Business Directory Theme Vs Directory Theme – Difference? & other Qs

Hi, I am looking to build a single profession site with members from around the world.

It is to be a professional register to confirm that they are accredited. Currently it is on Joomla & Community Builder and I’m moving it to wordpress,. (I’d like to export/import a CSV file of consultants and details if possible, when ready to go but that is a question for another time.) This is it currently here:

SleepTalk – the Inspiring 5 Minute Self Esteem Program for Children

As it is to be a register, it will have minimum requirements, Name, Address, Phones, Services provided, Website & Photo. I don’t want details long or summary as I’ve found it simply gets spammed or filled with other information, not pertinent to the site. I don’t want ratings or stars or testimonials etc.

The idea is to find a consultant near to the site visitor. Show the consultant is accredited. Make contact or visit the consultants site for more info about them.

One listing (location & contact info) will be included free with annual membership subscription. Additional work locations will incur an additional fee. Should they cancel their subscription they will be moved to another “lapsed” membership level where they will no longer be publicly visible and will have 365 days to pay the lapsed year and renew a subscription to return to the visible level.

I believe PremiumPress will do this, but I think it will require some php coding.

However, first things first. Is there a difference between Business Directory Theme V (Responsive) Directory Theme? If so which would suit my job best?

Would there be another theme more suitable?

I like the idea of allowing people to go straight to the country of choice, so I would use Countries as Categories (and in some cases states as sub categories) Showing Pushpins on a world map also has its appeal, therefore the Directory Theme with Google Maps child themes have appeal

My intention for membership is that upon graduation they will send me their information. I will initially create the membership and first listing The first payment will be $1. Then they will also sign up for an annual subscription via paypal it will be activated the subs will commence after 12 months. To leave the organization all they need do is cancel their sub via paypal. As mentioned they will have 365 to reactivate, which will include tany unpaid subs fee. If they go past the 365 days their account may be cancelled and they may need to do some re-training before being re-admitted.

I’d like to automate as much of this as possible, although I realize I might have to have some hands on. Are the premium press templates (directory / business directory / or another) able to do this sort of requirement?

I do see an issue with Listings.. I’d like the person’s name to be the listing title, however they can only use their name once without the url becoming fname-initials-lname-2. As there would be few listings, can the Listing ID be inserted into the url? If so each URL will be unique and by including initals each listing title will be unique with any additional number referring to that person 2nd listing, not a second person with the same name.
ie websitename .com/listingid/category/subcategory/listingtitle
eg listing 1: websitename .com/22/unitedstates/california/joe-j-blogs
eg listing 2: websitename .com/44/unitedstates/california/joe-j-blogs-2

FOR SEO purposes having more information in a url is useful, however I’m also not opposed to
websitename .com/?listingid=22

I am familiar with wordpress, a little with css but not php.

As I’d like to make a start without having to back pedal and restart, any guidance from people familiar with premiumpress would be appreciated.

Thanks, Dave

Apologies for the questions, I am slowly working my way through the videos, but I learn faster from reading eg pdfs.