Are general directories or niche directories best?

I wanted to start several directories and thought since there is such a proliferation of them on the net I would have just one general and the others to fall into a niche category? What do others think...


Thanks!

 

general directories are good, but niche directories might generate more traffic for the loyal user. e.g. they might book mark it or be a re occuring visitor.

general directries might be the random user coming from online browsing.
I say niche will do better but its just my opinion.

The good thing with niche is if you choose to add adsense or cpc/cpm ads you might achieve a stronger CTR because of the relavance to what they are looking for.

-Tim

 

The big problem with niche directories you have to spend around the same money building it and promoting it as you would for a general directory and receive 3 to 10 times less submissions, so you should charge 3 to 10 times more for the same revenue, so you get the picture, people are not wiling to pay this price tag.

 

I tend to agree with you start with 1 General Directory which you can concentrate on and provide good support to

If your budget will run to it, get a quality template designed, coded and implemented for your directory by one of several excellent phpld folks here on DP

I would delay starting any niche Directories until you have seen how your initial Directory has progressed in respect to submissions, traffic etc

 

what i have realized is niche directories are hard to get traffic tooo.. you would have low traffic unless you have big bucks to advertise... General you can have a low budget.. plus you'll get more featured links due to more categories..

 

Thank you everyone for your very thoughtful replies. I will as someone advised start with the general directory and invest $$ in terms of coding, skin, logo,+ pphdLD $25. I will need to expedite things pretty quick as the name I will use already has a page rank 4. anyone on DP you would recommend by chance?

Many thanks again. The niche categories will follow based on the success of the first directory.

 

I think it's an excellent plan. That way your general can grow naturally. On the bottom of your niche directories, have a link to the general one and see how well it will do just being pulled up.

 

No matter what directory you plan to build, you'll need to do a hard work to promote it.

 

..."If your budget will run to it, get a quality template designed, coded and implemented for your directory by one of several excellent phpld folks here on DP...."


This is my next step, and as I am just getting familiar with DP, where do I look for this here?


thanks!

 

aspidov is one of the top guys here on DP PM him he is always very helpful

http://forums.digitalpoint.com/member.php?u=10354

 

Balkanboy is also worth contacting. You can find some of his work here.

 

and when done with the designers, come see me for the MODs

 

You can also start a niche directory and lateron turn it into a general one. Just have a redirect to a folder called /niche/niche-topic/niche-subcategory for now.

 

Niche directories are especially good if you already have some "power" in your niche, such as other sites of the same subject matter. Then you can more easily sell featured links or banners.

 

I was focusing before on general directories, but now am changing to niche. Its simply more interesting for me with niches and you have some chance to rule the respectively niche market of your niche directory, such as Gaming Directories, Computer Directories. etc.

But its harder to get popular when you have general directories. Yes, its easier to promote and much cheaper, but no matter what you do, you won't be even able to challenge the rulers of the market (Yahoo for example).

I am thinking of doing niche directories which exist very few. For example my next idea is a directory dedicated to art.

But if you start a niche directory, make sure your design corresponds your directory's niche. An example you can see @ www.computerlinks.org

So I generally recommend starting a Niche directory.

 

Well I have started my general directory for some 3 months or so, just recently got a PR3. Didn't earn much from it but I didn't start it for the money.

 

I prefer “Niche” as it contains more specific details than general. It is targeted and brought exact traffic. You won't see this in case of general directories. And also search engine put more weight on this than “General”. Users on net prefer to search specific details. I know it need more efforts compare to run a general web directory. But niche can earn lot by running PPC ads there.

 

Normally niche ones have a lot of quality sites if the owner knows about the niche and takes pride in his area of expertise.

 

I will need to expedite things pretty quick as the name I will use already has a page rank 4.

Has anyone used recycled domain names into directories before and maintained a semblance of page rank? I have several that I could do this with and wondered what would happen to PR.

 

The PR will remain with a totally different site, even if you move it to another server. I have done this many times over the years.

If you have deeper pages which also have PR and are indexed in SE's, then you can mod rewrite them to the new site, and put the PR on there aswell.