A Cairns-first directory, built to be useful first.
A fully custom local business directory for Cairns and Far North Queensland, with tiered listings, a self-serve ad marketplace and a no-fake-reviews editorial policy built in.
An independent directory for Far North Queensland
Cairns Directory is an independent platform for finding reliable tradies and businesses across Cairns and FNQ. The hard part with any directory is trust and emptiness, since most fill up with fake reviews and hollow SEO pages that help no one. The brief was a directory that stays genuinely useful, with real categories, real suburbs and a defensible editorial stance. The site answers it with a working platform: browse by dozens of trade categories and FNQ locations, a submit-a-business flow, tiered featured listings, and a stated rule of no fake reviews and no empty pages.
What we built
- ✓A working platform, not a brochure. Registration and log in, a submit-a-business form, browsing by category and location, and a business enquiry system make this a functional web application rather than a static site. Live counts on each category card, like 186 mechanics and 151 builders, show real data behind every page.
- ✓Tiered listings with a verified badge. Businesses start on a free listing and can upgrade to a Featured listing at $99 a year, which adds priority placement, a verified badge, customer enquiries and richer profile content. That gives the directory a clear, honest revenue model without hiding basic listings behind a paywall.
- ✓A self-serve advertising marketplace. Five distinct sponsored placements, from a 1200x240 homepage hero banner at $79 a month down to sidebar and listings banners at $49 a month, each with fixed dimensions and flat monthly or 3-month pricing, booked through a Book this spot flow with secure payment, plus an optional $50 banner design service ready in 48 hours.
- ✓Local, seasonal and trust-first by design. A "Founded in Cairns, built for FNQ" framing, a wet-season maintenance shortlist that speaks to the local climate, practical local guides, and an explicit editorial rule of no fake reviews, no fake rankings and no empty suburb or category pages.
