Define...Hard and Work

I've read many threads on directories and the general concensus seems to be that directories are 'hard to maintain' and are 'a lot of work'. I am no opponent to hard work - I love working on my sites. But...

I would like to get a better understanding of what running a directory site means in terms of setup/maintenance/time required. What exactly does 'hard to maintain' and 'a lot of work' mean ?

Thanks for any input...
Matt

 

Eventually, you reach a point where you are getting many submissions every day. It is a continuing effort to check everyday for the best submissions, and delete all of the spam. I think most would agree this is the hardest part.

 

I agree with you Dave , currently my directory is free for submission and I receive tons of bulk submission from the SEO company .Some of the web site are even one page only but with 3 adsense around the web site ~

Maybe I need to think about to charge for 1USD to prevent those submission ~

 

By far the biggest work is reviewing all the submissions. It takes some time to review once you start getting LOTS of submissions every day. Also, you should add some sites on your own, wearching out the best quality sites for certain categories (the ones that few sites get submitted to). Plus, you have to go through your submission queue and decide what is worth listing and what is crap.

After a bit of time reviewing, you start to immediately recognize what is spam and what is a legitimate quality-content website. While there are spammy sites dealing with all sorts of topics, there are certain topics that seem to attract the greatest number of affiliate spammers:

(1) Health, Nutrition, Fitness - Expect to be bombarded with all those folks selling penis pills, sleep aids, herbal remedies, nutritional supplements, etc...
(2) Shopping - So many sites are simply affiliates (Amazon is a main one). Pay particular attention to some of the sites submitted selling jewelry, computers, office products, and electronics. Alot of affiliates.
(3) Real Estate, Travel - Again, alot of affiliate sites. Does the site give you the name of the realtor/travel agent? Contact info? Or does it simply provide some search forms to fill out?

Also be aware of the Made for Ads spam (Adsense, YPN, Chitika, etc). These are sites that provide a little content (often, not even original content) in the hopes that you will click an ad. Of course, as stated above anyone can create a spam site on any topic. While it's not likely that a site submitted to a category like, Arts & Crafts, US History, or Botany will be spam, check it out carefully. Occasionally, a spammer will throw you a curve ball.

Made for Ad sites are easy to spot. When you open the page and see 3 Adsense ads at the top of the page, that's a good indicator that the site is all about ads. Check the content, is it a bunch of free articles that the webmaster got from Article Emporium or a similar site? Are certain keywords stuffed into the page? Check the navigation menu on the right or left column. Is a certain keyword or phrase repeated in every option? Are there alot of bolded keywords in the body of the articles? If the site's content discusses certain products, does the site actually sell these products? (usually no, but they hope you think they sell them and will click on some of the ads for the product)

Here are some screenshots to help you understand what me and all other directory owners go through:

(1) www.portprophecy.com/pics/pending01.jpg
(2) www.portprophecy.com/pics/pending02.jpg
(3) www.portprophecy.com/pics/pending03.jpg

The first screenshot shows you someone who defies all the rules I've set. I specifically ask for no internal pages, no multiple submissions, include official names in title, etc... Took about 2 secs for me to click ban and the dozen or so pages he submitted went bye bye, hopefully forever.

The second group is the strangest of the lot. First is your standard online casino affiliate BS. The second is a web host who gives the URL of my site as his site's title! Then follows an asian furniture site submitting to SEO category and someone selling watches submitting to Science? DELETE DELETE DELETE DELETE...

The third is similar to the first. Someone spamming with about 5 or 6 of his p*nis pill sites. Banned and gone.

Keep in mind these are not something I had to search long and hard through my queue to find. This is a vast majority of what gets submitted. So be prepared to do some digging to find sites that may actually be of some use to someone.

 

Thanks for taking the time to write up the great info - it is appreciated and informative. I was thinking of going niche, but none the less, I'm sure I'll be having to clean up just as many enlargement miracles...Now I just need to come up with a bot to weed those out automatically...

 

ive never really understood why people make these, what can you get out of these directories, i know that people who submit their site get a link, but what exactly is in it for the webmaster?

 

Well, there have been alot of threads in this forum about this very question. A quick overview of some of the reasons people start directories are:
(1) Enjoying it as a hobby. Some people collect stamps, others websites!
(2) Make a little cash (May not get rich, but they can make some $)
(3) With niche directories, learning more about a topic that interests you.
(4) Setting up a directory as a links page for link exchanges.

Anyways, check out the discussions currently going on about the benefits of having a directory. There's some just a few threads below this one.

 

ok great, so it sounds like its more of a project for 'fun' rather than a project to earn money.

Ill check out the other threads, thanks mate

 

I agree! When I set-up my automated directory, I thought that I had done everything to prevent SPAM submissions (recip link from the same site, email verification etc.) BUT I still get a few SPAM submissions each day and deleting/banning these sites is the main work that I now have to put it.

 

I do not mind the hardwork, since it is nothing compared to the jobs I had during school. However I find it interesting to see how many new submissions I have per day.

 

Same as you..................

=.=

However, I cann't charge for normal submission as my site name states "submitfree"



haha


Currently, I will use SQL to find out any duplicate links a week and delete them manually. I will try to write a php script for this function..........however, the completion date is unknow(too busy)........

 

directories are hard work.. ive had a few but the workloadrofit ratio just never seemed to cut it.

 

IMO, directories do require a lot of hard and work too Spreading the word out there in the Internet will do wonders for sure.

 

Good job bumping up a topic that is nearly 4 years old.