Monetization Tools for Online Directories

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Monetization Tools for Online Directories

Monetization tools for online directories

Creating an online directory brings an amazing opportunity to generate a recurring revenue stream. From using the built-in payment tools that eDirectory provides, to offering links to 3rd party affiliate products and services – when it comes to monetizing your website, opportunity abounds!

This Webinar will examine some effective ways of monetizing your directory site. Offering listings and advertisements to businesses and other strategies that make your directory more visible and, more importantly, generate income.

This session took place on May 12th, 2021.

Check our webinar schedule at https://www.edirectory.com/webinars/.

Learn more about how eDirectory can help you start your new project and begin generating income. Visit our Blog for further information on everything Business Directories.

Meet the new eDirectory v13

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We’re proud to announce our newest release, eDirectory v13. This platform upgrade brings the exclusive Listing Template Editor: a game-changer on the way you build online directories. The listing template feature allows you to create customized listing pages for different use cases, like jobs, people, restaurants, whatever you can imagine. eDirectory is now more flexible and with improved usability for site owners, advertisers, and end-users.

What’s new on eDirectory v13?

The new Listing Template Editor replaces the previous Listing Type feature. In the past versions, you were able to create any custom field you want to match the needs of the categories of your listing. With v13 you are now able to not only add those fields but also to edit the design of the listing detail page, using the same widget-based logic already present in the v12. Drag and drop the elements to design exclusive pages. Besides this major new feature, we improved the design and usability of the back-end. With an optimized layout, this area had several elements reorganized and redesigned to improve its user experience, in addition to facilitating its actions and access to certain resources.

Tabs, Sidebar, and Widgets

You can choose from 26 different widgets to create listing detail pages with one column or with a column plus a sidebar. You can now create unlimited tabs to display the content of your listings but if you prefer having a single tab you can, it’s up to you to determine the look-and-feel of your pages with ease, and no code-knowledge required. Use the widgets to create unlimited custom fields. After creating the custom fields, configure the Levels & Prices section to select which plan will display these fields.

Summary Cards

For the search results page, you can choose one among eleven options of cards for summary views when creating a Listing Template. These cards were designed to meet different proposals and different needs.

Linked Listings

Easily associate other listings to one specific page. For example, if you are listing a Medical Clinic and want to highlight its professional’s profiles, with a few clicks, you can add the Linked Listings Widget on the page and display these profiles in an associated way. 

Related Listings

This is a great way to keep your users exploring your content and spend more time on your site. Simply add the Related Listings widget on the template and customize the rules to display rich content.

Call-to-Action button

Easily place a button on the listing detail page, customizing its label and destination URL. You can create a “Buy Now”, “Book appointment” that goes to an external shopping cart or booking system. Create whatever call-to-action you need for your advertisers.

Disable Locations

For those who target just one location, we added the ability to the site manager to disable completely the usage of locations in the system, this will also remove the field “where” from the search boxes.

Upgrade Plan button for advertisers

A new upgrade button has been added to promote free and lower level listings to upgrade to more lucrative paid plans. Now advertisers will see a handy upgrade button to stimulate plan upgrades. This generates a new lead for the site owner to follow up and close the sale. Also, for the lower listings levels, we updated the Listing form to display fields that are not available for the listing level with a lock message, motivating advertisers to consider an upgrade of their plan.

Stripe subscription cancellation

Many payment gateways do not allow subscription cancellations other than directly through the gateway system. Stripe enabled this option and now advertisers can easily cancel their subscriptions within the Advertiser Dashboard.

GDPR improvements

Our customers in or targeting European countries can take advantage of this improvement. We added the ability for the site manager to enable the requirement for explicit consent for end-users to store their personal data, improving eDirectory’s GDPR compliance. Because of that, forms no longer checks the “Sign up to our newsletter” by default.

More news from eDirectory v13!

  • Ability to add multiple banners on the listing page.
  • Ability to remove the pricing completely for all listings associated with a specific template.
  • Categories management completely redesigned for better user experience.
  • Added a shortcut for the site owner to go directly to the listing edit form when visiting a listing page on the frontend.
  • Claims section moved from the Listings section to the Activity sections on the site manager dashboard.
  • Preview page on the advertise widgets updated to offer the ability for users to preview listings from different templates.
  • Added captcha on the widget “Lead gen form” to block spam leads.
  • Site owners can now check information about their license and eDirectory versions through the “About” pop up.
  • Claim sign up page changed to show the registration form first, instead of the login form.
  • Label “Friendly URL” and “Page name” updated to “URL Slug”.
  • Webp image format applied to Call to action and Newsletter background images.
  • Log in and sign up forms updated to include the attribute “required” on the mandatory fields.
  • Button “Read more” removed from the listing page. The listing description is now displayed below the listing main image.

Read the full list of enhancements of eDirectory v13 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. Upgrade fees may be applied.

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.

Instant Messaging for Directory Websites

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eDirectory Instant Messaging Plugin

We released the Instant Messaging Plugin that allows site owners and advertisers to use Telegram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger directly on the website.

Instant messaging provides real-time communication between visitors and listing owners, allowing them to make immediate sales contacts.

Site owners will be able to add a messenger floating button to the site, choosing one from the three options allowed. The other messaging platforms can be displayed on the header, footer and Contact Us page as clickable elements.

Instant Messaging Plugin for Directories

For advertisers, the messaging apps clickable items will be displayed below the phone number on the listing detail page.

Instant Messaging for Listings

Contact us today, add this Plugin to your directory, and get connected with your audience!

Benefits of using IM in your directory site

  • These apps provide instant communication. In addition to text messages, users can exchange multimedia messages, such as photos, videos, documents, or sound.
  • Instant Messaging is applicable to both B2B and B2C businesses. It is important to choose the right platform and explore what it has to offer.
  • Compared to digital marketing and social media, mobile messaging has much more engagement and return on investment in marketing.

Instant Messaging apps around the world

Different applications are popular in different countries, and so your choice of apps must take this into consideration:

  • WhatsApp is a world leader and is used in 104 countries. It is popular in Brazil, Mexico, India, Russia and in many countries of Europe, Africa, America, and Asia.
  • For US markets, the most used applications are Messenger and WhatsApp.
  • Facebook Messenger is used in 64 countries, notably Australia, Canada, and the United States.
  • Telegram and other messaging applications that are very popular in China, Japan, and Iran.
  • In Europe, however, the leaders are WhatsApp and Messenger. Asia and specifically in China, most users use WhatsApp and Telegram. In Africa, most people communicate via Messenger, WhatsApp, and Telegram.

Be sure to keep track of client preferences and their needs, which can change over time. Instant Messaging is a great development, satisfying the demands for speed, practicality, and real connectedness.

New Release: eDirectory v12

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We’re proud to announce our newest release, eDirectory v12. This platform upgrade brings a major design change and several new features. Our goal is to keep improving the experience for users, advertisers and site owners.

edirectory v12 header

What’s new on eDirectory v12?

From a quick sneak-peak in our eDirectory Demo site, you can feel it right away the new look of the site. Transparent navigation menu, the full-width image on sliders, fluid elements and more.

Here’s the list of all the improvements:

1. Frontend layout completely redesigned for all available themes

2. New widgets

  • List of featured categories with only text
  • List of featured categories with icons instead of bigger images
  • List of featured categories in just one horizontal line
  • Social network bar
  • Contact information bar
  • Call to action
  • Slider without search box
  • Three new types of cards widgets available for all modules
  • Section header / Page title

3. The ability of the site manager to choose the background color of the main widgets between three options (white, neutral or brand color)

4. The ability of the site manager to customize the look & feel of all the four header widgets, including:

  • Enable sticky menu
  • Change the background color
  • Display the navigation on top of a background image (option available when the header widget is followed by a slider or call to action widget)

5. The ability of the site manager to enable banners on the browse by categories and locations widgets

6. The ability of the site manager to remove the number of active items on the Browse by categories and Browse by Location widgets

7. Results widgets unified in just one widget, with options to enable list view, grid view or both

8. Better display and navigation on widget video gallery

9. Widgets Search box with Slider and Search box without Slider unified in just one widget

10. Widgets Lead gen with Slider and Lead gen without Slider unified in just one widget

11. Widget Search box with Slider rehashed to allow the site manager to create different slides sets, for different pages

12. The ability for the site manager to change the position of the content (left, center, right) on some widgets like Search box with Slider, Call to action, Newsletter, among others

13. Colors & Fonts section rehashed to offer more flexibility, including:

  • Nine colors available for customization
  • More than 900 fonts from Google fonts available
  • Ability to change the font size
  • Ability to customize the border style for images, cards, inputs, and buttons

edirectory v12 border control

eDirectory v12 with 900 google fonts

14. Integration with Unsplash, a beautiful, free photos service. Available for cover images, slides and background images for the main widgets

edirectory and unsplash images

15. Field features from listings rehashed to offer the ability for users to choose icons to each feature/amenity

edirectory icon features

edirectory icon features in front-end

16. Field opening hours from listings rehashed to offer the ability for users to select each day and time, instead of the text field, allowing visitors to see more accurate information like “Open now” on the frontend

17. Field fax from listings module replaced by a customizable field where the user can define the label of the phone number (i.e, fax, WhatsApp, office, home…)

18. The ability for users to upload a logo image to their listings. The logo image can be enabled for specific levels by the site manager using the Manage Levels & Pricing section

edirectory v12 logo uploader

edirectory v12 logo front-end

19. The ability for the site manager upload icons to featured categories (icons will be displayed on the new widget Featured Categories with icons)

20. Google maps icons updated to use the same color as the site main color

Read the full list of enhancements of eDirectory v12 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. Upgrade fees may be applied.

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.

New Release: eDirectory v11.5

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eDirectory v11.5, released in early November 2018, is our most recent platform upgrade, filled with great new features and some performance improvements.

 

What’s new on eDirectory v11.5?

This release brings 15 new front-end and back-end items as it follows:

1. New fully customizable Cards widgets available for all themes.

  • Previous widgets such as “Featured listings”, “Popular events”, among others, were replaced by cards widgets.
  • Each widget can be fully customized, including:
    • Ability to change the widget title and the label of the “view more” link;
    • Ability to select the module that will be displayed on the widget;
    • Show items from a specific level, categories or location;
    • Ability to choose the order criteria;
    • Ability to pick items individually.
  • Layout for the widget “5 featured listings” updated and available for all modules.
recent deals widget

Define the content and display rules for your new widget…

… or handpick the items you want to be featured in your new widget!

2. New widget “Video Gallery” available for all themes.

3. Two new lead generation forms widgets available for all themes.

  • a. Lead form with static background image
  • b. Lead form with background slider

4. New layout for the article detail widget, including the ability to upload the author image and description available for all themes. See an example here.

5. New layout for the blog detail widget available for all themes.

6. New widget “Recent Articles in two columns” for the Article home page.

7. New widget “2 columns recent posts” for the Blog home page.

8. Added ability for the site manager change the labels of each location level.

location labels

9. New interface to manage the navigation menus and links for slides, including easier flow to link menus to custom pages, internal or external URLs.

10. Added new field to include a summary description for videos on the listings, events and classifieds form.

11. The layout of the Default theme rehashed to standardize spacings, margins and navigation structure, including the responsive version.

12. Added ability for the site manager to change the placeholders of the search box widgets.

13. Support to PHP 7.1.

14. New Gulp file to manage, compile and minimize less/sass files on development mode.

15. New layout for the “site unavailable” screen.

Other changes on eDirectory v11.5

  • Structured markup data on articles and blog detail pages updated to include the tags author and publisher
  • Facebook moderation tool updated to allow the site manager to moderate Facebook comments directly from the directory
  • Form to submit new reviews simplified when the user is already logged in
  • PHPMailer fully replaced by SwiftMailer

Read the full list of 100+ enhancements of eDirectory v11.5 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 found here 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, or call us directly at +1-800-630-4694, or send an email to sales@eDirectory.com.

How to comply with the European General Data Protection Act (GDPR)

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The General Data Protection Act (GDPR) is considered to be the most significant piece of European data protection legislation to be introduced in the European Union (EU) in 20 years and will replace the 1995 Data Protection Directive. The GDPR enhances EU individuals’ privacy rights and places significantly enhanced obligations on organizations handling data.

The new regulation goes into effect on May 25, 2018.

The GDPR regulates the processing of a data subject’s personal data in the European Union including its collection, storage and transfer or use. The GDPR gives data subjects more rights and control over their data by regulating how you should handle and store any personal data they collect.

Every website that collects, stores and handle European citizen’s data will have to comply. But what does that mean?

Basically, you’ll have to update your privacy policy and place a cookie consent disclaimer in your website.

How to (re)write my Privacy Policy?

As every online directory is unique, there’s not a standard template to copy. Besides the information you already have there, the privacy notice should address the following to sufficiently inform the data subject:

  • Who is collecting the data?
  • What data is being collected?
  • What is the legal basis for processing the data?
  • Will the data be shared with any third parties?
  • How will the information be used?
  • How long will the data be stored for?
  • What rights does the data subject have?
  • How can the data subject raise a complaint?

The best tools we find to help our users are Terms Feed and Iubenda. The final text will depend on how many tools you have installed in your site like Google Analytics, CRMs, Facebook Pixels, Hotjar, LiveChat, etc.

 Data Controller and Data Processor

One thing that you have to highlight in your new Privacy Policy is who handles data.

A Data Controller represents the entity that determines the purposes, conditions and means of the processing of personal data: the Directory owner (you)

If you host your online directory with us so we are the Data Processor. If you host anywhere else, your or the hosting provider is your Data Processor.

Be sure to use the right Data Processor when updating your Privacy Policy.

 How to place a cookie consent disclaimer in my online directory?

One way is to use paid tools like OneTrust.com, Cookiebot.com and others. But there are open source options like Cookie Consent by Insites and Silktide. Just place their scripts using Google Tag Manager.

To learn how to install the Cookie Consent Disclaimer by Insites, read this article here.

Alternatively, you can embed one of the numerous 3rd party widgets, or if you have the owned license you can develop custom code.

Contact eDirectory support at support.edirectory.com if you have questions or problems.

Read more:

*We take great care in providing information to you, but please be aware of the fact that this blog post can not be considered a substitute for professional legal advice.

Launch your site with the best Business Directory Script

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Launch your site with the best Business Directory Script

What is the best business directory script to start a project?

When working on a new idea, it can be daunting to navigate the internet and find the best solution for your needs. Particularly when you enter WordPress territory, where there are so many plugins, and both free and paid themes to choose from, you are almost certain to waste time trying out options that are not professional.

Outside of that scenario, you will find other options that are not an all-in-one solution in terms of suiting any niche you may need. If you would like to build a new online business such as a restaurant guide or a fitness & wellness online directory, you could do both with a professional look with eDirectory.

Let’s show you what are the main strengths of eDirectory.

And what makes eDirectory the best business directory script?

In a few words, the complete package! 

eDirectory is the most complete directory script out there, fully-featured from top to bottom, beautifully designed, and ready to generate a recurring revenue stream.

Built using technology platforms that power many of the largest sites on the internet. In addition to the core technology, we have optimized our code and configurations for speed and reliability.

The eDirectory setup is fast and easy. You can import listing data from a spreadsheet, and click to edit navigation and other site layout items via the widget-based page editor. Launch your site in minutes and manage your content with ease.

edirectory widget page editor

All versions come with the following modules: Listings, Deals, Classifieds, Articles, Events, Blog, and Banners. It also comes with a User Profile, Advertiser Dashboard, and 10+ Payment Gateways to make it easier to monetize your online directory.

And to complete that full package, you still get the only online directory app builder in the market with native support for iOS and Android. Know more about the integrated app builder.

Built with SEO in mind, you can focus on content, and rest assured your site will rank well in the SERPs.

eDirectory Tech Stack

  • PHP
  • JQuery JavaScript
  • {Less} CSS
  • Bootstrap
  • Symphony
  • ElasticSearch
  • MySQL Database

The out-of-the-box features our clients love

  • Claimable Listings
  • Coupon Codes creator
  • Social Login
  • Email notifications
  • Bookmarking System
  • SEO Center
  • Photo Galeries
  • Video embedding
  • Page editor
  • See all Features!

Edirectory Free guided demo

Perfect for beginners. Fantastic for experienced developers!

eDirectory has an intuitive interface to help our customers to create and manage their directory websites with ease, taking advantage of our Cloud subscriptions: don’t worry about installation and hosting, we’ve got you covered.

Skilled developers can self-host our directory script accessing the source code to perform any modification in design and features.

What you can build with eDirectory in just a few clicks:

  • Lead-gen directory websites
  • Buyer’s Guides
  • Local, National, and International Business Directories
  • Membership sites
  • Yellow Pages sites
  • Classifieds Portals
  • Restaurant Guides
  • Review Sites
  • and many more, unleash your creativity!

edirectory restaurant theme

Take a Guided Tour of eDirectory










eDirectory Facebook Group

New Release: eDirectory Software v11.3

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Our best release ever: Meet eDirectory Software v11.3!

What’s New in eDirectory v11.3

1. New import tool

  • Support for Excel files
  • Flexible template with columns matching functionality
  • CSV separator selection
  • Support to import up to 20 categories per listing
  • Improved help messages
  • Performance improvements

2. New buttons added to HTML editor to allow users to change the font, size, and colors of custom contents

3. Widget Featured Categories enabled for themes Default, Wedding, and Restaurant

4. Widget Recent Articles enabled for themes Default, Wedding, and Restaurant

5. Widget Browse by Category and Location plus Square Banner enabled for themes Default, Wedding, and Restaurant

6. Widget Recent Reviews enabled for themes Default, Wedding, and Restaurant

7. Widget 5-featured listings enabled for themes Default, Wedding, and Doctor

8. Widget Browse by Locations plus Square Banners enabled for themes Default, Wedding, and Doctor

9. Widget Popular deals plus Wide Skyscraper banner enabled for themes Default, Wedding, and Doctor

10. Widget 5-Recent Articles enabled for themes Default, Wedding, and Doctor

11. Widget 6-Featured Listings + 2 Square Banners enabled for themes Default, Restaurant, and Doctor

12. Widget Recent posts enabled for themes Default, Restaurant, and Doctor

13. Added option for site manager to edit the background image of the following widgets

  • Faq Header
  • Search Box Blog Detail
  • Sitemap Header
  • Sign up Text
  • Search Bar
  • Search Box for Reviews page
  • Search Box Module Detail
  • Search Box

14. Added option to replicate changes to other pages on the widget “Events Calendar”

15. Added ability for site manager to change the content of invoices header and footer

Read the full list of +130 enhancements of v11.3 here.

For active clients looking to take advantage of the latest and greatest eDirectory.com has to offer, simply fill out the Upgrade request form found here 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, or call us directly at +1-800-630-4694, or send an email to Sales@eDirectory.com.

eDirectory July Upgrade

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We recently released the eDirectory July Upgrade to the product to add new features, make some optimizations, and change the way a few things work, all for the better!

We added more widgets to the library to make sure clients have the site that works best for their specific online community with new options for personalization.

Here’s a rundown of the latest and greatest eDirectory has to offer in its newest release:

1. Header: 4 new header widgets, totaling 5 different header widgets available for all themes

  • Header with sticky menu
  • Header with contact phone
  • Header with social media links
  • Header with centralized logo
  • Available for all themes

2. Footer: 3 new footer widgets, totaling 5 different footer widgets

  • Footer with logo
  • Footer with newsletter widget
  • Footer with social media bar centralized
  • Available for all themes

3. Results: 2 new results list widgets, totaling 4 different results widgets

  • Results list with grid view with filters on the left
  • Results list with grid view with filters on the right
  • Available for all themes

4. New Events Calendar widget available for all themes
5. New Nearby results functionality
6. New console command to enable or disable the maintenance mode

Header Widgets

We made header widgets that were once exclusive to our Medical, Restaurant, and Wedding themes available to the default eDirectory theme so clients can take advantage of those features without having to utilize any one specific theme.

Footer Widgets

The footer has also received some TLC with some new display features with new personalization options with the logo centered, social media links, or a newsletter widget. Clients can now select the footer design that works best and toggle between them as needed.

Grid View

The latest results list now allows for a grid view, showing content in easy to scan “cards”. This widget also has variations to display the search filters on either the right or left side.

Events Calendar Widget

A new interactive events calendar widget has also been added to make it much easier for visitors to find events they interested in attending based on the monthly calendar view. A highly requested feature that we’re very happy to have released. Recurring events are an especially enhanced feature of this new widget to run events that keep visitors coming back to the site.

Nearby Results Functionality

We’re really excited about one key element of this new release, which is the nearby results functionality for an improved search experience for our online community users to better find what they are looking for. This updated functionality allows both local community site and international vendor directory owners to better tailor to what extent nearby results will be displayed. This feature can even be personalized for specific locations, so if you have certain metropolitan areas or small municipalities, you can edit the nearby search results radius for those geographies specifically, pretty cool!

New Maintenance Mode

The new maintenance mode functionality now makes it even easier to enable while simultaneously allowing the site to be locked publicly while the site owner can make edits to the site and see it all live while logged in. This makes setting up the site more intuitive for the site owner so they can see the changes they make live.

Take advantage of the eDirectory July Upgrade now!

If you’re looking to launch your online Enterprise with all the newest features available, feel free to pick the plan that works best for you and get started in just a few minutes. Have any questions or would like to get connected with your assigned account executive to make sure we’re the best solution for your project? We’d love to meet you, simply request an eDirectory demo here.

If you’re an active customer of eDirectory and would like to schedule your site for an upgrade, you can get started here by completing this short Upgrade Request form.

Thank you for being the best part of eDirectory and we look forward to growing with you!