Thats really up to you. Anything can be a potential waste of time, equally anything can be successful with the right approach. You need to ask yourself if you wanna do it, not other people.
Thanks Pipes But with the number of directories which have been penalised by Google, one needs to be very very careful not to be penalised.
I agree, your absolutely correct, if you go about it the right way you should be fine, if you're already aware of any mistakes that others made and how some were penalised its much better for you already. You have the benefit of obviously knowing what happend and have a better chance of avoiding that if you do start one.
it depends....you don't just build it you must maintain it also...so if you can do both then go for it...
I think there are so many out that you better think of a better way to make money. Check this link out and see how many there are already out there for free. http://www.quangvo.com/51-free-directories-with-good-google-page-rank/
I like to run directory cause I want to be help other to make their PR It's very hard to say that whether it's benefit or not for a webmaster with web directories. But directories are the way to pull other webmasters to own website and if you're also dealing other services like directory submission, article posting, seo etc. than it could be helpful for your business. Paid and Bid directories are losing their popularity since there've thousands and thousands free web directories which PR also have more than 2+. So why people gonna use paid when we're getting it free of charge. If you wanna start a bidding directory and don't have PR5+, it may ruin your valuable time.
Recently saw a post on Elance of a guy that is 150,000 submissions behind on his directory submission reviews. He was looking for someone to add a service where submitters can pay for priority review. Nice idea... there is definitely money to be made out there still.
I think directory is best for building link rather than using link farm. Google doesn't allow to use any black tics for increasing links popularity and PR. Link farm are for only purpose of increasing PR which Google doesn't recommend. Link farm could be banned by Google if they want but directory....NEVER. There're should be a reason for banning a website and also Google only bans if a website goes or break Google webmaster TOS. Most of people said that Google will ban directory....but it's not true. But link farm sites are totally against of Google TOS and so big G! may ban their site. I was using LinkMarket.com but I stopped using it since this website may get ban by Google or all the websites that can be found at their link exchange directory. If your site found on these kinds of website, Google may consider that you're using link exchange service to increase to PR and which is sufficient get ban. So I just like to use directory instead of link farm.
Yes, if you can manage it right then of course it is worth it. If you really want to then do it and find out if it's worth it yourself.
He will probably sell on the email addresses harvester of sorrow, lol Thats why i get acai ads in my inbox everyday.
If you expect to buy a directory script, install it and be up and running and making money then don't bother wasting your time/money. If you are prepared to put the time/money in to build something unique with custom categories, custom design, if you're prepared to put the work in to get it started by finding and adding quality sites by hand, if you are prepared to put the effort in to find dead sites and remove them from your index then yes you can make a directory work. You don't have to think of a directory in the traditional sense of categories with listings, you can go beyond that you can build directories where each listing is a single page brochure e.g. http://absolutely-australia.com.au/...61300641,attitude-e-media-design-studios.html you can build content into the categories e.g. http://absolutely-australia.com.au/directory/northern-territory/ Maybe you can include the physical address of businesses, a Google map, the sites RSS feed, think outside the box, what would make your directory unique, make me want to visit your directory, there's many passing PR and with quality listings, so use your imagination. Personally I don't care about PR I simply want visitors to my site which are interested in my products, I don't care if I have PR0 or PR10, so get a good flow of human visitors to your directory and it has value. If you do decide to start a directory then decide on which sites you'll accept and which your reject, your submission guidelines, and stick to your guns no matter how annoyed the SEO/link builder or site owner gets, you want quality sites that have value to your visitors not junk.
I recently launched a niche directory for forums. I did for unconventional reasons however. I eventually want a central place to find forums. and I created it in an unconventional way as well....allowing forums to promote their site using a 100x45 logo. its a different approach, but will still take years to develop I'm guessing. if you own a forum, submit here.. http://allmyforums.com ---
Gaming PR is a mugs game, posting things like that could get you into trouble. 11 days ago I had 4 submissions to a category with pr3, I approved 3 and rejected 1. Yesterday I noticed that category is now unranked. I had a good chuckle
And clearly shows that even if you're not gaming it, all you got to do is reject a site to lose pr. So cant win either way.
i don't thinks that it's a bed idea to start a free web directory if you should gain good traffic then you can deal with grate business also. just look at the recent example of v7n,vmoptions.com they are actually first start their own directory and just look at the growth of both. also give example of btw and aviva directory.
I have one well. i am tryng to... actually but the only benefit is backlinks. But i gess it takes time to do a good directory.....