How to Make Money with a Business Directory Website (2024)

Wondering how to make money with a business directory website? Everybody loves passive income, so find out how you can monetize your directory today!

How does a little passive income sound?

If you’re most people, you’re screaming, “Sounds fantastic! Where do I sign up?” And that’s why you’re looking to make extra cash from a business directory site.

Business Directory is the best WordPress directory plugin. Get it for free!

But, the question is, how do online directories make money?

This post will cover eight ways you can monetize your directory platform today.

Let’s get into it.

How do I monetize my website's online directory?

1. Sell listings to local businesses

This is the most common way to make money with a local business directory and the simplest way to bring in money.

Keep in mind that only creating an online directory doesn’t automatically generate income. You still have a lot of work to do in promoting the directory.

But, once you have a consistent traffic flow, you’ll also have a constant cash flow. And one way to do that is using our Business Directory (BD) plugin. With BD, it only takes a few minutes. How about that for getting started?

And this applies to all types of directories —real estate, team members, travel, and more.

2. Offer claims for listings

Want a great way to get businesses to sign up for paid listings?

Do the dirty work, then offer the listing to them.

And there are a couple of ways you can handle this:

1. Create a free listing, then offer it to them on a “basic” plan
2. Offer it to them at a paid price immediately

Either way, the idea is to bring them on as paying customers. Business owners are way more likely to pay when the work is already done.

So, it will take a little work on your part. But, the rewards are great. And all it takes is a small claim listing button on your site.

And, you get to capture email addresses to use for future leads!

Learn More: How to Decide Between Free and Paid Directories

3. Use featured listings

Some listing owners will pay for a higher position in your search results.

Think of it like Google. When you scroll through the results, the first three are paid ads. And that’s because being seen more leads to money!

Apply the same idea to your business directory, and you’ve got a recipe for a big money-maker. Luckily, it’s easy to do, especially with directory tools like BD, Brilliant Directories, and Ideal Directories. Simply add a top listing with a featured tag, and offer it to your directory users.

Many will ignore it, but many won’t.

And that’s your opportunity to build on the income you’re already making from your listings.

4. Offer tiered plans

This doesn’t have to be as complicated as it sounds.

In fact, we do this with our BD plugin. Pay for our basic plan, and you get a set of features. Pay for the next tier, and you get even more. Rinse and repeat.

Some businesses will simply want the basics. And, if they see a high price to get the basics, they’ll search for a different option. But, you can easily drop the price to offer the basics and ensure you don’t miss out on a potential customer.

Then, provide higher plans listed on your website for those who want more.

There’s a reason many businesses adopt this model — it’s effective.

5. Charge different prices for various categories

Some categories are more popular than others, right?

So, why would you offer the same pricing model to all categories? That’s right. You wouldn’t.

Some industries/categories are simply more profitable than others. And that’s an opportunity for you to adjust your pricing. For example, the earnings from a real estate listing are higher than from a coupon/deal listing. And those businesses are willing to pay more for their listings.

And we’re sure you’re willing to take the additional income.

Learn more: How to Set Listing Rates That Actually Get You More Business

6. Put ads on your site

Ads are a double-edged sword.

They’re an excellent way to make money with an online directory, especially if you have a lot of website traffic. But website visitors don’t like them.

So, you should approach this carefully. Limit the number of ads you have, display ads relevant to your audience, and ensure you have complete control over them. Think of your WordPress website as a property. You only want the best businesses to get a spot.

The other option is to use Google Adsense, AdThrive, or another popular ad company.

Whichever option you choose, be aware of how your website visitors respond to them.

Learn more: Finding the Perfect Niche for Your Directory

7. Sell affiliate products

Affiliate marketing is used across the web and industries.

And directory websites are no different. So, that’s the perfect opportunity for you to make some extra cash.

But, you have to choose the correct affiliates. And that involves knowing your customer base. For example, offering website services is an excellent idea if your customers are site owners. Better hosting, plugins, and other services are all things your customers would be interested in.

And all those product companies are interested in pairing with you to get their product in front of more eyes.

8. Recommend a premium membership to visitors

In this entire post, we’ve focused on how you can make money from business listings.

But that doesn’t have to be the only source. What about the people visiting and looking at the listings on your site?

For example, you can offer private or limited listings. A visitor gets free access to the first five listings but has to sign up for a paid membership for unlimited access. Some people will take the five listings and go as we mentioned with the featured listings. But, many want more listings, and they’ll gladly pay to get them.

So, grab a membership plugin and offer paid access. Just make sure the plugin is compatible with your theme.

In the end, you’ll be surprised at how many people sign up.

How will you choose to make money with a directory website?

As you can see, you’re not short on options for earning money with a directory website.

Whether you choose to sell advertising, featured directory listings, or premium listings, you can continue to try different things and see what works best.

Or combine all of them and really boost your earnings!

So, let us know what you think of the tips for how to make money with directory sites. And let us know if we missed any in the comments!

Read more about making money with directories

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  How to Monetize a Directory Website (3 Key Tips)Read More

  How to Create a WordPress Paid Business DirectoryRead More