the audience.

eDiectory Marketplace widget - Golf lesson

And If your advertisers want to get serious about tracking their conversions through the Products and Services widget, they can use Google Tag Manager or Google Analytics to track any URL or form submission on your online directory in order to take full control of your KPIs.

What kind of buying links can be used with the eDirectory Marketplace Widget?

This widget allows the use of any type of external link! Whether from PayPal, Stripe, Amazon Pay, or WePay among others. It’s also possible to link offers directly to a store on Shopify, Magento, Open Cart, and drive the lead to a sales funnel, hence using the listing owner inventory and shipping options.

Leads can also be sent to a landing page with a custom form, and thus have more control to drive the prospects to a CRM app such as Hubspot, Mailchimp, Pipedrive, GetResponse, and so on.

Start Your Online Directory

Wrapping up

The Products and Services Widget is a great tool that empowers listing owners that don’t have an online store to sell products and services directly to customers. If properly used, this can change the way your advertisers use your online directory.

As a great value offer, you can include this widget only in the top-level listings of your online directory to attract more sponsors.

In  this article we covered:

  • An introduction to the new eDirectory Marketplace Widget (products and services)
  • Selling physical and digital products
  • Offering services and booking appointments
  • Restaurant and Food usage
  • Mix different types of links
  • What types of links can be used

Read the full list of enhancements of eDirectory v13.1 here.

Upgrade to the latest version of eDirectory today!

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

For new clients looking to launch an online business with all you see here and much more, please request a demo here, call us directly at +1-800-630-4694, or send an email to sales@eDirectory.com.

Join the eDirectory Facebook GroupReferences:

  1. *¹ https://internetretailing.net/marketplaces/marketplaces/marketplaces-clear-winner-as-51-of-post-pandemic-retail-set-to-take-place-online-23408
  2. *² https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/leisure/article/3152874/how-personal-chefs-became-covid-19s-must-have-luxury
  3. *³ https://www.insiderintelligence.com/insights/ecommerce-industry-statistics/

Webinar: Meet the new eDirectory V13.1

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Welcome to the new eDirectory v13.1In this webinar, see the most important features of the all-new eDirectory V13.1. We’re joined by Fernando Nascimento, eDirectory’s product manager, who offered a comprehensive tour of everything you can achieve with the new version.

Further, we discussed in depth the new Marketplace widget – for Products and Services – which is a killer feature that enables advertisers to sell both products and services and to make appointments, through external links to their service of choice. Moreover, the online directory owner has the option to monetize this feature on the top listings level.

The Marketplace feature (as we call it) is something that can change the usability and the value proposition of your online directory, so it is highly recommended that you watch this webinar and take some time to read through our new blog articles on the new eDirectory V13.1 release and also the new eDirectory App.

So take your seat and enjoy this session with us!

Welcome to the new eDirectory V13.1

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 April 13th, 2022.

Want more tips? Shoot us a note at .

eDirectory Facebook Group

 

It’s out: New eDirectory v13.1

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Meet the New eDirectory v13.1

New eDirectory v13.1We are proud to announce a major release: eDirectory v13.1. It is filled with new features and new technology. It reflects the constant evolution of the most complete directory software.

According to Arca Solutions’ CEO, James Chubb, this new eDirectory version comes from a new set of internal processes for faster release cycles. It means more product features are being added with even more quality.

This release gives more flexibility and functionality, making it easier to launch and monetize directory-based websites.

The new eDirectory Mobile App

The star of the new release is the new generation of the eDirectory Apps. Formerly built using two different platforms (one for Android and one for iOS), the new eDirectory app is created with Flutter, an open-source framework developed by Google in 2015. It delivers native performance and visual consistency on different platforms.

Fernando Nascimento, product manager of eDirectory, says that web and app formats are now closer and the plan is to get them even closer in terms of design, features, and functionalities.

Read more about the New eDirectory App here.

There’s no doubt the new eDirectory App brings more flexibility but it also brings more opportunities for customization, to meet specific needs. ”The new version is built on the open-source Flutter platform, where the single code base can generate native iPhone and Android apps. Going forward this will dramatically increase the velocity of the app development, as well as make app customization much more affordable”, says James.

What’s new on eDirectory v13.1

Besides the new eDirectory App, the web version brings improvements and new features across all modules. As we have a blog post dedicated to the new eDirectory App, let’s see here the highlights for the web version!

New Widgets for the Listing Detail Page

Marketplace Widget

This feature allows listing publishers to create lists of products and services that
will be shown as a catalog on the listing detail page, and an external purchase link can be added so the end-user can purchase the offered item. Learn how to add this feature to your eDirectory site.

Header Widgets

A total of 5 new header widgets for design enhancements and to create fine-tuned templates for each category.

  • Thin Header
  • Centralized Header (3 different versions)
  • Header with Gallery (up to 8 images)

Contact Us Widget

The contact information is displayed on the default header widget but now it can be displayed anywhere on the listing detail page. It includes address, phone, an additional phone, website, and email.

Badges Widget

Similar to the Contact Information, Badges were displayed only on the default header but now can be added anywhere on the listing detail page.

Browse by Category Widget

Site managers can now select from which module the categories will be selected on any
of the “Browse by category” widgets. It creates more options to highlight the best content of your project, improving user engagement.

Twitter Feed Widget

With the sunset of the Advanced Social Media Plugin, the Twitter feed is now available for all new installations. Available for Listings and Events modules. LinkedIn clickable URL can now be added to the listing page.

Deals Module

Advertisers are now able to upload their own QR code, which will be displayed on the redeemed coupon, making it easier the deal validation. Fixed prices are now optional, allowing advertisers to create generic coupons such as “All products with 50% off”. Advertisers will be able to define if redeem codes will be generated randomly for each deal redeem or define a unique, customized coupon code that will be presented for all visitors who redeem that deal. Lastly, the Site Manager will be able to disable the display of the time left to redeem and the deals left counter. See how to use QR Code on deals.

General Settings – Maps and Banner Ads by level

Site managers can now choose which levels will display Google maps and Banner Ads on the detail page. Available for listings, events, and classifieds It allows to create or highlight the benefits of the premium plans.

Theme Layout Updates

New layout for themes Doctors, Wedding, and Restaurant. Improved default color palette for contrast and usability.

Claimable Listings export

New option to export claimable listings on the Mailing list section. Claimable listing is a powerful built-in feature so you can reach out to your potential advertisers, starting a conversation to engage and sell. This new export feature creates a faster way to pull this data and feed your preferred email marketing platform.

Read the full list of enhancements of eDirectory v13.1 here.

Upgrade to the latest version of eDirectory today!

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

For new clients looking to launch their online Enterprise with all you see here and much more, please request a demo here, call us directly at +1-800-630-4694, or send an email to sales@eDirectory.com.

The new generation of the eDirectory App

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The new eDirectory App is here!

The new generation of the eDirectory App

In a mobile-first world, eDirectory has always been ahead of its time: from the early adoption of website design responsivity to the creation of its exclusive Integrated App Builder. That’s part of what makes us lead the online directory software industry.

The eDirectory App

Having mobile apps published on the app stores brings extra authority to any project as it shows the commitment to the online community it serves.

Since 2010 the Integrated App Builder creates both Android and iPhone apps. Twelve years later, eDirectory confirms its protagonism and leadership in the online directory software industry.

The eDirectory Integrated App Builder brings a huge advantage for Online Directory owners as they can manage everything within the same interface. In a few clicks, they can configure the look and feel of the app, manage the main menu, and create custom pages.

Through our powerful API, every content added to the website – listings, classifieds, events, etc – become available on the app. Its dynamic nature allows for quick design changes to reflect automatically on the apps without having to republish them.

Using the integration with Google Firebase, app owners can send real Push Notifications, increasing user engagement and retention. Only native apps have this capability.

Formerly written with Java (Android) and Objective C (iPhone), we totally revamped its base technology and design for an increased amazing experience for visitors and advertisers.

Flutter

With the release of the new version 13.1, our exclusive Integrated App Builder now writes the apps using Flutter technology. This open-source platform was created by Google back in 2015 and it allows more agility in app development.

Flutter combines the quality of native apps with the flexibility of cross-platform development. It’s been used by companies like BMW, Alibaba, eBay, GroupOn, NuBank, Google itself, and many others.

Among the several benefits of Flutter, we can name its versatility, high performance, customization, and reliability of the code delivered. It means that its adoption on our Integrated App Builder allows the eDirectory Apps to become even more powerful, with even more features, and easier to be customized to meet specific needs – and for affordable pricing.

The Process

While we’re passionate about what we do, the new eDirectory app isn’t made “to suit our passions”. The (re)creation of the eDirectory app is the result of more than a year of research, hypothesis validation, data verification, prototyping, and a lot of effort by the entire team. It is the result of a process that involved customers and professionals from all areas of the company.

Led by the Design Team, the process started with several interviews with heavy-use customers around the world to map a wide range of different perceptions, needs, and desires about the eDirectory App.

After completing this step, professionals from all areas of the company (admin, sales, marketing, infrastructure, support, design, and product team) put all hands on this deck to analyze the raw data and build together the roadmap of this new journey.

Priorities set and technical needs over the table, it was time to tackle the challenges and beat them all, one by one, completing all of the planned stages. Nothing was left behind.

Finally, after months of teamwork that involved building, testing, validating, and rounds and rounds of quality control, the new eDirectory App is here, ready for the world again.

The new eDirectory App

The new eDirectory App, despite bringing many new features, still maintains the same nature as the previous generation: it is an application focused on the end-user.

Using Flutter allowed the app’s design to be refreshed and more closely aligned with the web/responsive version, while also including many of the web version’s features and functionalities.

See the highlights of the new eDirectory App:

Listing Template Design: through the Listing Template Editor you can create custom fields and unique designs for the Listing Detail Page – fitting general listings and/or one template for each category. With the new version of the app, all custom fields are displayed on the app, following the design of the associated Listing Template.

Exclusive Content: one of the great advantages of the app was the perception of users and advertisers about the authority of the project. With the new version of the apps, this authoritative item gains an important ally: the offer of exclusive content through the apps.

Stories: similar to the Instagram feature, site managers now can promote listings, deals, latest news, and more, with an eye-catching featured section on the app. Different from Instagram, these stories won’t vanish with time and are stored in the app, this way your users are able to review them at any time. Learn how to create Stories to promote your content.

Deals: advertisers (and site owners) can create deals exclusive to the app. It helps to promote even more your mobile apps, increasing user engagement. Learn how to create app-exclusive deals in your eDirectory app.

Banners: banner ads are now displayed within the apps and can be created exclusively for the apps. The home screen has one slot for the native banner ads. The results screen also displays banner ads in the middle of the results. Learn how to create banners for the apps.

Customizable Home Screen: now you can choose, rename and reorder the elements on the Home Screen. This allows a fine-tuning of the content according to your project and commercial strategy.

Sliders: apps always had their own exclusive Sliders but it was mandatory to link them to existing content such as Listing, for example. Now the Sliders can be just images with no link or even linked to external content.

Inbox: with the new version the users will have access to an Inbox feature that stores all the Push Notifications sent to the app. It may increase the interaction rate as they will have the chance to check the notifications at their own pace. Learn more about the Inbox feature.

Apple ID: we added the Apple ID option for account creation and log-in.

What’s next for the eDirectory App?

As we mentioned before, our process of re-creating the eDirectory App took into consideration the most different needs and requests from our customers. The first version of the new generation delivers new features but inside its already known focus: the end-user.

The next steps are to increase the capacity of the app, including features specific to the advertisers, where they will be able to manage and edit existing content right through the app. The screens are already designed and we are currently working on technical aspects of the development.

We are immensely grateful to everyone who took part and helped with the new eDirectory App. This marks a new stage in our history of leadership in the online directory software industry.

Thank you!

Questions, suggestions, or comments about the new eDirectory App? Please shoot us a note here or send an email to marketing@eDirectory.com.

Upgrade to the latest version of eDirectory today!

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

For new clients looking to launch their online Enterprise with all you see here and much more, please request a demo here, call us directly at +1-800-630-4694, or send an email to sales@eDirectory.com.

The Online Directory Business Model (and how to succeed)

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The online directory business modelStarting a new business with an online directory is a very attractive option for several reasons. Online directories are one of the most effective business models within the online media space and can be used by agencies to grow revenue or by entrepreneurs to launch a new digital company.

Some advantages of the online directory business model:

  • Easy and affordable to setup;
  • Provides a valuable service for people making purchase decisions;
  • Much of the content is user-produced, meaning the business can be run with a small team;
  • Low ongoing maintenance;
  • Generates high-margin, recurring revenue.

In this article, we’ll cover the foundation of the online directory business model, as well as learn how to monetize the business and get the first customers.

What is an online directory?

An online directory is a guide that assists people in making a purchase decision, whether it’s a local guide for restaurants and hotels, a niche product, such as a guide to help set up a wedding, or a business-to-business guide for buying factory equipment or enterprise services.

Online directories provide information about specific businesses including their names, addresses, contact details, associations, services, and products offered in the form of listings. Businesses are typically categorized based on their location, activity, or rating, and the directory must ensure that all the information in its listings is accurate.

In this business model, there are several niches to be explored and each one of them generates value differently for users and clients (which we will discuss in the next chapters).

How does the basic business model work

The basic business model is creating a site that has a list of all the relevant suppliers, which includes detailed information about what they offer, photos and videos, ratings, and reviews.  The model originally was used by yellow page companies, which in the US was a 20+ billion-dollar-a-year industry globally.  Also, niche B2B media companies often published vendor and supplier directories.

The online directory business model has been in use since the late nineties. Did you know that Elon Musk himself, when starting his climb in the business world, created an online city guide with maps and yellow pages, founding Zip2?

Back then, the company’s strategy was to create a physical database to promote this service to major newspapers and media publishers. He managed to close deals with major publishing houses like the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and others.

In short, in February 1999, he sold the company to Compaq for $307 million. With the $22 million he received for his 7% stake in Zip2, he next launched an online bank called X.com, which merged with Confinity to form PayPal in 2000.

Interestingly, since then, the online business directory model has grown more and more, attracting the attention of different brands, products, competitors, etc.

eDirectory Business Listing Online DirectoryBusiness listing information example and how the information is displayed in an online directory.

The power of curation

Online information is everywhere these days – you can find information about a business on Google, Facebook, and many other sites. So why would people need a directory? The value is in the curation. The directory shows all the suppliers, ratings and reviews, and other information making it the authority to help make the purchase decision. There is so much information out there that curation is especially valuable, filtering out the noise and delivering only what’s really valuable.

By exploring the best content available in a certain niche, your online directory will be recognized. Customers value the diverse perspectives offer about the topics and interests that interest them. So get to know your audience, what are your customers looking for? What are their pains and needs?

Pay extra attention to the following points in order to have an effective curation process:

  • The kind of audience you are trying to build
  • The segment of customers you are trying to attract

Knowing your audience (and your niche) is key. Remember this.

As a source of curated content, your online directory’s purpose is to share listings, events, deals, and classifieds that your audience wants. It acts as a funnel. It is one of the most important ways to build trust between you and your audience. The better the content you provide, the more likely you are to receive clicks and referrals.

Get to know the types of online business directories

There are several types of online business directories to meet the most diverse interests and segments you could think of. Here are the most commonly used today:

  • Online local businesses;
  • Classifieds;
  • Real estate classifieds;
  • Job boards;
  • Freelancers;
  • Domestic services;
  • Events;
  • Weddings;
  • Doctors;
  • Travel, hotels, and food,
  • Softwares and apps;
  • Auto sales.

The key elements to having a good online business directory

For your online directory to be of higher quality, it must consider the following parameters:

  1. Breadth and depth of data for the categories the directory covers, so it has all the relevant listings and all the relevant information about each listing.  We have an entire Webinar dedicated to this topic.
  2. Provide relevant related content to attract more traffic (blogs, videos, social media);
  3. Present advertiser listings in an attractive and organized, with good descriptions and images;
  4. It is essential to have integrations with providers for online payment, allowing sales through this channel (check your local and major gateways);
  5. An online sponsor dashboard would allow sponsors to fully manage their listings. This saves time and allows greater flexibility for advertisers;
  6. To ensure a higher position in the search rankings of your listings and websites, it is essential to have content optimized for SEO;
  7. By providing maps and information related to the locations of listed companies, the directory site becomes much more useful to users.
  8. Reviews are important to make other users from your audience to have based purchase decisions.
  9. Invest in good quality photos and videos, hire a photographer or an image specialist. Good photos make your online directory look and feel more professional, and also make the sponsors sell more.
  10. And curation, as we mentioned before. Stay in your niche, promote an Editor’s Choice Award and other creative contests to engage with your audience.

How to get the first customers for your online directory?

To get started, you need to develop some marketing strategies to promote your online directory and attract your first customers. It is a job that requires a certain amount of patience to take the right steps and achieve the desired results.

Next, we will present some tips to attract the first customers to your online directory site, which are:

  1. Build listings on your site to grab users’ attention as an empty business directory doesn’t grab anyone’s attention. You can scrape listings and start filling your website by yourself.
  2. Use social media to promote your online directory, as your target audience is in these spaces and willing to interact with brands;
  3. Take advantage of the opportunity to establish a relationship with your audience by electing your visitors’ favorites in a certain niche;
  4. It is interesting to start using paid advertising, such as Google Ads, to increase traffic to your online directory quickly. Bing ads are also an option;
  5. Drive traffic to your directory site and build authority for your brand by writing relevant content and using guest blogging. Organic strategies typically require a longer time to work;

These are just a few suggestions to get you started in making your online directory popular and profitable.

How to monetize your online directory?

Certainly, most online business directory sites make money by providing visibility to their partners. This happens both with the dissemination of products and services and with the use of spaces for advertisements.

Additionally, some websites offer premium advertising and spaces. Once you have your online directory, it’s time to monetize it. It’s what generates business and profits.

Other forms of monetization can also be found in niches and differentiated business models, for example:

  • Affiliate Marketing;
  • Sales of leads;
  • Sponsored newsletters;
  • Disclosure on social networks.

Edirectory Free guided demoPaid advertisement inside the online directory business model

The option of paid advertisements to earn income in the online directory business model is the most used and applies to several types of online commercial guides, such as:

  • Stores;
  • Restaurants;
  • Subscriptions to scientific articles or videos;
  • Job vacancies, among others.

In this type of monetization, businesses pay to have their brand appear at the top of search results in their category. This is certainly an effective method of gaining visibility.

In addition, this type of listing generates recurring revenue, as the company can pay a monthly membership fee to have your name displayed throughout the month at certain times.

The listing is displayed on the first page of its categories, depending on the type of plan that is chosen by the companies. For example, a plan might offer three levels of memberships, such as:

  • Bronze ($30/month): Featured listing in a category and 2 photos to upload;
  • Silver ($50/month): Featured listings in 3 categories, 5 photos to upload and 1 social media account link;
  • Gold ($100/mo): Featured listings in 5 categories and 1 rotating ad slot, 10 upload photos, and linking 5 social media accounts with active feed updates.

In this example, it is clear how the advantages of each plan are increasing and how you can choose the one that best fits your budget.

Interestingly, the amount charged by companies to advertise their services and products directly relates to the quality of the directory site. Thus, the better your online directory, with a lot of good listings, the more you can charge for these plans.

As well, the more traffic your site has, the more opportunities you have to attract advertisers.

Ad spaces available

You can also monetize your online business directory by selling ad spaces, i.e. banners. Initially, you can offer free advertising space to encourage sponsors to start using your online directory.

You can also use the rotating banner to sell the same space to different companies. This requires defining a marketing plan that can be weekly, biweekly as well as other options.

One way to charge for ad slots can be Cost per 1000 impressions (CPM) or cost per click (CPC), or by setting a monthly fee for a certain space in a specific location on the page.

Take advantage of every opportunity to advertise your online directory. Some ideas can generate good results, such as promoting events related to the niche market in which it operates. Or even promoting articles, classifieds, and everything else that may be related to your business and generate an audience.

How to get started?

This is a critical step in getting your business directory started and on its way to success.

With the tools available today such as directory templates, themes, or online directory scripts, it can be overwhelming to build and update your online directory yourself or have to rely on a developer.

A company that specializes in online directory site software has a lot to offer for your online business model. For example, eDirectory is an extremely complete and commercially available directory website builder.

It offers its users all the tools to create, manage and promote a successful directory site. It also offers a robust list of resources, including some essential tools to help you market your directory online, such as:

  1. Ability to create professional directory listings with images, videos, social media feed, and coupons within an intuitive and beginner-friendly interface;
  2. Customize your pages to fit your needs, using a visual editor to create different categories for each listing you create;
  3. Seamless integration with the most popular social media platforms and encouraging advertisers to promote their own listings with social sharing links;
  4. Automatically integrate with Google Maps as new listings are added;
  5. Providing automatic payment reminders to listing owners as their payment due dates approach;
  6. You can generate business for your advertisers by allowing them to create their own coupons and offers directly from their listings. Additionally, you can sell them banners ad space;

To get a better idea of all these eDirectory benefits, go to edirectory.com and schedule a free guided demo. You will be surprised!

eDirectory Facebook Group

Webinar: Colors & Fonts for a Successful Directory Website

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Colors & Fonts for a Successful WebsiteColors & Fonts for a Successful Directory WebsiteResearch indicates that people judge a product (unconsciously) within the first two minutes of contact. In between 60% and 90% of cases, this judgment is solely based on the color of the object.

A site can have stunning images and well-balanced text, but if the color palette does not appeal to visitors, they will likely leave. The worst part is that they may not even realize why they left.

A color can evoke a particular mood or evoke associations based on one’s environment or past experiences. Color psychology teaches us that blue is often associated with feelings of trust and loyalty, while purple represents luxury or imagination.

You can analyze the sites that you like most or that are references in your niche and make a comparison. To identify every color used on a website, up to the exact hue and hexadecimal code, you can use a google chrome or firefox addon extension like colorzilla.

Would like to know how colors & fonts work together to build a successful directory website? Watch this week’s webinar to know more.

Useful links and tools mentioned in the program:

  1. https://fonts.google.com/analytics
  2. https://www.pierrickcalvez.com/journal/a-five-minutes-guide-to-better-typography
  3. https://userway.org/
  4. https://support.edirectory.com/en/support/solutions/articles/77000041540-colors

Color palette generator

  1. https://colormind.io/
  2. https://coolors.co/
  3. https://paletton.com/
  4. https://mycolor.space/
  5. https://color.adobe.com/

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

This session was recorded on February 23, 2022.

Want more tips? Shoot us a note at marketing@eDirectory.com and don’t forget to join our Facebook group.

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