Business directory theory....

I think that a directory needs to have more than just a phone number and address. That's all that Google provides. It should have four to five paragraphs of text using keywords and nodewords.module to provide SEO for the listing. Also it should be a structured page like a myspace where a company can place in a block region a photo gallery, a video gallery, and, in the case of a restaurant, a menu.

The screencast on the Open Atrium page starting at the 2:10 mark shows their application to create a dashboard for OpenAtrium using the trinity ,Spaces, Features and Context modules with some nice edit in place jQuery (http://openatrium.com/features). This could be extended to create pages for a business listing.

Things that Google not good for.....

Try Googling this, what to do with kids in coulee region on a summer Saturday afternoon

There are other things too.

I'm sure that every business in La Crosse has been listed in several places on the web. How do we improve on it and how do we monetize it to make it worth the effort?

How about if every business had a listing where people could leave reviews and comments on? Ok, I know, I know, it's already been done. But, what if every time a person leaves a comment the business gets an email.

Better yet, why not create a group for each business in Open Atrium? Each group gets a case tracker. OpenAtrium case tracker Enable each business to have their own mini/simple CRM that they manage. Then build a Views list on top of it that can be displayed using the Finder.module to drill into different categories and businesses in a front end theme built on to of Open Atrium.

This might be my next project.

This is an interesting discussion. Like Michelle, I've spent years trying to figure out some local directory recipe that works. I'm still trying. The conclusions I've reached so far are that

• small businesses owners generally aren't interested in features. They want to publish their listing with the minimum of fuss, check it's visible and then forget about it. They won't be big participants in your site, won't use its social features and almost certainly won't even edit their listing - in fact the day they publish their listing will probably be their only annual visit to the site. At first I was convinced a small listing opening into a more complete profile was the way to go - instead, it seemed to put customers off.

• people will always think of searching google before your directory, and when they do they'll almost always go directly to the company webpage, rather than browse through another directory, even if that directory comes first in the search results.

• finally - & this really just follows from the first two points - local business directories in themselves are an irrelevancy and if they're to work they have to borrow relevancy from some other section of the site. If enough locals in any region are keeping your site busy, businesses will want to list themselves. I struggled to get a single (paid) listing in the directory I built - yet the local parish newsletter, which is printed in high-contrast blotches on a photocopier and charges $75 annually for a monthly listing probably no bigger than one square inch, carries virtually every business in the region! How does old media triumph like this? Simply because of its broad circulation. Just about every household buys a copy - and they do that because it's full of interesting local news, articles and notices. The way to fill up a business directory is likely to be the same. I'd say local & regional business directories need to be afterthoughts on sites with other purposes - instead of their centrepieces.

The problem then is that local sites in general rarely thrive. I tried opinion articles and forums with mine and nothing succeeded - and yet the area in question has been fevered with different local political controversies for years. I don't know what the answer is. My final stab at reviving my own project is going to be based on a directory of opinion - where I will take the trouble to poll all local political figures for their opinions on specific issues and each opinion will be open to discussion. Perhaps strong-arming the participation of local figures will attract everyone else - and in turn, probably much later, the businesses to the simple,-contact-details,-logo-and-short-summary directory.

Whatever you end up doing Adamsohn, I hope you succeed - and if you do, please share the secret.

I've been tearing apart OpenAtrium with the dsm() function out of pure curiosity to see how it works. Spaces.module, Admin.module, and Context.module all work together to create a configuration form for inplace (inline) editing of block regions. Independent of OpenAtrium it's entirely possible to create a directory of listing pages with a javascript drag and drop widget. I understand that it's a lot of work and probably more than any one person would want to do. However, configuration of these modules with CCK and Views can be made with the Features.module that function like a module.

There are a lot of small businesses that would just want a nicely formatted page on the web rather than go through the expense of building an entire website

@Michelle,

Do you have a mailing list? Here is a write upWikiJob from a successful website and they discuss using Mailchimp to regularly send a newsletter. It's probably not that people aren't interested in your website. It's that with all the distractions on the internet out-of-site out-of-mind. A reminder occasionally (once a week) brings people back to the website. Perhaps you could just do a best of the best for that week plus events that locals might be interested in that otherwise would not known about.

They also discuss subscriptions. Look at how well it works for groups.drupal.org right now. Chances are that you are reading this directly in your email.

The subscriptions functionality has also been vital. Every time somebody posts on a thread on WikiJob, we automatically subscribe them, so when somebody else replies, they receive an email. We found that if for some reason emails didn't get sent out, traffic began to fall. That way we're certain it's a key component.

If you create a directory listing, you can use the ad space that you created to point to those listings. Buy a yearly subscription to have a listing and get a small ad that shows up on the top of each page in rotation with the other listing ads. It's a huge added value to a small business, to have some information up on the web and to have traffic driven to that listing via an ad somewhere else on the website. It also drives traffic to the directory.

It's not so much about having a directory as having an audience that can be driven to the directory.

I really like the idea of having a trade journal to constantly contributes useful and unique information to that specific industry with a business directory attached to it containing a listing of businesses in that specific industry and businesses that support that industry.

I've dabbled with this "Drupalese" off and on for the passed year. I previously used a piece of commercial software for the business directory. I started to do more work on it with the various modules until someone came along and wanted to buy my domain name. Didn't want the data, just the domain name. I had it sort of worked out, it just lacked a lot design components to it.

I think if we can find someone or some entity to fund a business directory project along the lines of openpublishapp.com that would be great. However, they (Open Publish) do have some very specific and high profile modules in their package.
Maybe the development of some kind of business oriented semantic metadata like Calais. Or massaging Calais to spit out the business data. Just thinking out loud. Have no idea if it's relevant. Just a thought of pre-populating a site. More over if you have the information on a particular business in the directory, they may want to "take it over" and become a member. I've seen this approach on several business directory sites.

Just some of my ramblings of having a business directory over the course of over 20 years. Yes, over 20 years. It was the first .com domain I had when they where free in 1987.

I do agree with Michelle that a community component would be an essential asset to the whole package. That's what my previous directory lacked.

The day of the directory site is not dead.

If you do searches for businesses by zip or city that would normally be best represented at a local level you will see that directory sites plug alot of search results on the first two google search pages. This should indicate to anyone they are still very much a viable tool for small business. Google still embraces their SEO embellishments.

IMO, the biggest failure for directory type sites is their management. Most people that have them are interested to sell subscribers little tickler type ads. They charge for those ads based... more or less on what they can get from the businesses.
These site owners are not particular and take Pay for Click ads and give them prominent placement on pages where the local business is being presented. It's like slapping the guy as he feeds you. LOL

The directory sites to be most effective should evolve into more community oriented sites, with user participation to help generate content that make the directory more viable for the local businesses that use them.

Google local business listings are very popular, but Google pokes all types of ads adjacent to the local business pages. The viewer actually gets a more prominent presentation of the ads from those PFC advertisers than the local business. I realize the local business listings/maps are free. Yet, I must clearly state--- Google has usurped and made local yellow pages of no consequence in most major market areas, especially where broadband IP services are available. People are computer literate and they like the
convenience of searching for local services on their computer. They get alot more information as well.

So, what I'm saying is this. A more comprehensive approach needs to be taken to building sites that have a powerful directory component. SEO is what it is, page rankings are constantly being reevaluated. Google places a great deal of emphasis on links to the site, and now reviews on local listings are important. Of course the scuttlebutt about reviews is to take your laptop and drive around town and use free WIFI services to create a bunch of favorable reviews. That is a consideration, especially if Google is tracking IP addresses, which I'm sure they are.

A directory module that really does a great job will probably not use the standard ISAM MYSQL, but something more efficient for managing large amounts of data reliably. It is very important to provide easy to use competent tools for users to get to the data they are interested to know about. A super search is not always the answer. A faceted search definitely is important, along with some of the mapping tools. Mapping tools are critical, especially for local business promotion.

Remember there are a zillion auction sites, but nobody... not even Amazon could push Ebay around. It's about understanding your market and providing the tools to access and best serve interested users.

Ideas and interest from people on groups like this might actually put something together that will make the proverbial "dog hunt".