Hi, I am new to directory marketing and would appreciate some advice. My real estate directory (here: Property Directory). The main page just got a PR5 and the sub pages are PR4. The site has about 2k pages indexed and recieves around 1000 uniques of targetted traffic daily. I have priced a directory entry at £49 per year. Is this too high or too little. I want to get the price right before I start marketing it. (The directory also offers a unique page on the site). Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks Bob
I'll be honest with you. From my perspective, submitting to your directory is worth $0. The link to sites in the directory are not SE friendly. Your script is using a redirect, not a clean direct link to the listed site. If your not going to pass link juice to my site then there is no reason for me to be in there. And, even if your directory was SE friendly £49/ year is still way too much. $20 to $30 USD would be more reasonable. Change it to a search friendly directory that uses clean links and you will have lots of sites wanting to list there. Lots!
Hi Axemedia, Thanks for the advice. As I said I'm new to dirs and I appreciate your views. When you say my links are not SEF which ones do you mean? I thought they were good like; http://www.totallyproperty.com/property/property-developers/argentina/ http://www.totallyproperty.com/property/property-developers/argentina/argentina-homes/details/ Or do you think they look too spammy? You are totally right about the link juice and to be honest I didn't even realise they weren't direct links passing juice. I'll have to look into the software to see if I can change this. If I sort these things out - do you think I can make a good level of revenue selling entries for $20? Thanks again for the advice.
He said it has 1000 uniques a day targeted traffic, ie not webmasters but people interested in property. If it sends traffic who cares if it sends link juice, one potential sale could be worth 10,000's to the advertiser. I think your pricing is fine for the niche, but i would target property companies direct, email them or phone them and sell your directory. Small businesses can be persuaded pretty easily into parting with money
The traffic really is only a bonus. The vast majority of real estate sites are targeting a very specific region, and surfers looking for properties are searching for those sites using searches like city real estate for sale. They are not going to a site like MoveForwards for that. Though it does cater more to the "overseas property" niche where searchers are typing country real estate and the site does get some of that kind of traffic, I think. At £49 he may get some sites list in there, but I bet at $20, and SE friendly links, he would get 10 times more sites wanting to pay to be in there.
Thanks for the advice guys. Both points of view are valid. I think I may need to setup an additional tier in pricing aimed at webmasters wanting to buy links. This is so true. We have agents listing villas in Barbados for up to £500k. They can earn from 5-10% commision on that type of sale! Therefore I think actual property listings need to be priced quite a bit higher...
Really depends on the value the listing will give, if you have qualified traffic that converts you could ask a loot more. For SEO proposes only (normally regular listings) around $30/ year (£15 more or less) it’s a fair value. People also don’t like very much yearly listings so better to give the option of permanent for around $70 (£35). For taffic seekers you can sell featured links that could for example show sitewide (take a look at Ask and Red Pines) for the £49/year or even more if you deliver value. Cheer
I would first consider who you are targetting at. Real estate agents or companies got too much money, so I would charge $20 easily. I would also think that they have no idea about SEO, so direct or indirect won't matter unless you advertise your directory as SE friendly. One of my directories is targetting such rich folks, so I don't claim my directory to be SE friendly to catch their attentions. It's pointless.
I find what you say about real estate agents somewhat interesting. The average real estate agent makes about 20k/year. It's the ones that really make it big everyone sees in action. On the same front, 90% of the business is done by 10% of the agents. Trust me on this, I have been in real estate for over 10 years... Unless you feel 20k/year is good money, most agents are in the poor house. Most agents don't' even sell 6 homes a year.. I know our industry has that glamor appeal and those real estate shows on TV sure don't help any either. They make it look like such easy work, and you just sit back and collect the cash. Not even close to reality..
I guess I was not too aware of that detail on real estate agents. I was saying more general real estate industry including real estate firms or agencies. The industry got too saturated, I guess. But generally speaking, I am sure they are above average. So, niche directory for lawers, doctors and real estate firms are always good... generally speaking
The industry is way to saturated, that is the truth. It's hard to believe, but there is more agents in California then there is homes for sale!
I like it as it has many regions and a very nice feel and look. As long as you fair and take care off your clients you can ask a fair to decent price and/or if you are a good negociator then you can be a little more agrresive with your pricing if ya know what i mean Use the force... luke thx malcolm