How to Create a Profitable Local Business Directory Website

today we're talking about a simple website that pays you every single month most people think making money online

means selling products running ads or building a brand but what if I told you that there's a way to make thousands

without doing any of those things well in this video I'm going to show you how to set up a simple website that

businesses will pay you for every single month by the way my name is Joshua I make millions of dollars online through

multiple income streams and I study this stuff constantly all right let's dive in so what is this website well it starts

first with local businesses you see local businesses need customers but most of them don't know how to find customers

online without spending money on ads and that's where this website comes into play a local business directory and

it'll take you just 30 minutes to set one up and by the way this isn't just some Theory I've seen this business

model working in real life I literally get mailers just like this in my mailbox every single month and the these mailers

use the exact same strategy of connecting businesses with customers and my wife actually follows a Facebook page

that does the same exact thing helping moms find local businesses through their directory website but this idea will

work in any Niche now before I show you how to create this website and start making money with it there is a critical

first piece that you have to understand if you want to level up you want to start a business and start making money

online there's a certain psychological IC barrier that you have to first get past a hidden barrier that stops most

people before they even start and I call this the skill barrier it's the one thing that separates those who take

action from those who never do you see most people think that they need to be some expert before they start something

new but you have to understand that most people who succeed in this business or any business for that matter aren't

successful because they have more skill than you they're successful because they simply start before they feel ready

which is great news because this means you don't have to be a web designer you don't have to be an SEO expert or a

marketing genius what you need is the ability to follow simple steps and take action and if you understand if you

believe that you can do this then following all of the steps in this video will be a lot less intimidating okay so

these are the four steps in the process of creating this website Step One is creating business listings step two is

building the website step three is generating lead flow and step four is getting paid I recommend following this

in this exact order if you want to get started with this in the smartest way possible and we'll start first with step

one before we talk about creating the actual website we need to start with the most important thing which is creating

the business listings because at the end of the day a business directory website with no businesses on it is a useless

website no listings equal no money the listings are the foundation to this business you see because you're not

making money by selling a product or by having clients right you're making money because businesses are paying you to be

listed on your directory now you might be wondering right now but Joshua how do I actually get businesses to sign up

well there are three smart methods to do this you've got the visibility hack the social proof shortcut and the silent

pitch let's go over each one starting first with the visibility hijack something that a lot of people fail to

recognize is that businesses want to be found online you see they're already spending

money every single month on marketing local directories and Google ads so that their business can be found online so

with this first method you're not trying to convince businesses to try something new You're simply redirecting the money

that they're already spending on marketing to instead have them spend it on your directory so here's exactly how

it works step by step the first step is that you need to find businesses that are already spending money on online

because the easiest way to get businesses on your directory is to Target businesses that already know the

value of marketing because they're already actively paying for it and so to find these businesses go to sites like

Yelp Angie or Google my business and search for companies in your Niche and what you're looking for are companies

that have paid placements featured spots or boosted ads these are the companies that are actively spending money to get

new customers online and so the likelihood that they'll be willing to spend money to be listed on your

directory is much higher now once you found the businesses it's time to make them a better offer these businesses are

already spending hundreds and sometimes even thousands of dollars on platforms like Yelp and Google ads and many times

like is the case with Google ads they're paying for clicks that don't turn into real customers and this right here is

where your directory comes in because your directory is a direct path to local customers without all of the competition

and so once you found the businesses spending money on platforms like Yelp and Google ads you would simply reach

out to that business and position your offer like this hey business name I saw you're running promoted placements on

Yelp or whatever platform you saw them on I run a site that helps customers find blank service in blank city I can

send you leads directly for a fraction of what you're paying Yelp want to test it out and once you've got their

attention and you start getting replies to your messages the next step is to show them how you can provide real leads

for their business because when a business starts seeing leads coming in from your directory paying you money to

stay listed on your directory becomes the obvious decision now there are a few different ways that you can do this and

we'll break down some of those a little bit later in the video because it's a completely different can of worms now

the visibility hijack works because you're targeting businesses that are already paying for visibility online but

what if you didn't have to reach out to businesses at all what if instead of reaching out to them they came to you

that's exactly what this next method does the social proof shortcut the way this works is instead of having to pitch

your directory to businesses one by one you instead let the community do all of the heavy lifting for you and here's

exactly what I mean by that you want to start by joining Facebook groups Community groups or neighborhood Pages

where businesses are already hanging out and promoting themselves these groups are goldmines because people are

literally always asking for recommendations and this is your chance to position your directory as a go-to

resource but you do have to be a little bit careful here because you don't want to come off as being spammy or desperate

and so I would create a post like this hey everyone I'm putting together a local business directory for blank city

which businesses should be included and here's what happens next people will start tagging business owners and

suddenly you're not the one having to pitch the customers are pitching your directory because they're the ones

tagging the businesses it's organic it's public and it builds trust instantly it also makes it a lot easier for when you

do have to start reaching out to businesses and once businesses are being tagged that's your signal to reach out

now instead of saying to them hey want to be out of my directory you can instead say hey your business was

recommended in a local group that I'm part of I would love to feature you on my directory want to check it out and

because their customers already vouched for you this feels more like a natural opportunity instead of a sales pitch now

with the social proof shortcut you're tapping into existing communities and letting businesses come to you

organically but sometimes even if a business is interested they might still hesitate to pay upfront and that's where

the final method comes in the silent pitch instead of asking businesses to pay you money up front you instead offer

them a free trial listing and once the leads start rolling in from your directory paying money to stay on your

directory becomes the obvious Next Step so let's really quickly break down how you would do this the first step is you

need to get businesses on your directory and the easiest way to do this is just to go and add them yourself and so pick

10 businesses in your Niche add their contact info to your directory and and here's the kicker don't charge them

anything they are now a part of your directory and they don't even know it yet now here's the sneaky part okay once

businesses are actually on your directory you're going to start tracking all of the leads that you send to that

business the easiest way to do this is to use a free call tracking number with a service like Google Voice or a simple

contact form to measure how many calls emails or inquiries the business gets from your directory so for example a

plumber listed on your directory gets 12 calls in the first month and you track every call using Google Voice and so you

know exactly how many calls came from your site now here's where it gets really good okay because once you've

tracked the leads it's now time to turn their trial listing into a premium listing and this is going to be the

easiest sales conversation that you'll ever have because you're not asking the business to pay you money for nothing

you're just going to show them the results that you already got for them and an example message that you would

send to a business would look like this hey business name I added you to my directory last month and I tracked 12

leads that came in from your listing if you want to keep those leads coming in let's upgrade you to a premium listing

at this point they already see the value and so paying you a fee feels like a no-brainer all right now that we've

covered how to get businesses on your directory let's move on to the Second Step Building the actual directory

website and here's the good news okay you don't have to spend hour of your time trying to design a directory

website from scratch I've already built you a readyto use directory website template that you can download and

launch instantly this way you can skip all of that technical setup and you can go straight into actually making money

and if you want to customize the website or add new listings or tweak settings I've got you covered I've created an

entire separate video for you and it's a full step-by-step tutorial over on my second Channel it walks you through

exactly what you need to know about editing your new template in WordPress just use the link in my description to

check out the video tutorial and don't forget to grab the directory website template down below as well now let's

really quickly walk through exactly how to get your website set up in just a few clicks the only thing that you'll need

is something called website hosting website hosting is what basically allows your website to exist on the internet

and the best web host that I found is one called hostinger and to get here click on the hostinger link in the

description of this video or the pin comment using that link will give you a special discount on your website hosting

once on the website though click right here on claim deal then you'll need to choose your plan for a directory website

I would recommend going with the business plan this plan comes with a free CDN more SSD storage and a lot of

other features that will be really useful for a directory website next from this page you'll need to select the

period I would recommend going with at least the 12- Monon period doing that takes away the $5 setup fee plus you'll

get a free domain name it also just ends up being much cheaper this way plus if you use the coupon code Joshua Mayo

you'll get an even bigger discount on top of the existing discount once this is all set though click on continue and

create your account and the final step here is to enter your payment details with the coupon code and then click on

submit and now it's time to officially set up your directory website on this first screen I'm going to skip this

question and then select create a website and you can either create a website with AI choose from a pre-built

template website or create a blank site and for this you're just going to click down here on create a blank site next

it's time to choose your domain name the domain name is what people actually type into their browser to get to your

website and ideally the domain name should just be the name of your business bus in the example from earlier Triad

moms on Main their domain name is simply Triad moms on.com if your directory website was called Denver local Biz then

ideally your domain name would be Denver looc biz.com you could also just use a temporary domain for now and you can

always come back and choose a domain name later but after a few moments your new website will be set up and if you

click into the front end of your website you'll see that it's currently just a blank page but the goal is to turn this

blank page into a fully functioning directory website that you can start making money from and so to get this

again download the file in the description of this video and once that file is on your computer head to the

back end of your website by clicking up here on your site name in the top left corner next hover over plugins and then

click on add new plug-in in the search bar you're going to search for all-in-one WP migration then click

install now on this plugin here and then activate it once it's activated you'll have this new option on the sidebar

called all-in-one WP migration and I want you to go ahead and hover over that option and then click on import now all

you're going to do is just drag that file that you downloaded earlier into this box here and wait for it to upload

once it's uploaded click on proceed and wait a few moments this box will then pop up and you're going to click on

finish and now head back to the front end of your website by clicking up here and just like that your new site that I

built for you should be imported now what I've just given you is about 80% of the work that has to be done to the

website the only thing you have to do is just go and edit all of the information so that it's relevant to your directory

because right now all of the businesses and categories and images and text are just examples that I created you'll want

to make sure to update all of this with your information now now I'm not going to go over how to edit this information

in this video but don't worry I'm not going to leave you hanging like I mentioned earlier I've created an

entirely separate video for you and it's a full step-by-step tutorial over on my second Channel now before we move on to

the next step I do want to highlight something that I think is very important when you first start setting up your

website you might start to feel overwhelmed but just understand this with your new website you don't have to

have every single section every single part of the website finished finished on day one the goal here is just to start

with what matters most which is the business listings start simple get businesses listed and as you get more

comfortable you can work on adding new pages and building up your site over time okay so with your website set up

and businesses listed it's time to focus on the next critical step step three which is generating lead flow this step

is all about getting actual customer leads to your website for the businesses because at this point the businesses

that are listed on your directory are expecting results right they're expecting your site to bring them

customers and there are two simple methods to do this the local boost method and the social hijack method and

let's start first with the local boost method with this method instead of trying to rank your directory on Google

search using complicated SEO You're simply going to place your directory where customers are already looking and

here's how it works you'll first want to set up a free Google my business listing for your directory when somebody

searches for a service within your city your directory can show up on both Google Maps and the local search results

for example someone types in best HVAC repair in blank city and your directory shows up in the local results they click

on that result browse your listings and they call one of the businesses from your directory with this method you're

not chasing traffic You're simply intercepting traffic from people who are already serving searching for a service

now another way to get instant visibility is by listing your directory on other directories I know this is kind

of like Inception sites like Yelp Angie and other local business directories are already getting thousands of visitors

every single month and so by simply listing your directory on their platform you're piggybacking off of all of their

traffic and getting a ton of exposure with zero effort let's move on to the next method of getting leads though

which is the social hijack method with this method you're not waiting for people to search and find your directory

instead you're placing your directory in the middle of conversations where people are already asking for recommendations

and the best place to do this is either Facebook Marketplace or local community forums like Reddit every day people post

things like anyone know a good dentist or what's the best gym in town and usually people are just tagging

businesses within the comments but you're going to do something slightly different when people ask for business

recommendations you're going to respond but instead of tagging a single business you're just going to add a link to your

directory and because your directory is giving them a full list of options this makes your site look more credible and

the more often you do this the more people are going to start to trust your directory and use it as a resource to

recommend to other people so you've got businesses listed your site is built and you've set up the lead flow to start

bringing in customers for the businesses but now it's time time for you to get paid and there are three ways for you to

make money with your directory website you've got paper leads memberships and exclusive Partnerships so let's go over

each one starting first with payer leads payer leads is a model where businesses will pay you money every single time you

send them leads and so instead of charging them a flat monthly fee to be listed on your directory you instead

charge them only when you send them leads for example a roofing company gets 10 calls from your direct in one month

you charge $50 per lead and so that's $500 from one business alone in one month and to make this work you need to

track how many leads you're actually sending a business to do this like we talked about earlier you can do two

different things you can either set up a call tracking number like Google Voice or use a contact form for the Google

voice method the way it works is every single time somebody calls a business from your directory that call is first

ed through your Google Voice account this allows you to keep track of the number of calls you're sending to the

business for the contact form method the way this works is you would first set up a unique contact form on your directory

when someone emails a business from your directory you'll be able to see that from the back end of your site and track

how many messages you're getting for the business you can then charge the business based on how many calls or

messages they received from your directory and businesses love the pay per lead method because they're only

having to pay for results they're not having to gamble on views or ad clicks they're simply paying you for the

results that you get them but some businesses might prefer a more predictable cost and that's where the

monthly membership model comes in with this model businesses pay a simple flat fee to stay listed on your directory for

example a plumbing company pays you $50 per month to have their plumbing company listed in the plumbing category of your

directory website the company isn't paying for leads necessarily they're paying for the visibility right the spot

on your website and this works best when your site starts getting steady traffic because the more people who visit your

site the more valuable those listings become you can also charge more for premium placements meaning that a

business is listed at the top of a category this premium placement might cost them double or even quadruple the

standard listing price but it's a price many businesses are willing to pay for if it means they get more leads

businesses like this model because it's predictable and they know exactly how much they're paying every single month

and they don't have to pay for every single lead and for you once a business signs up they're paying you every single

month automatically which makes this a super passive method now while the monthly membership model will give you a

recurring income some businesses will want a lot more than just a listing they want to dominate the entire category so

that no competitors appear next next to them and that's where the exclusive partnership model comes in instead of

listing multiple different businesses under one category you offer one business exclusive rights to a dedicated

section somewhere on your site that could mean creating a dedicated best blank service in blank city page a

featured category on the homepage or even a spotlight section that guarantees them top placement so when a customer

visits your directory looking for the best options in their City the featured business is the first and only option

that they see and because this spot is so exclusive it's worth a lot more than a standard listing and so instead of

charging between $50 and $200 like a normal listing you would instead charge $1,000 or more because they are the only

business being featured in that category for example a personal injury lawyer rents your best personal injury lawyers

in blank city page for $1,000 per month and as your site grows you can increase the price so by now you've got multiple

different ways to start making money with your directory whether it's with the pay per leads model the monthly

membership model or the exclusive partnership model but before we wrap this up I want to give you just one more

bonus tip that can take everything that we just covered and make it even more powerful a common question that people

have when building a directory website like this is how do I make my site stand out so that businesses actually trust it

and want to pay me and my strategy for this is something that I call the authority effect the reason some

directory websites become super successful in others struggle isn't just about listings or getting traffic

instead it's about positioning your directory as a trusted place for customers and the best way to do this is

to leverage something called Authority signals things like testimonials Badges and even posting local events or news

for testimonials you can try asking business businesses who are already listed on your site if they would

consider leaving a short testimonial that you can use on your directory for the site badges people trust businesses

that look official you can try doing things like adding toprated or best of badges next to featured businesses to

make your site feel like a place where only the best get listed and if you can do this right businesses will want to be

on your directory all right so here's a quick overview of everything that we went over in this video feel free to

pause the video here and write this down or take a screenshot at this point you have everything that you need to start

building a real legitimate directory website that can start earning you consistent income without selling any

products or working with clients if you're ready to get started make sure to grab that free template in the

description below and check out the full tutorial on my second channel to begin customizing your directory site and hey

if you found this video helpful let me know in the comments down below which part of this process are you most

excited to try try and as always I will see you again very soon take care