Out of politeness i think its good manners not to make an accusation against someone who hasn't been around to argue back, if the person isn't here to discuss with you publically or privately its probably better left. A search engine is able to keep its own house in order the way its owners see fit, i think any of the large search engines have the resources to take care of that, as users of the search engines we possibly shouldn't underestimate the mammoth task they they constantly have, changes may affect us but im sure what all of the SE's do is well thought out and long term. I think everything is understood very clearly now, say something once and people listen, say it twice and it probably gets absorbed but keep saying the same thing over, just with different wording and people not only stop listening but they wont take kindly to the messenger. Advice is nice, but patronising is agonising.
The reason Aviva is not around is because they have been caught with their pants down and the sooner you recognise and acknowledge that, the sooner we can move on. Everyone I know except anOn that is, is feeling the pinch. That makes it my business and it makes it yours. I am not dishonest, I work hard at what I do and I don't appreciate having the carpet pulled from under my feet just because a few wide boys don't understand that there are limits.
Think outside the box. A directory can be advertised the same way as any other business can. Now of course you are going to want to advertise in a location where webmasters hang, but let's not forget about the general public and all of the other site owners out there who do not have webmasters but do things on their own. You'll most likely find them on small business forums or group sites where people are always asking questions about seo. I guess my best advise would be to keep your local viewers in mind you'd be amazed at how many site owners there are right around the corner. Seach engines are great and in fact help alot, but since they are just as greedy as any other business then you may want to look else where in order to avoid losing what you gained. Get your advertising sales pitch in order and you will do just fine regardless of what the search engines do.
I dont know the owner of Aviva so im not in a position to comment, plus ive only been involved in the directory business since earlier this year. Its not my business what anyone else does, its theirs, they have their sites and mine are seperate. Clubbing everyone together isn't fair because then its like saying if anything goes against what you feel is right that its all our fault because were directory owners. You said that you were doing things differently, that you dont rely on what most others are doing, so by right you should be laughing all the way to the bank, if your unique then by right this shouldn't affect you. If you still want your directories to be seen as directories without being associated with anything that you dislike then you can be innovative and unique in what you do so that people say wow, these directories that this guy has are something special. Then workshop will stand out as something of an innovator and your being different will seperate you from anything that you feel is not right, if you promote right then you should do great business and no amount of other directories would affect your business as you would be unique.
Workshop, the thread title is Promoting a Directory so out of respect for the OP its nicer if its kept on topic, and less confusing for new visitors to the forum. Lets try not to confuse newcomers to online promotion with politics and unnecessary things.
You are wrong. Submissions are down and whilst it might not concern you there are a lot of people who are hurting. Secondly that sort of attitude is the very reason Google is going to have to use a baseball bat to get its message through. Read the posts in this forum. Paid listings might have become Reviews but the attitude is still the same and the only time you people are going to sit up and take note is when they decide that it time to devalue links from all directories. Right now you have a choice and if you are too stupid to recognise that there is a good chance Google will make it for you. Put simply, its best to stay away from directory masters that lie cheat and steal. You get judged by the company you keep.
Really its not my business what other people do with regards to theirs, i understand your points that your making, im just saying that my personal choice is to mind my own business with peoples private matters. Submissions being down does concern me workshop, im in the same boat with regards to a change. Im a wee man too im no rich guy, i just try and keep things in perspective though, i do my research and planning and go with my intuition and try and make the best choices. I do read a lot on the forums, huge amounts, i just dont always post. People are already making changes, myself ive been doing so much research and planning but i cant do things overnight, im trying to get things right which means taking my time, testing and using a forward thinking approach. I have the freedom to choose who i do business with in the future, i will definately make some mistakes and bad choices, its inevitable and impossible not to, its part of business and nobody can get anything right all of the time. If you can just ease back for a moment and give things time and maybe you will see what people will do and may be suprised. This really is rude to go so off topic in this thread. Im sorry to the OP.
I have some theories on generating related traffic to directories, but I will not post them because I have yet to test them. The theory is more based on relevant search queries vs actual promotion though. Maybe soon in the future I can post or blog my case study.
i think you should go for more & more off page factors like article submissions, blog submissions with good content go for press release & directory submission as well.