You can make money from a directory. Add featured listing option, banner option, category special, sponsored links. Make a list of your target clients and start contacting them.
Well, it depends on the number of websites in your directory. If there are over 200,000 websites, I don't think anybody would want to advertise there, because he will understand that people only submit their websites there and are NOT interesting in anything else. Also, don't go under 10,000 because this would be the opposite thing, no people are visiting your website. Well, as a suggestion I can tell you to work more on your Alexa ranking, trying to "decrease" it as much as you can and then according to it to add banner sections.. I don't thing that adding a featured website is really a good idea, because the pages where people are getting the exact backlink is NOT PR4 (of course there might be an exception!!!) // To make a good profit from a directory via featured websites it should be at least PR6 or the subcategories should be AT LEAST PR5, because the next pages in each category would have a lower and a lower PR, which will NOT stimulate people buying a backlink from your directory. I hope you understood me well and I wish you good luck!
on one of my PR4 directory people started to suggest paid links when it was only 700 links overall. 10000 links is huge. He/she will need probably to approve thousands of free links.
Hello, I have think that PR4 is enough to earn money from them. Let me know what is your traffic position of your directory site? IF it is so good you may have to apply for adsense and contact to other business sites for ads. It will help you to generate much traffic.
I realize that it's been almost 3 weeks since you posted this response, but I would love to know what information you are basing your answer on. Directories with more than 200,000 listings don't get non-submitting traffic? Where did you find that statistic? If less than 10,000 then people aren't submitting? Could that also not just mean that the directory owner is actually reviewing the sites being submitted and not accepting everything?
I agree with you, the advice given by patco is dreadful. All assumptions and numbers pulled out of the air. Lowering Alexa? seriously? Not to mention they've advocated PR-selling which will end up with the directory being banned/penalised. The only real way to get popular is to work hard at reviewing/editing the content within the directory. That means lots of hours re-writing or editing descriptions and titles, and ensuring websites are in correct categories and that the websites are online and legitimate, and not spammy. Then if you're lucky enough you might get listed on hard-to-get-onto directory lists, whose traffic is through the roof, and whose reputation improves yours, just by you being listed. Of course, I'm sure 99.9% of people will have given up before then when the easy money didn't come, but that's the point. Getting popular doesn't happen over night, you have to earn it!
I think you may provide featured links for your directory, for PR4 and good alexa rank you may get about $10/link.
I think you should to provide free link and featured links for your web directory. It is a good way to advertise your directory.
PR doesn't often get popularity. you should do SEO again & Some social media marketing with your directory.
You should make it free with a premium option. Then start renting advertisement slots, offer benefits for people who submit reciprocal link to your directory. Don't forget google adsense.