Create a Local Business Directory Website from Scratch

Creating a local business directory website is an awe-striking phenomenon especially when you want to list the local businesses around you under a single umbrella. Plus, this type of directory website is a source of making money even without keeping yourself in touch with your directory website. You can mint money from the local business owners who want themselves to be listed on your directory. It’s interesting!!! Isn’t it?

Moving forward, like most other users in the directory niche, do you want to create a directory website for your local business? Well, we have caught your pulse. You can get this job done in just a few minutes with very little investment using a free theme and plugin. So, without further fusses & feathers, let’s set the ball rolling onto the main interface.

Creating a Local Business Directory Website Just in Simple Steps

To create your local business directory, you need some basic stuff to get started. We have discussed all these things in our ultimate guide – Ultimate Guide to Create a Directory Website. Have a review and complete the starter process, then follow the step-by-step process.

Installing Theme

For creating a local business directory website, choosing a niche theme makes the process easy. Here we’re using a niched theme called “dList”. You can purchase the theme by clicking the button.

After getting the theme, the next process is to install the theme. For installing, follow the process: WP Dashboard > Appearance > Themes > Upload > Choose File from your local drive > Install Now and then activate the theme. Follow the screenshot if you face any difficulty installing the theme. 

If you have a budget issue, you can choose our free theme, OneListing. The free theme comes with all the essentials to launch your directory website. We have explained the process in this article: “How to Create a Directory Website in WordPress for Free.” However, you’ll miss the taste of premium extensions. But once you scale your business, you can buy everything from the extension page.

Installing a WordPress Directory Plugin

Once you have installed the theme, you will see a dashboard notice to install the Directorist plugin, a complete business directory plugin, and some required extensions to power your entire directory ecosystem. Installing the plugin means enabling the core functionality of your local business directory. We already covered the plugin installation process in detail in our ultimate guide, which we mentioned at the beginning. We assume that you already know that. If not, or if skipped somehow, we request that you go through the process. Meanwhile, we keep the setup process as easy as possible so you can create your website without any trouble.

Adding categories

Different types of users search for different types of local business listings. As a local business directory owner, you should split your local business directories into different categories for the convenience of users. For example, you want to add a “Car”  category to your directory. To do that, go to the Directorist > Categories. Then specify the name of the category and upload the category image. Finish the process by clicking the “Add Category” button and you can see the category on the front end. In the same way, you can add as many categories as you want. 

Adding location

Many users search local business listings based on location. So, adding a location to your local directory is another important thing to do. Let’s imagine you want to add “ Texas”.  In order to do this, go to the Directorist > Locations and fill in the description field if necessary. You can add more locations to your local business directory following the above procedure. 

Add listings

Here comes the great task of giving your directory a soul. Adding demanding business on your directory helps your directory business grow. You can add a listing manually, via a submission form, or import bulk listings from a CSV file collected from permitted sources. We discussed all the process in detail on your ultimate guide.

To add listings manually in your local business directory, navigate to the WP Admin Dashboard > Directorist > Add New Listing.

Next option is, the business or product owners will add or submit the listings through a submission form. One thing you can do is to check whether the listings violate your community standard or not. And, you can charge money for every listing. To create a submission form, WP Dashboard > Directorist > Directory Builder > Add Listing Form

Here is the form front end looks.

Configure/customize your local business directories

Before you add your advanced functionalities, you need to first configure your directory. Now, If you want to customize your directory site, go to the directory builder and configure your directory according to your needs. For the details, you can head over to the article.

Extending Functionalities of Your Local Business Directory Website with Extensions

With the dList theme and directorist, you are already armed to lead the battlefield of the directory business. However, depending on your directory niche, your monetization strategies, and the features your chosen theme includes, you may need to install some additional extensions to add further functionality to your website. Here are some potential options that you can avail with included extensions with the theme, and beyond purchasing additional extensions later.

Booking & appointment feature 

This option is a must-have option for any local business directory. If you are a local directory owner and have already created a directory website for local businesses, then adding the booking & appointment feature to the directory will be an amazing addition to the directory. Because the listing owners of your website always want to reach their users without any hassles. And, this could be possible for you when you add booking & appointment feature to your local directory website. To have this feature on board, you can use the Booking & appointment extension plugin. To add this, navigate to the Dashboard>Add new plugin

Business opening hours

A listing owner always wants to let their customers know about his/her business opening hours. And, we believe this is important as it will show the operational hours of a business. As an admin, if you bring this feature to your website repository, then you will be one mile ahead of your competitors to attract more listing owners to submit their listings on your directory website. And, you know, the more listings you have aboard, the more money you can make.

Pricing Plans

This feature is essential if you want to monetize your directory website. After you create a business directory and attract listings, introduce a structured pricing model. Many directory owners offer listing tiers like free, premium, or featured plans. This approach lets businesses choose the visibility level that suits them.

A clear pricing system also creates a sustainable revenue stream for your directory. The Pricing Plans extension makes this process simple. It lets you define listing packages and control submission permissions. You can also charge businesses for premium visibility.

Business Analytics

Running a directory website without data often leads to guesswork. When you create an online business directory, you need clear insights into user behavior. Which listings receive the most views? Which categories produce the most traffic? A detailed analytics dashboard like Directorist Analytics extension answers these questions.
It tracks listing performance, user activity, and engagement trends across your directory. These insights help you make smarter decisions for future growth. They also help you refine your directory strategy.

Advanced Review System

User feedback is one of the strongest trust signals for any directory website. If you create a local business directory, visitors rely on customer feedback before choosing a service.

Basic star ratings help, but detailed feedback gives much greater value. This additional information helps users compare businesses more confidently. Directorist Advanced Review extension lets users check businesses using multiple criteria. These criteria may include service quality, pricing, and overall customer experience. This structured feedback improves credibility and user engagement. It also encourages meaningful interaction within your directory.

Universal Search

Search functionality becomes critical as your directory grows. A directory with many listings needs a fast way for users to find services. Directorist Universal Search extension solves this problem. It adds a unified search bar across the entire directory.

Users no longer switch between categories to find listings. They simply type a query and see relevant results immediately. Instead, they can do a single search and instantly discover businesses across the platform. This improves usability and keeps visitors engaged longer.

In addition to the above-mentioned extensions, Directorist offers more that can enhance your directory website’s functionality and ease your tasks.

How Can You Make Money from a Local Business Directory Website?

Practically speaking, there are a number of ways to make money from your directory website for local businesses. And, it’s nothing like a big deal at all. Generally, it depends to the fullest on your niche and the types of listings you are taking on. 

Here are the most common ways to set the ball rolling on.   

• Sell listings
• Sell ads- Allow listings to add banners on high-traffic pages
• Sell Leads- Allow free listings, but charge for every email sent to listings through your website’s contact form
• Sell services on behalf of your listings- Listing plumbers? Allow site visitors to book them and charge a service fee
• Get a % of tickets sold through your events directory

More possibly, there are other ways to make money online with a directory, but these are the most popular way.

End Lines on How to Create a Local Business Directory Website

That’s all. We hope that you have already learned how to create a local business directory website at a minimal amount of cost. Now you can try to build a directory website for your local businesses. Again, if you face any difficulties on the way to creating this directory website, then don’t hesitate to ask for assistance by dropping us a line in the comment section below. Our support team will reach out to you with their helping hands.

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