Webinar: Meet the new eDirectory 13.2

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We are thrilled to introduce you to the latest version of eDirectory, version 13.2. eDirectory is an essential tool for businesses and individuals alike who want to create and manage online directories, classifieds, and membership-based websites with ease. With version 13.2, we have introduced new features and enhancements that will elevate your online presence and give you a competitive edge.

One of the most significant new features is the widget for headers with image sliders. This feature allows you to add a dynamic visual element to your website’s header, making it more engaging and eye-catching. You can use this feature to showcase your best content, products, or services and attract more visitors to your site.

We have also introduced the featured items widget, which allows you to highlight specific items or services on your website. This feature can help increase sales and drive more traffic to your site by giving users an easy way to find and purchase what they are looking for.

But the most significant innovation in this version of eDirectory is the improved SEO center. Search engine optimization (SEO) is critical for any website looking to attract organic traffic, and we have made it easier than ever to optimize your site for search engines.

By taking advantage of these new features, you can improve the user experience on your website and help your advertisers get more visibility and traffic to their businesses. Watch the webinar now and discover how eDirectory version 13.2 can take your online presence to the next level.

Webinar: Meet the new eDirectory 13.2

*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 March 22nd, 2022.

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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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Create an Online Church Directory Website for your community

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Create an Online Church Directory Website for your community

In today’s world, having an online presence has become crucial for any organization, including churches. An online church directory can be an excellent way to connect with members of your community, provide easy access to information, and promote transparency. In this article, we’ll explore the benefits of an online church directory and how to create one.

Whether you are a parish leader or someone looking to bring people in your community together, we’ll cover the advantages of having a well-built, structured online member directory for your church. Keep reading to know more.

Offline vs Online Church Directory

An online church directory provides several advantages over its printed counterpart. It allows members to easily access updated information about the church community from anywhere and at any time. Additionally, an online directory enables administrators to efficiently manage the directory’s contents, making it easier to keep it current and accurate. Members can also interact with each other through an online directory by adding comments, sharing photos, and connecting through social media platforms.

This can help foster a stronger sense of community and connectedness among members. Overall, an online church directory can be a powerful tool for modern churches to build and maintain a thriving congregation.

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Unite your community

An online church directory can help unite your community by providing a centralized platform for members to access information. This can include contact information for pastors, staff, and other members, as well as information about upcoming events, service times, and other relevant details. This can help members feel more connected to the church, and make it easier to get involved and stay informed.

When creating an online church directory, it’s important to consider what information to include. Typically, you’ll want to include contact information for members, such as phone numbers and email addresses. You may also want to include other details, such as photos, social media links, and areas of expertise or interest.

This might be the most time-consuming part of the entire project, but filling in current, and detailed information about your parish, with photos, blog posts, articles, events, and others, will encourage the members to join and make their own profiles.

Be sure to include the member’s detailed information

When creating an online church directory, it’s important to consider what information to include. Typically, you’ll want to include contact information for members, such as phone numbers and email addresses. You may also want to include other details, such as photos, social media links, and areas of expertise or interest.

Encourage your members to create rich profiles and engage with the events of your community. This will create a sense of belonging among the users and goers of your church even when they are out of the church.

Once you have a clear plan in place, you can start building your online church directory website.

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How to Create an Online Church Directory

One of the easiest ways to create an online church directory is by using eDirectory. This powerful directory software is designed to be user-friendly and easy to customize. With eDirectory, you can create a members-based website that is tailored to your church’s specific needs, with features like member profiles, event listings, and more.

Plus, eDirectory offers a robust in-house support team and ongoing updates, so you can be sure that your directory is always up-to-date and functioning smoothly.

1- choose a domain name related to your church

Select a domain name that mirrors your community’s identity, complete the registration process, and integrate it with your eDirectory account via the control panel. A customized domain name imparts a more professional and polished impression of your church’s online membership website, elevating the sense of belonging among members.

It communicates that your church is an ongoing project beyond the physical confines of the church and is committed to serving its members through the digital realm. Choosing the right domain name can be an essential step in establishing your church’s online presence and building a lasting relationship with your congregation.

2- Create the categories you need

Creating categories in eDirectory is a straightforward process that can help you organize your website’s content and make it easier for visitors to navigate. To create categories, start by logging into your eDirectory owner account and accessing the control panel. From there, select the “Categories” option and click on the “Add Category” button.

You will be prompted to fill out the information about the category, such as its name, description, and image. Try to create church-related categories, or others related to services offered by your community, like hair salons, lawyers, pastors, education, etc. You can also choose to assign subcategories to further organize your content around the needs of your community.

Create Categories - Church online directory

Once you have filled out the necessary information, save your changes, and your new category will be added to your website. You can repeat this process to create as many categories as you need, each with its unique name, description, and image. Categories can be edited or deleted at any time from the control panel, providing flexibility to adapt to changes in your website’s content.

By using categories, you can help visitors find the information they are looking for quickly, enhancing their user experience and promoting engagement with your online church directory website.

3- populate your church directory website

With eDirectory, creating an online members website for your church has never been easier. Utilizing the powerful listing template editor, site managers can create detailed profiles for both advertisers and members, allowing users to upload photos and videos, and create classifieds, events, deals and offers, blogs, and articles. This level of customization ensures that your online directory is tailored to meet the unique needs of your parish.

As your community grows, there are plenty of opportunities to monetize your online church directory using eDirectory. With the ability to charge for membership or dues and collect payments through the integrated payment system, you can easily create up to four plans for your members and monetize other aspects of your directory, such as selling, classifieds, events, articles, and banner ads. Simply connect eDirectory with your preferred payment gateway, sit back, and start collecting recurring payments. With eDirectory, you have all the tools you need to create a successful online directory that benefits both your church and its members.

4- Release your church online directory: spread the word!

Releasing your church’s online directory is an exciting moment that requires careful planning and promotion to ensure its success. To begin, start by sending an email blast to your members announcing the launch of the directory and explaining its features and benefits. You can also promote the directory on your church’s website, social media accounts, and in person during church services. Encourage members to register and update their information regularly, and provide incentives for doing so, such as access to exclusive content or discounts on church events.

Another effective strategy for promoting your church’s online directory is to partner with other churches or organizations in your community. Reach out to local community groups to see if they would be interested in featuring your directory on their website or social media accounts. Consider offering a reciprocal promotion in exchange for featuring their organization in your directory. Additionally, consider hosting an event to promote the directory, such as a launch party or training session. By leveraging your community’s network and hosting events, you can increase visibility and engagement with your online directory, ensuring that it becomes an essential resource for your members.

Conclusion

An online church directory can be a valuable tool for any church looking to improve communication, connect with members, and promote transparency. By creating an online directory, you can save time, money, and resources, while providing a valuable service to your community.

If you plan on creating an online members website for your parish, don’t hesitate and schedule a free guided demo of eDirectory and see what it can do for your community.

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Webinar: Make your Online Directory Smarter with the eDirectory Plugins

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Make your Online Directory Smarter with the eDirectory Plugins

Online directories are a great way to bring together a community of users and create a comprehensive list of businesses or services in a specific area. However, to make your directory stand out and keep users engaged, you need to incorporate smart features that enhance the user experience. That’s where eDirectory plugins come in. In this webinar, we’ll explore how you can make your online directory smarter with the help of eDirectory plugins.

What are eDirectory Plugins?

eDirectory is a popular platform for creating and managing online directories. It offers a wide range of plugins that you can use to add functionality to your directory. These plugins are designed to enhance the user experience and improve many aspects of your online directory. This is a brief list of some of eDirectory’s most important plugins:

  • Instant messaging
  • Tailored Google Maps
  • Advanced Review
  • Leads Distribution
  • Market Selection
  • Geo-Targeted Banner Ads
  • Modal Widget (Popups)
  • Google Translate
  • Forum/Q&A
  • Yelp Integration

And many other implementations that you can find in the eDirectory marketplace.

Webinar: Make your Online Directory Smarter with the eDirectory Plugins

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 March 08th, 2022.

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eDirectory 13.2: meet our newest release

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The new eDirectory 13.2 is now available. This release updates the SEO Center, brings some Plugins for the mobile apps, adds new widgets for Pages and Listing Pages, among general performance improvements.

Discover the highlights of the new eDirectory 13.2!

New Header Widget – Image Slider

If your project focuses on images on the Listing Details Page then this new widget is for you. The photos added to the image gallery can be used in the “slider” format, with action buttons for the user to navigate between them.

This widget is available through the Listing Template Editor.

New Additional Image Widget

Create so you can place even more images on the Listing Detail Page. Create as many widgets as you wish and position them on the page however you like. Configure the limits and availability of this additional feature through the Plans & Pricing manager.

New Highlight Cards Widgets

In version 13.2 we included 7 new Highlight Cards widgets with image and text elements. These highlights serve several purposes, such as creating sections such as About the Team, Meet the CEO, How It Works, Additional Services, and whatever else your creativity allows.

These widgets are available in the Page Editor and can be added to any page on your site.

Administrator Accounts

When creating administrator (site manager) accounts, it is now possible to define which subsections of each module this new administrator will have access to. This makes it easier for your team to manage the site. And for those who have more than one site associated with the main license, you can define the access level of this new administrator for one or more sites.

New SEO Center

The SEO Center has been completely revamped to receive the new features. eDirectory continues to allow full control of the title, friendly URL, keywords, and SEO description for all items (Listings, Classifieds, Events, etc.) and Categories for all modules and Main Pages of the system.

The main SEO news in version 13.2 are:

  • Integration with the new Google Analytics (GA4)
  • Robots.txt file editor (to fine-tune which pages can and cannot be crawled)
  • Page Redirect Editor (for more control of URLs/pages)
  • Uploading the ads.txt file (for those using Google Adsense and similar programs)
  • Facebook/Meta Business Manager verification code upload
  • Default image upload for social sharing (OG/Open Graph)

Plugins in Mobile Apps

eDirectory 13.2 also brings improvements to the Apple and Android Apps, which are now able to display the functionality of 8 Plugins:

  1. Instant Messaging Plugin
  2. Events Association
  3. Articles Association
  4. Multiple Videos for Articles
  5. Multiple Videos for Listings
  6. Advanced Reviews for Businesses
  7. Geo-Targeted Banner Ads
  8. Mailchimp Integration

In the App management section, we added a shortcut to Google Firebase, thus facilitating the sending of Push Notifications.

Upcoming system updates will bring more plugins to the apps.

Read the full list of enhancements of eDirectory v13.2 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: Marketing Conversion Goals for Directories

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Marketing Conversion Goals for Directories

For directories, conversion goals are crucial to track and measuring the success of your marketing efforts. These goals help you to identify the actions your users take on your website that ultimately lead to a conversion, such as a purchase, a subscription, or a lead submission. In this article, we will explore how to set up and track conversion goals in Google Analytics for directories and how to export the goals report for further analysis.

Setting up Conversion Goals in Google Analytics

Before setting up conversion goals in Google Analytics, you need to have a clear understanding of your business objectives and the actions you want your users to take on your website. Once you have identified your goals, follow these steps to set them up in Google Analytics:

  1. Sign in to your Google Analytics account and select the website you want to set up conversion goals for.
  2. Click on the Admin button in the bottom left corner of the screen.
  3. Under the View column, click on Goals.
  4. Click on the New Goal button and choose the type of goal you want to create, such as Destination, Duration, Pages/Screens per Session, or Event.
  5. Fill in the details of your goal, such as the destination URL, the duration or pages/screens per session, or the event details.
  6. Click on Create Goal to save your goal.

Exporting the Goals Report in Google Analytics

Once you have set up your conversion goals in Google Analytics, you can export the Goals report to track and analyze the performance of your goals over time. Follow these steps to export the Goals report:

  1. Sign in to your Google Analytics account and select the website you want to export the Goals report for.
  2. Click on the Reporting tab at the top of the screen.
  3. Click on Conversions in the left-hand menu and then click on Goals.
  4. Choose the goal you want to export the report for and click on it.
  5. Click on the Export button in the top right corner of the screen and choose the format you want to export the report in, such as PDF, CSV, or Excel.
  6. Save the exported report to your computer.

Wrapping up

Tracking and measuring your conversion goals is essential to the success of your directory website. By setting up conversion goals in Google Analytics and exporting the Goals report, you can gain valuable insights into the behavior of your users and optimize your website accordingly.

Webinar: Marketing Conversion Goals for Directories

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*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 February 22th, 2022.

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Webinar: Essential Paid Media Strategies for Online Directories

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Essential Paid Media Strategies

Online directories play a crucial role in connecting businesses with potential customers. However, with so many directories available online, it can be challenging to get noticed. Paid media strategies are a great way to increase visibility and drive traffic to your directory. In this article, we’ll explore the essential paid media strategies for online directories to help you achieve your goals.

One of the biggest challenges of online advertising is reaching the right audience. With the right targeting techniques, you can ensure that your advertisements reach the people who are most likely to use your directory. There are several targeting options available to you, including demographic targeting, geographic targeting, and interest-based targeting.

  • Demographic targeting: This involves targeting specific age ranges, genders, locations, and more.
  • Interest targeting: This allows you to target users based on their interests, such as specific industries or topics.
  • Behavioral targeting: This targets users based on their previous online behaviors, such as searches, website visits, and purchases.

Once you’ve established your targeting strategy, the next step is to optimize your budget to ensure that you get the most out of your advertising spend. There are several factors to consider, including the cost per click, the cost per impression, and the overall budget.

In this week’s webinar, the eDirectory team will help you to figure out the first steps on your journey to paid media strategies for online directories.

Webinar: Essential Paid Media Strategies for Online Directories

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 February 8th, 2022.

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Webinar: Creating a Coming Soon Page for your Online Directory Website

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Creating a Coming Soon Page

If you’re in the process of launching an online business directory website, it’s important to create a “coming soon” page to collect email addresses for potential users and subscribers. In this webinar, we’ll walk you through the steps of creating a coming soon page for your online directory website.

Step 1: Choose a Platform

When starting an online directory website, one of the first things you’ll need to do is choose a platform on which to build your site. There are a variety of options available, each with its own pros and cons, but one of the most popular choices among directory website owners is eDirectory.

eDirectory is a powerful and versatile platform that offers a wide range of features and tools to help you create a professional and user-friendly online directory. With eDirectory, you’ll have access to a visual editor that makes it easy to customize the look and feel of your site, as well as a control panel that allows you to manage and organize your content with ease.

Step 2: Choose a Design

Once you’ve chosen a platform, it’s time to choose a design for your coming soon page. There are a variety of templates available, or you can create a custom design. Keep in mind that the design should be simple, clean, and easy to navigate. It’s also important to include a clear call to action (e.g., “Sign up for updates” or “Be the first to know when we launch”). We show in detail how to explore eDirectory’s Page Editor to create and publish a Coming Soon page.

Step 3: Add Content

The next step is to add content to your coming soon page. This should include a brief description of your online directory, what users can expect, and any features or benefits you plan to offer. It’s also important to include a form for users to sign up for updates or to be notified when the site launches.

This is not a mandatory step, but if you feel like your website will benefit from a further explanation of what people should expect, go for it.

Step 4: Test and Launch

Before launching your coming soon page, it’s important to test it to ensure that it is functioning properly and that there are no errors. Once you’ve done that, it’s time to launch your page and start promoting it.

Creating a coming soon page for your online directory website is an important step in the launch process. It’s a great way to generate excitement, build anticipation, and collect email addresses for potential users and subscribers. By following these steps, you’ll be able to create a coming soon page that is effective and generates results.

Webinar: Creating a Coming Soon Page for your Online Directory Website

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 January 25th, 2022.

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Generate more leads for your Online Business Directory

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If you are the owner of an online business directory or a classified ads portal and you still don’t use a lead generation strategy in your business, you may be missing out on sales opportunities. Lead generation is vital for any business looking to attract new users and consumers to their products and services.

Typically, this strategy involves the implementation of digital marketing campaigns, which include the production of content aimed at attracting potential customers and visitors.

There are ways to boost those results by driving more leads to your website and converting them into advertisers, but you must ensure your website is running smoothly and has all the tools you need to capture these visitors’ information, like forms and pop-ups (newsletters, discount offerings) and rich content marketing material in general.

This article delves into more detail about how to do this effectively. So, keep reading to learn how to generate leads through an online business directory!

First of all: what are leads?

It is crucial to understand what a lead is before discussing the strategy itself, in order to put the strategy into practice and achieve the desired results.

Leads are people who have shown genuine interest in a niche or business topic after searching online. Users provide some information about themselves in exchange for valuable content, information, or something else that adds value to their search.

This information can be the name, phone number, e-mail, or any other data required by the company in exchange for this rich material, which can be an e-book, access to an exclusive webinar, a free trial for some service, a video course, a spreadsheet, etc.

Having this exchange opens up a new business opportunity for the company, which puts them into its sales funnel. A sales funnel consists of a few steps that a user takes until actually purchasing a product or service.

Thus, a lead management strategy is essential if you want to qualify users and convert them into customers in the future. This is because they represent the beginning of the journey that this customer must take to reach the goal of buying the product or service.

So why generate leads with an online business directory?

Developing a lead generation and management strategy through the creation of organic content requires a good understanding of the target audience and buyer persona on the part of the company. This means that it is necessary to understand precisely who the ideal potential customer is and what the company can offer them to convert them into subscribers.

When you have an online business directory, lead generation is made easier since the companies listed on the website are already well segmented with crucial information like location, company size, niche, etc., and even more detailed information that is not easily achieved.

On the other hand, an advertiser that uses the right strategies to stand out in a classifieds portal can attract many more users and convert them into customers. 

And remember that, as an online directory owner, you must, of course, generate leads for your business as well as for your sponsor’s businesses, as this is how you keep your user base engaged for as long as possible, while you earn the revenue on their ongoing subscriptions as well selling leads for them.

How to generate leads for your online directory

There are several ways of putting this strategy into practice. We’ve compiled a list of the most relevant ones for owners of online business directories.

Some of them are Digital Marketing strategies such as paid traffic (see Google Ads, Bing Ads, and Facebook Ads), and the production of organic content for blogs or local advertisements in your neighborhood or city.

On Pay Per Click campaigns (or PPC), be aware that you will need some familiarity with tools such as Google Ads, and that you need to invest money on these platforms in order to appear on sites like Google and social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, Twitter.

In order to succeed and maximize your ROI (return on investment), it is crucial to understand who your target audience is so that your brand is seen by as many people as possible.

Another good strategy is to team up with local marketing and sales agencies to endorse your product, offer discounts on yearly plans, and special campaigns on social media. Take advantage of bigger portals or profiles that you believe you could benefit from and leverage their audience.

With eDirectory, you can create blog articles and produce strategic content or open a space for paid ads through banners. The more strategic and optimized your planning is, the more qualified leads you will generate.

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Generating leads for your advertisers (sponsors)

The key to keeping your online business directory, membership website, or classified ads site financially healthy is via recurring revenue. This is a business model that benefits greatly from this type of monetization because it works on monthly or yearly subscription plans. 

But your advertisers can benefit from it too since an online directory with great quantity and excellent quality traffic is a source of incoming leads to its sponsors. That means that the visitors of these kinds of websites are already far ahead in their buying journey since they are looking for suppliers or services to solve a specific need. 

Be sure to offer the tools your sponsors need to collect these leads and they will see great value on your website. Keep them wanting more by investing in good content and traffic campaigns for your online directory.

Ways to generate leads for advertisers are:

  • When the advertiser creates a lead form on their listing and a visitor fills in their name and email, becoming a lead.
  • When the advertiser creates a direct contact button or another form of direct communication, such as a phone number in the ad, and the visitor clicks on it, a lead is generated.

These features allow the online business directory owner to collect leads and offer them to advertisers in the way that makes the most sense for the business guide owner’s strategy.

Generate additional revenue by selling leads to advertisers

With eDirectory, you can use the Advanced Lead Distribution plugin to generate an additional revenue stream by selling qualified leads to your advertisers. With eDirectory, you can create different levels for your advertisers depending on the subscription level.

This way, you will be able to set the specific amount of free leads your customers will be able to receive and distribute them accordingly. So, to get more leads, advertisers will be able to buy extra leads and you will get additional income by offering this feature to your subscribers.

The Advanced Lead Distribution plugin helps streamline this process and qualify leads for advertisers, who can then convert more users into customers.

Reach leads targeted to your niche

Content Marketing is a powerful strategy when it comes to an online business guide. Sites of this type, combined with Content Marketing strategies, are essential for ranking in search engines such as Google and, consequently, for capturing leads targeted to your niche.

Through the production of strategic pieces in different content formats, it is possible to help search engines to find and target your commercial guide site more easily. Some ways to do this are through blog articles, keyword usage, videos, optimization plugins, etc.

Indexing and optimizing your page is one of the ways to reach targeted leads in your niche and turn them into advertisers in the future.

eDirectory provides the tools necessary to make this happen and maximize lead generation results.

Generate leads through good user reviews

Another way to improve this process is by getting good reviews. By gaining positive reviews, it is natural for advertisers to generate more qualified leads, as they build trust and credibility in the company’s work.

In addition, advertisers with good ratings may be better ranked in the online business guide, increasing reach and consequently generating more leads.

This strategy mainly provides for good content planning, which aims to rank relevant keywords that will attract potential customers to the company.

In addition to, of course, good services offered that bring social proof and credibility to companies. The page that details the advertiser (company) also has a resource to improve lead capture: lead generation resources.

This tool made available by the eDirectory software offers the option to add quick forms on the advertiser’s detail page, taking the user into direct contact with the business in which he has an interest. Moreover, you can offer the advertiser the option to be able to reply to reviews, creating more engagement with their audience.

Prepare your online business guide to generate leads

When using eDirectory, you will have an integrated platform that has lead generation and management tools such as:

  • Create custom lead forms directly from the site manager;
  • Use data analysis tools (such as Google Analytics);
  • Use plugins to generate additional revenue by selling leads to advertisers;
  • Develop a Content Marketing strategy to rank the commercial guide in search engines, among other resources.
  • It’s easy to use eDirectory for lead generation purposes, and you can request a free demo directly through our website.

Wrapping Up

Generating leads through an online business directory is a must to make your website profitable and attract new customers, and sell their products and services to customers more aligned with the business.

So, investing in dedicated software for creating online directories that offer the best of both worlds – a place that collects qualified leads and a selection of companies that want to advertise their quality services to potential customers – is critical.

Lead generation is one of the first steps in the user’s buying journey and, the more qualified that lead is, the more chances of conversion (and possibly sales) the business will have. Therefore, using the right resources is essential to provide satisfactory results and enhance online commercial guide management strategies.

eDirectory is that tool, a fully integrated platform that has the resources you need to leverage lead generation with an online business directory with ease.

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Webinar: Get your Online Directory Off The Ground

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Get your Online Directory Off The Ground

The online directory business model is out there for decades and, still, getting started might be one of the hardest and most time-consuming steps. Taking that into consideration, the eDirectory team gathers to show you the basic (and most important) steps to get your online directory off the ground.

We discussed the preparation stage where the site owner must focus on creating good content for his target audience, setting up the website properly using eDirectory’s Control Panel, configuring Google and payment gateway integrations, and designing the website with the drag-and-drop page editor.

The directory owner must take the time to fill up the classifieds and listings with great images, using the SEO fields, and create an engaging description. Focus on what the users want and study the keywords of your niche to meet the search queries of search engine websites like Google.

Next, get to work on the design of your online directory using eDirectory’s built-in features and widgets. It’s very easy to make your website look like you have envisioned, using the resources such as Featured Categories, Geo Location, Lead gen tools such as newsletters, and, of course, the eDirectory App. Remember, the home page of your online directory might the first touchpoint your visitors and future paying subscribers

Prepare the pricing page with every tier and feature offered through every level. Make it as clear as possible and test the entire checkout flow, also, it is always a good strategy to offer free trials, with limited features so your visitors can try your platform before deciding to subscribe.

Watch now: Get your Online Directory Off The Ground

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 January 11th, 2022.

Want more tips? Shoot us a note at .

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