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Company directory development

For B2B directory publishers, trade bodies and sector associations who hold a database of companies and need the sector taxonomy, profile schema, domain verification, supplier search, membership access and list export designed around how their members and researchers actually use it.

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The problem

What goes wrong today

Where it usually starts

A trade body or B2B publisher usually holds its company database in a membership system that was never meant to be searched by outsiders, plus a public "find a supplier" page that is a static list regenerated once a quarter.

  • A procurement researcher looking for packaging manufacturers in a particular size band with a particular accreditation gets a page of names and has to visit each website.
  • Sector codes were assigned years ago by whoever entered the record, so a company that has moved into a new line still sits under its old code.
  • Key contacts are out of date because the only way to change them is to email the membership secretary.

Where it gets harder

Verification is a judgement call: a representative emails from a personal address, says they work there, and the record is edited.

  • Members who pay for research access ask for a list of companies matching a search and someone builds it in a spreadsheet by hand, so the same request takes an afternoon every time.
  • Sponsored sector pages are sold, but the sponsor's position is set by editing a template and the sponsorship ends when somebody remembers.
  • The publisher cannot say how many profiles are verified, how many have a current contact, or which sectors researchers actually search.

Scope of the service

What the build covers

A custom company directory build normally covers:

  • A sector taxonomy With codes at two or three levels that a company can hold several of
  • A company profile schema carrying legal name Trading names, size band, year established, locations, accreditations as supplied by the company with the date supplied, key contacts by role, and product and service lines as structured records rather than free text
  • Representative registration With verification by a code sent to an address at the company's own domain, recorded with the date so the record states exactly what was checked
  • A supplier search built for researchers With fields for tender-relevant criteria such as size, sector code, region and accreditation
  • Membership tiers that decide who can search Who can see contacts and who can export, with exports logged per member
  • An update workflow That asks verified representatives to confirm or refresh their profile on a schedule and flags profiles nobody has confirmed
  • Sponsored sector pages with a labelled sponsor block A start and end date and the sponsorship rules published for readers

How discovery works

Discovery follows one company from registration to appearing in a member export with you: where the current records live and how sector codes were assigned, what a profile must carry for your researchers, who may represent a company and what the domain check covers, which membership tiers exist and what each may search and export, how often profiles should be reconfirmed, and how sponsorship is sold and labelled. Each answer becomes a named stage in the scope document: migrate, code, register, verify, enrich, search, export, sponsor, reconfirm.

Deliberately out of scope

  • Tendering itself, contracts or payments between members and suppliers, and the association's own membership billing where that already runs elsewhere. We also make no promise about search-engine placement of the public profile pages
  • They are built crawlable with structured company data and that is where our claim ends

When the scope grows

Scoping scenario

A trade association with four thousand member companies, a legacy sector code list that needs mapping onto a new taxonomy, three membership tiers with different export allowances, and sponsored pages for twelve sectors. That is a different build from a publisher listing companies from a bought dataset with no members at all, and the scope document says which is being built.

Deliverables

What you receive

  • Discovery notes from following one company from registration to member export
  • A written scope document naming each stage from migration to reconfirmation, with what is out of scope
  • Design of the company profile, the supplier search, the representative dashboard, the member export flow and the sponsorship admin, on desktop for researchers and mobile for representatives
  • The build, deployed to your hosting or ours
  • Migration of your company records and a mapping of legacy sector codes onto the new taxonomy, with a report of unmapped codes
  • Training for the membership team and editors, with a short written guide for verification and sponsorship
  • Handover material and full ownership of the source code and your data

Process

How a project runs

Each stage maps onto the project view in your client panel. Durations are set in your proposal, never on this page.

  1. Onboarding

    Access, contacts, an export of your company records, the current sector code list, membership tiers and any sponsorship agreements in force.

    Project stage: Onboarding

  2. Planning

    Discovery with the publisher, the membership secretary and a researcher who uses the data; the scope document, the taxonomy and the milestone plan are agreed.

    Project stage: Planning

  3. Design

    Clickable designs of the profile, supplier search, representative dashboard and export flow, reviewed with two member companies.

    Project stage: Design

  4. Development

    Built in stages: taxonomy and migration first, then registration and domain verification, then search and membership access, then exports, sponsorship and reconfirmation.

    Project stage: Development

  5. Client review

    Your team verifies test representatives, runs real researcher searches against the migrated data and performs exports at each tier.

    Project stage: Client review

  6. Revisions

    Profile fields, code mappings, tier permissions and sponsor labelling are adjusted from the review and re-checked against the scope.

    Project stage: Revisions

  7. Ready for launch

    Final migration run, redirects from old profile URLs, verification emails tested to domains you control, checklist signed off.

    Project stage: Ready for launch

  8. Delivered

    The directory runs on the new platform; optional maintenance and hosting continue under their own agreement.

    Project stage: Delivered

Integrations

Commonly integrated

Systems this kind of business usually asks us to connect. Each integration is confirmed during discovery; none is assumed.

  • Membership and CRM systems holding the association member list
  • Company register look-ups for legal name and registration data, recorded as returned
  • Email providers for domain verification codes and reconfirmation requests
  • Card payment and direct debit providers for membership tiers and sponsorship
  • Accounting software for sponsorship and membership invoices
  • Single sign-on providers used by member organisations
  • Spreadsheet and CSV export formats consumed by procurement teams

How we would approach it

Worked example

Concept demo

A trade association moving off a legacy code list

The situation

A trade association held four thousand member companies under a sector code list written two decades earlier, with many companies now trading in lines the codes did not describe.

Why it is a custom build

This needs a custom build because the migration mapping and the reconfirmation workflow are particular to the association, and because the export permissions must be enforced at the data layer rather than by trusting a page.

The scope we would propose

  • A new three-level taxonomy with a mapping table from legacy codes, so migrated companies land under a provisional code and are asked to confirm or change it when their representative verifies
  • Verification by a code emailed to the company domain, with a documented exception path for companies trading from a shared webmail domain
  • A researcher search with size band, region, accreditation and sector filters and a saved-search facility
  • Three membership tiers where the top tier may export contact details and every export is logged against the member
  • Twelve sponsored sector pages with a labelled sponsor block whose dates are enforced by the page

Concept demo: a scoping scenario written to show how we would approach the work. It is not a delivered client project.

Pricing

What affects the price

Every proposal is priced on scope. These are the factors that move it most for this kind of build.

  • Depth of the sector taxonomy and the effort to map legacy codes
  • Profile schema breadth: contacts, service lines, accreditations, locations
  • Verification rules and the exception path for shared email domains
  • Membership tiers and what each may search, view and export
  • Volume and condition of company records to migrate
  • Sponsored sector pages and the payment provider involved
  • Reconfirmation schedule and the stale-profile reporting required
  • Single sign-on or CRM connections for member organisations
  • Hosting choice: your own hosting or ours

Start from a package

Company directory package

Company profiles with sector codes, size bands, service lines and contacts, representative verification by domain email, researcher search with tender-relevant filters, tiered member access with logged exports, reconfirmation requests and labelled sponsored sector pages.

Custom build
View the package

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Would the package do, or do we need a custom build?

A publisher or association with a straightforward taxonomy, domain verification, one or two membership tiers and sponsored pages is usually covered by the company directory package through configuration. A custom build is the honest answer when a legacy code list must be mapped, when exports must obey bespoke contractual limits, or when the directory must sit inside an existing membership system. Discovery is where we tell you which.

What does "verified" mean on a profile?

That a representative received a code at an email address on the company domain and entered it, on a recorded date. The platform shows exactly that. It does not confirm trading status, accreditations or anything the company supplied; those are shown as supplied, with the date supplied, and the wording on the profile says so.

How is this different from a business directory?

A company directory is built for researchers and buyers rather than consumers: profiles carry size bands, sector codes, service lines and key contacts rather than opening hours and offers, access is often by membership, and lists can be exported under logged permissions. The public-facing local directory with claims and featured placement is a separate topic and package.

Can members export lists?

If their tier allows it. Export permissions are set per tier, each export is logged with the member, the filters used and the row count, and allowances per period can be enforced. Contact details can be excluded from exports for lower tiers.

Who owns the directory afterwards?

You do. Source code and your data, including company records, verification history, membership permissions and export logs, are handed over at delivery; hosting and maintenance are optional and separately agreed.

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