CREATE A WEBSITE

How To Create a Web Directory In WordPress – Short Course

By Philip Yiga | June 13, 2017

A web-directory enables website-users to browse through a catalog of links that have been divided into topics and categories. In fact, a perfect example of a directory your phonebook but you can also turn your WordPress website into web-directory because WordPress offers multiple web-directory plugins and themes. So, in this article I will show you how to create a web-directory in WordPress using any installed directory-plugin for WordPress.

Method-1: How to Use a Business Directory Plugin to create a web-directory:

The Business Directory Plugin is free of charge but it may require you to purchase a Pro-version of this directory-plugin in order to gain access to multiple functionalities. So, below are some of the detailed steps on how to install and manipulate the Business Directory Plugin in order to create a great directory within your WordPress website:

Search for the “Business Directory Plugin”: before you start creating your directory, you will need to first search for the “Business Directory Plugin” by simply going to your WordPress dashboard and then locate “Plugins“. afterwards a drop-down list will appear and you will need to click on “Add New” in order to access a new-window that will enable you to again access to several WordPress plugins and there is even a search-box that allows you to type in a particular plugin that are looking for as shown in the picture below.

Below is the “Business Directory Plugin” after searching for it in the search-box:

Install and activate the Business Directory Plugin: after finding your Business Directory Plugin, click on “Install Now” and the plugin-in will e automatically installed onto your WordPress-account. Afterwards, activate the Business Directory Plugin by simply clicking on “Activate” and afterwards this plugin will ask you for permission to create a new WordPress page so that it can add a business directory short code inside as featured in the images below.

Press on “Activate” in order to activate your directory plugin as shown in picture below.

Click on the link featured in the image below to a new directory-page containing the business directory shortcode inside.

Turn on payment options: after creating your new directory page, you will see a notification saying” you have featured listings turned on” and now you will need to turn-on payment-options by simply going to your Dashboard >> Directory >> Directory Admin >> Manage Options and then click on “Payments” in a new window that opens-up as shown in the image below.

However, it’s recommended to turn-off “featured listings” for now by simply accessing the Directory Admin >> Manage options >> Listings-tab and after scroll downwards in order to locate “ Featured (Sticky) listing settings” then uncheck the box next to “Offer sticky listings” as featured in the photo below.

Create a few categories for the directory: afterwards, you will need to create a few categories for your directory by simply going to the Dashboard >> Directory >> Directory Categories and then create at least 1-category in order to enable the website users to this category when submitting their listings. So below are some of the illustrations on how to create a directory-category.

Checkout the created category: after creating your category, you will need to go to your directory page on your website and you will actually find it there. In fact, the website users will be capable of creating new listings and even selecting and after select from the created categories within your website-directory as shown in the pictures below.

Below is an illustration of website-users creating a new listing and selecting a category where the listing belongs.

After pressing on “create a listing” the menu featured in pictures below will appear and you now have to select a preferred category from a drop-down.

Below is a page that will guide you through the listing process of your company onto the directory:

Below is a simple Payment page that appears when adding a new listing to a business-directory.

So, just continue with your listing until the end by simply selecting and filling in the required fields.

Manually add entries to your directory: you can also manually add entries to your web-directory by simply go to the Dashboard >> Directory >> Add New Listing as shown in the image below.

After filling in the title and other listing information, click on “Publish” in order for the new-listing to be added into your directory.

Accepting payments for any directory listings: in order to enable payments, the first thing you will need to do is to enable payments under the payment-settings and in case your directory website is not fully ready then consider clicking on the checkbox next to “Put payment gateways in test mode” option. Afterwards, choose your currency and then a thank you message for any payments made after adding a new listing. So, in order to access the payment-settings, you will need to go to Dashboard >> Directory >> Directory Admin >> Manage Options and then click on “Payments” that will bring-up a new window containing all the payment-settings.

Below is an illustration on how to choose a currency and where to place a thank-you message for any payments made after creating a new listing:

On the other hand, you will also find the settings of configuring your payment gateway below the payment settings page and in case you haven’t installed any other payment gateway add-on plugins then expect to see only Google wallet as a default payment gateway option available. After configuring all your payment options, click on the “Save changes” button in order keep your settings as shown in the picture below.

Since you require payments from any new listing upgrades, you will have to set-up listing-fees and this can be done by going to Directory Admin » Manage Fees and after create different listing plans, set-up fees and even create listing duration for each plane then save-up your settings. This will actually make your directory ready to receive any paid-listings as show below.

An illustration on how to add a new listing fee into your directory:

Below is how a new listing fee is created after clicking on the “Add New Listing” button.

Below is a list of created listing ranging from free-listing to premium listings?

Below is an active payment page that appears after submitting a new listing into your directory:

So, you will need to select from any of the options featured below when adding a new listing to the business directory:

Note: all in all, your web-directory will be complete now and ready to accept any paid listings. However, it’s recommended to explore other options/settings within this plugin in order to achieve further optimization for your web-directory and its users.

METHOD-2: How to create a web-directory using other WordPress plugins:

There are actually several WordPress plugins that will enable you create name-directories, form-directories, mail-directories and business directories. So, it’s entirely upon you to choose a directory that works perfectly for you depending on your business need.

For example, if you want to create a directory for the staff-member in the company then you will need to install and activate a WordPress plugin called “Staff Directory Plugin” or “WordPress Company Staff Directory Plugin” as seen in the illustrations below;

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On the other hand if you want to create a name directory with lots of user-options then you will need to install and activate name-directory plugin like.

Another great plugin is the “GeoDirectory – Business Directory Plugin” because it will allow you create business based directories hence making this plugin a perfect choice for people who want to create location-based local or international business directory.

All in all, there different types of directory plugins today and all you need to do is find the perfect directory plugin to fulfill your business needs and the needs of directory users.