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A WordPress directory plugin or a WordPress directory theme can help you either integrate a simple link directory for WordPress or create a stand alone niche business directory website, respectively. Whether you’d like to establish a professional directory service using a premium WordPress directory theme, or you just want to add a free directory plugin for WordPress to merely feature your favorite links, there are several WP plugins and themes that can help. The free directory plugins for WordPress offer many features but many are plagued with infrequently updates and a lack of support. In contrast, both commercial WP directory themes and premium WordPress directory plugins are usually well supported and they offer frequent updates. Below we’ve compiled a review list of some of the best WordPress directory plugins and the top WordPress directory themes that are now available for free or paid use. If you’re in need of other great tools for your WP website, see our comprehensive list of premium WordPress plugins.
WordPress Directory Themes
DirectoryPress – A premium WordPress directory theme that turns your plain WP blog into a professional directory website. Once installed you can immediately begin creating website listings yourself or you can allow visitors to submit their own listings. In addition to running ads, you can monetize your directory site by charge users a fee when they submit their website listing. DirectoryPress is a complete turnkey solution chocked full of easy-to-use features that enable you to quickly launch your own niche directory website. A few highlighted features include multiple payment gateways (PayPal, 2Checkout, Google Checkout, Authorize.net, etc.), Google Maps, Google AdSense, Google Analytics, CSV importing, expiration dates for listings, over 20 different directory templates, the ability to sell memberships packages to customers, support for multiple languages, a star ratings system, and much more.
LinkPress Nova – Inspired by AllTop, the theme designers at Zidalgo have really outdone themselves with the creation of this premium WordPress directory theme. It essentially adds a modern spin on the old link directories of the past and incorporates a bunch of slick design elements. Features include a ratings system for posts and directory listings, an image gallery, threaded comments, and automatically generated thumbnail images.
City Guide – Created by WooThemes, this premium WordPress directory theme is more of an off-site directory for targeting location based businesses. The City Guide local directory theme for WordPress offers an elegant design and some really cool features like the ability to geo-tag posts with locations. Other notable features include custom fields to add extra information about a location, built-in SEO options, Google Maps, multiple theme styles, and custom widgets.
WordPress Directory Plugins
WPDirectoryPro – This is a traditional version of an online business directory website plugin with the ability to double as a link directory or classified ads website. The WPDirectoryPro premium WordPress directory plugin offers a classic look combined with thoughtful features like visitor feedback and the ability to rate each listing. Each directory listing also has it’s own dedicated details page that provides additional information like category of the listing, keywords, date of creation, Google PageRank, and the owner’s contact info. With support for multiple payment gateways, the WPDirectoryPro plugin offers another opportunity for you to monetize your WordPress blog.
Business Directory – A free directory plugin that lets you add a business link registry to any page in your current WP blog. This might be a great way for you to offer free listings to your readers or members if you run a WordPress membership site. Each listing includes a short summary and a website title and link. Users simply fill out the submission form to be included in the business directory, select a category, and add related keywords. Submitted listings are held for moderation by the administrator where they can be edited or deleted. Once a listing is approved, it’s added to the AJAX enabled directory list. As listings accumulate they are paged and can easily be searched by any visitor.
Article Directory – This free WordPress plugin lets you transform your WP blog into an article directory where visitors can join to become authors and submit articles to your site. The plugin works in combination with the free Articles Directory theme and the Role Manager plugin. Features include the ability to create article categories and subcategories, author profile pages with listed articles, stats that report the total number of published articles and authors listed on your site.
WP Directory List – Another free WordPress directory plugin that lets visitors submit sites to a featured portfolio of links. Submitted listings display a screenshot thumbnail of each website, a link to the site, and a short description. Features include click stats for each link, link categories, widgets, and captcha to prevent automated link submissions.
Open Links Directory – A free WordPress directory plugin that you can use to transform your WP blog into a free online link directory. Visitors can add their websites using the submission form, assign categories and subcategories, add a description, and give their link a title. The plugin offers the ability to search the directory, send listings to friends, add listings to your browser’s bookmarks, and display the PageRank for each directory listing.
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