Hello there like my title says I want to create directory websites in my local area and then get businesses to pay to advertise on them. It's a simple plan but it's the SEO part that worries me.

I've seen a lot of guys talking about directory press as the script to use, which is fine. I am not an seo expert at all and I've started reading a lot about seo'ing your website but I am struggling to picture a plan that could help my directory website get ranked that won't consist of anything else than businesses - no articles.

Can anyone recommend any good ebook/website/services which I can use and could help me master seo'ing my directory websites.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

Anyone? I don't need any spoon feeding just direct me to a good resource!

Put tons of optimized content on the directory.... you say no articles? Any content can constitute an article. Write a few pages about what your directory is, how it helps people in that area, how businesses benefit in that area, which businesses you will be reviewing. Then of course the business reviews themselves (make these 250 -350 words). Drop the usual H1-H5 optimized tags, get all your meta info on point. Then go out and start your backlinking to ALL your urls. Set up OnlyWire, Ping FM, etc to at least throw some bookmarks and WEB 2.0 style links at every single url on your directory. Keep your anchor base nice and wide. Add more and more businesses/reviews to your directory, and as long as your geo target isn't say London/New York/Paris, your site should start ranking for some keywords within a few weeks. Then nail down your money keywords with articles/content. SEO is the synergy of onPage and offPage factors. You're not going to get very far unless those two come together. For that you need articles/content!

Wow thanks for the solid advice - I did not think of writing content in that way at all...

This helps a lot - I really appreciate it.