How can i populate a Directory site?

I want to build a local business directory site....let's say for Gardening centres & will be using a WordPress directory script.
I'm interested to know whether there's any way i can get all the business information to automatically populate the website or whether i have to enter each business details by hand.
I mean, for a small town where i live it's not an insurmountable problem but surely if dealing with a major metropolis then smoke will start coming off the keyboard.
Yes, i'm a lazy bugger & i'm just looking for an easy way to get the information automatically listed into a directory website i'm building.
Thanks in advance for any help.

I started doing this before but started on another project instead.

The best way to do it is to find a website that already has the data you need and then make a basic scraper using imacros (you can get it in the downloads section)

put all the data in an excel spreadsheet and upload using a csv to wordpress

squelsh said:

The best way to do it is to find a website that already has the data you need and then make a basic scraper using imacros (you can get it in the downloads section)

put all the data in an excel spreadsheet and upload using a csv to wordpress

Click to expand...

Probably more efficient and faster to use php and curl to scrape and then input directly directly to sql db.

Hello,

Making a directory while the business model is totally unusual. It would comprise alot of free-bies, that i would contain myself - with embattled companies that require the demonstration since everyone else has it!

You could organize the data and then hire an outsourcer at Rent a Coder to input it for you.