Just curious, Since featured listings are at the very top and highest traffic; would you reject a listing because you didn't want it in your "top 5"; or would you allow it as a regular listing which isn't the first thing browsers see? It could be a good site but what is your aim, providing the visitor with top sites or whoever is willing to pay featured a better spot? Or maybe a combo of both? I"ve been thinking about this for a bit. Some will say if it's not good enough to be featured it's not good enough to be in the directory which is a fair argument but let's assume your slightly more lenient; some sites have great content but the creator isn't that big on "design". Or another example is it's in a category but a severely small niche of that category which maybe only 10-15% of browsers going to the category would be looking for. As directories become more and more prominent on the internet and used by the internet at large and not just the seo community I think this is just one of the new issues which will appear. What are your thoughts? Rob
being in top 5 is irrelevant. if the site was a good enough resource to be accepted, then wherever it may be is where is should be based on their preference of choice in link type selected.
We strongly believe that a directory should maintain its standards and not be overly greedy. It should reject a site if it feels it does not meet the criteria. There are many ways a website can make money, not just having other websites submitting to the directory although this is a major. We want our visitors to return time and time again so they may find useful resources when searching. For this we are prepared to spend time building a quality directory for both the public and the webmaster. Rejection - done it many times already because many webmasters do not care how they submit their site and what info they provide as long as they get a link.
well, it never happned to me yet. who knwos may be in future. i usually donr reject feature link caz i get all top quality site for feature submission.
Interesting disussion there Rob "Top 5" nope .. not my intention. Thats is totally irrelevant thing to do. If the site can be accepted as regular in a particular category, it can be featured there as well. I would say, its a combination of both (or may be three things ). It depends on the site submitted as well as the category its submitted to and yes if it was paid properly. Sometime, I have to make tough choice while moving the featured links. But I do it with users point of view, with thoughts "where would I like to see that site if I be searching for it" And yes, I do reject sites even if they are submitted as Featured. I don't think it will create such an issue as long as you don't change your ways of editing listing. I mean, need to stick to one way of doing thing. Its like, don't accept regular listing in top categories right from start. (If you intend to do that way) Else it could cause some issues.
i think u've raised a good valid question, where there is no right or wrong answer. How you want to manage your directory is solely up to the intents and objectives of the owner. If you think that you want to provide users with the best pages as Featured for that categories, you have every right to do that. But you should state it CLEARLY in the submission guidelines so there is no misunderstanding. But it is a good thought..... worth reviewing
The Directory owner has all rights to move the listings and the listing client should accept this rule. Even if its a featured listing it should be placed in the most relevant category
Same views here. If it meets editorial standard of my directory- it does not matter if it is featured or regular. He/she would pay almost double the fee so that his/her site gets maximum exposure to traffic-- and not the juice only.
I don't see any reason why it should not be allowed as featured while it is ok to be listed as regular.
I wrote this because I'm seeing people browse my directory alot more than previously. I want my best foot forward. If I accept sites that are 7.5/10+ according to my criteria but want the first ones they see to be 9+. That's why I wrote it. I guess we'll all do what we see fit . Thanks for commenting everyone, Rob
** Sorry if off topic ** i saw a config in phpLD where we can linit the number of featured links in each category! Wonder if anyone uses that, if yes what extra use does it get! M.
I clearly state in my TOS that any site wishing premium placement must first be accepted as a regular listing. At that point the only reason I would refuse premium placement is if there is not enough space.
You could publish/sort regular listings with an editorial rating. There are several directories that do that (JoeAnt, Skaffe, GoGuides, WebSavvy, etc.).
In a previous post you mention the "top 5" - why not created a section for your Editor's Picks instead of only accepting what you believe to be the cream of the crop as Featured Listings. I think most submit and select Featured Listings for the added exposure and possible traffic. Then again, you could just rename the Featured Listings to Editor's Choice or something and provide a guideline for being listed as such.