My new directory is nearly ready to go live when finished it will have between 3000 and 4000 catagorys but i can`t decide do i go for free submissions at first or do i go straight to paid submissions only to get quality websites even if free i will be manually checking all submissions and any sites i deem not to be a quality website will be rejected
Our advice would be go for quality paid, it will be tough at the beginning but will pay off, in the medium to long term If you value the integrity of the Directory then paid is the best option
ok. i wouldnt go with this. it all depends on how "motivated" one is when it comes to having a free or paid. if u think u cant spend a min of 3-4 hrs a week on it, then u r better off with being paid. but if u can, then atleast for some time to get "noticed" be free and u can change to paid if u want to...
yeah free directories are a lot of work <sigh>.... hats off to those who run them. Charging even just $1 slows down the submissions more than you can imagine.
If you want to be overrun with spam go the free route -- if you want quality (well at least somewhat) submissions go the paid -- start out cheap and then raise it when you get some PR...
I totally disagree - if you value the integrity of your directory you will only approve quality sites and submissions, being free or paid has nothing to do with it!!! Whether your free or paid your likely to get spam either way, its how you combat the spam that counts!!! What is your directory URL?
what it has to do with it is the amount of time it takes to review the sites. 10,000 free sites takes longer and pays lower (huh, surprise surprise) than 100 paid submissions.
i agree with praveen. It's better to get your site noticed first by giving free submission in the first instance. You could make it running for such great event such as New Year special, Christmas Special etc. This will helps to kick your directory start.
Yes but with a directory that has few links, no PR, limited backlinks and limited promotional means, you're going to struggle to get any paid submissions - hence you directory is going to become very, very inactive (unless of course he takes the time to regularly populate the directory himself). Just because a submission is paid doesnt mean its a quality link - it just means that the owner has money! Sure it takes time to review sites but if he truely wants to make money from his directory then he needs to realise that he needs put in a lot of time and effort. Too many people view directories as an easy money option because everyone seems to be doing it. In reality loads of people are doing it - but if you take a look at somewhere like the Vilesilencer list... the number of directories (specifically new directories) being removed is steadly growing - the ones being removed are those that obviously started out thinking they could make money - but soon realised they couldnt. At the end of the day (as i seem to have gone a little off topic) he needs to offer free links initially - once he has established his directory, got a PR, been properly indexed... then when his directory is more well known and active... then he should consider looking at paid submissions.
Hello.... I have noticed a what seems to be now a trend of more Paid directories lately ...or atleast that what it seems like, as i look at the directory critics list isnt as full of frees as they were a few months ago. Is this a good thing? I would definatly say... yes as the quality of submissions would go up and maybe google would Give more consideration to the over all Directory industrys worth. Now if i had to do it all over with id let in a few, maybe a few hundred then go paid while im building quality back links to my directory. It would be paid and the prices low at first then raise my prices accordingly. thx malcolm
url will be posted when the directory is finished and ready to go overwise i will get loads of submissions an unfinished directory i will probably go with free at first while i build backlinks to it but i will be manually checking every site and if its just full of ads or badly designed they will be rejected
Also write some quality submission guidelines. I run a small general directory (that is now paid since getting a PR) - but if i see a description crammed with keywords, not full sentances, without a full stop a the end of the description i immediately reject the link. I also reject links where the title words don't start with capitals or where too many words have been used. Initially i decide on face value within 2-3 seconds whether im going to take a bit more of a look at the submitted url of if its just going to be rejected. People might view that as hash but if people submit to my directory and don't take the time to read and comply to my directory guidelines, why should i waste my time accepting their link? This way i really do maintain a quality growing directory!!!
FREE first, get your site some recognition, then go paid to reduce your risks. If you have little money to shed. If not, paid is the way to go
If you have a quality website, it is only but right to submit to quality web directories. Submitting to free web directories may give you a free listing but if that site has only two or three visitors in a day , and if your site is linked from free directories with pages full of spam-site links, search engines may penalize your ranking or fully ban your site from their index in the worst case. Submitting your site to web directories is worth the money.
HOHO. i have a free directory and i go with free at first.but now i have a lot of work to do on that.
Nope thats not true - search engines know that site owners have no control over the incoming links pointing to your site hence search engines will only penalize your ranking or ban you based on your own site information/content that obviously only you have control over. If what you say was true this would mean website owners could quite easily sabotage their competitors websites - this is obviously not the case.
I think it all depends upon you and your minset some may go in for free as inorder to help those webmasters who does not have enough money to buy links from those high quality directories but in overall a paid directory will help you increase your earnings but free directories will not help as revenue from them is zero precentage
Hmm but you can always offer free regular links and paid featured links. That way people who do have money to splash out can buy a more prominent link - whilst others can only get a regular free listing.