Starting a web directory is something I’ve been really interested in for years, but until I could start getting Wordpress directory plugins I’ve really been hampered by the time it would take. I’ve even got as far as starting a few, but in the past it just wasn’t so easy - until now - Wordpress directory plugins have changed that forever. Before, there was a lot of code learning and changing, you had to do all the graphics yourself … it had to be a real labour of love. And that was before you moved onto the promotion part!

In the last 2-3 years there’s been a revolution on the Internet - a revolution that’s meant there’s now an abundance of easy to use, free and affordable tools you can use to achieve your goal instantly. Wordpress plugins… you know what you want your site to do and now there’s a plugin you can find that does it for you - without any complex installation whatsoever.

So, I’ve been looking at creating a directory again - only this time using a Wordpress directory plugin. I like to use Wordpress for most of what I do because it’s so easy, I simply install it (couple of clicks) and then use plugins to perform the functionality that I want. What would have taken me many months and about $1000 to achieve 3-4 years ago, I can now do in 2 hours with under $50. The bottom line is: I am making a virtually guaranteed profit almost immediately …. it’d be a real idiot that couldn’t get their money back on that low return on investment!

I spent a good few days looking into Wordpress directory plugins - and overall, I think I was very disappointed at how few options are available - and of those available, they weren’t receiving good feedback.

Overall, it appears that WP-Directory Pro is the one to go for, this one isn’t free, but if you’re looking to make money from a website, sometimes you just have to accept that you have to invest money - and it’s only $39, so it’s worth a shot in my opinion!

Why Have A Links Directory on Your Website?

A link directory can improve your Page Rank (PR). Page Rank is one of the things Google uses to work out if your site should be top of their search results or not - and it’s related to the number of inbound links to your site. How Google calculates PR is a Google secret, but for the purposes of this article, you want to increase the number of people linking to your site. A link directory helps you to do this by inviting people to list themselves in your directory in exchange for a link back to your site.

Alternatively, you can charge people to add their links to your site, thus generating actual hard cash.

Here’s what I found:

Wordpress Directory Plugins

1) Wordpress Link Directory Plugin

Wordpress Link Directory is a free plugin that gives a nice, clean layout. This Wordpress Directory plugin uses AJAX (if that means nothing, to you, then that is simply a good thing, so keep reading). The installation isn’t as easy as it could be and you might need to make some modifications to some of the files to get it to display how you want in the theme you’re using. If you’re not keen on fiddling with code for layout, then you may not want to use it for this reason. If you’re happy to fiddle about a bit, then the author of this Wordpress directory plugin does provide some theme support.

• WP Link Directory can check the Pagerank of a site wanting to link to you and accept or refuse the link based on criteria you specify.
• This Wordpress Link Directory Plugin supports SEO-friendly permalinks, subcategories, and reciprocal-link checking.
• If you are providing free links to people who are linking to you, then with just one click in the admin panel it will go out and check that everybody IS linking to you and tells you if any aren’t.
• There’s even a Premium link function so you can charge for directory inclusion, this will automatically send payments to your Paypal account.
• You can choose to display more detailed information on each link if you wish.
• It’s available in several languages.
• There’s an option to notify the admin when a new link is submitted.
• It integrates seamlessly into WordPress, adopting whichever theme you’re using because you simply create a new page for your directory and add one tiny codeword onto that page to activate it.

2) WP-Directory

WP-Directory has been around since 2007, but doesn’t seem to have moved on since then. In fact, it’s still in Beta … so not a good sign.

WP-Directory would probably be the best free Wordpress directory plugin available - although it doesn’t actually appear to be available, it’s like the software the developer just got bored owith. It’s set up is more like DMOZ, a long-established web directory, so if you like that style, this might be the one you’re looking for.

WP-Directory supports pretty permalinks, screenshots, subcategories, and a cool little sidebar widget. The installation looks a lot simpler too.

3) WP Directory Pro

With WP Directory Pro you can run a full WordPress blog and have WP Directory Pro run a full directory with unlimited categories and links. WP Directory Pro is a standalone product that any WordPress user can use.

• WP Directory Pro runs inside of WordPress, so any WordPress template will work. However if you wish you can still edit the directory pages to further customize the look but this is not necessary.
• WP Directory Pro uses SEO URL’s to help you with search engine indexing.
• If you have an existing list in a spreadsheet, then you can import them into WP-Directory Pro.

The cost of WPDirectory Pro is $39, which is for one website and includes any updates and technical support for one year, after that it’s $10/year. There are two further licenses which can be bought: for 10 domains, or for 25 domains.

The user forum is well populated and questions are asked promptly.

4) Business Directory for Wordpress

Business Directory for Wordpress is more like a Yellow Pages listing for businesses. People submitting to your directory can even add in their email and telephone numbers.

I didn’t look into this one too much as it wasn’t what I was looking for though. But it’s worth a mention.

Business Directory for Wordpress is an easy way to host a free yellow-pages-like directory page for your readers, affiliates, advertisers, community or club members. Invite them to submit a simple advertisement listing for themselves on your blog.

It does not enable you to take any payment for the listings, so is ideal for industry specific directories, or maybe local-based ones. Perhaps if you’re doing fund-raising you could list all the organisations that have donated. It’s even been used by a MLM company to list all the members in their downline.

5) Business Directory

As I was unsuccessfully finding many Wordpress directory plugins, my search extended and I found this nifty plugin that was worth a mention:
Business Directory.

The Business Directory plugin for Wordpress is an easy way to host a free directory page for your readers, affiliates, advertisers, community or club members. Invite them to submit a simple advertisement listing for themselves on your blog.

Listings include company name, a short description, and contact information including a live URL. The plugin includes an admin tab that allows you to approve of listings before they appear live on the site. You can also edit and delete listings.

They will soon have a Premium directory version available too, so worth watching out for that. The premium version will allow you to promote a listing upgrade to your directory participants; you set the cost and collect via PayPal, they get to upload a logo and appear in the top ‘premium’ section of your Directory.

I have one website that’s purely based around one local area and I think this might be useful for that, which is why I’ve mentioned it here. This might be one to watch.

6) ZeList

ZeList - this one’s actually entirely in French, so I didn’t try it out, but it looks straight forward enough - and the admin panel is in English. Included for completeness of the list.

7) WP-Business

TTIS Business Directory (TTISBDIR)

Again, I’ve included this for completeness, although the author’s webpage is in Greek (I think it’s Greek). But, as it’s a Wordpress directory plugin and the support forum is in English, I’ve included it. With this plugin you simply create a new Wordpress page and insert a small line of code for the directory to show up.

WP Directory List

WP Directory List is a Wordpress directory plugin that provides a basic directory list - it is still being developed further so you’ll be able to charge people to have a link in your directory.

This one is included for completeness.

Creating a Profitable Directory Website: Web Directory Profits

Once you’ve created your directory, the next stage is to make your fortune from it.  So, if that bit’s a bit hazy for you, then why not check out Web Directory Profits. 

Web Directory Profits shows you how to make your directory profitable and even includes videos to watch so you can quickly learn his secret techniques .

Web Directory Profits shows exactly how he built a site for under $300 and in 14 months sold it for $8,000, a ROI of 2,809%.

He goes on to teach you how to build directories with thousands of pages in less then a day, how to build up their Pagerank and start profiting from them.

He also shows you how to sell your sites or in his case why you might want to keep them because that site he sold for $8K now has an estimated worth of almost $200K.

This is pretty ground breaking stuff because I’ve never heard anyone talk about using web directories as a way to create endless streams of revenue.

Tags: wordpress directory, wp-dir, wpdir