Well i was thinking the Yahoo version or way... In other words sell products and advertising threw the categories structure as an additional source of income as well as interest for surfers also ads orientated for that niche category for those click lovers Never know till you try right thx malcolm
Your right malcolm there are many options, we are just going to evaluate for a few days until we decide what new features we may or may not add Of course trying is always the preferred option, like a real test see how it works out
I have a couple of ideas but have yet to really flowchart the scheme in how to pull it all together. I can say that I have one sector worked out already. small, but will be the base for scalability. I'm definitely looking towards the future with some bigger and brighter developments coming.
I always pre-test and evaluate(roughly 3-4 months) prior to giving mention, however, if things are on the positive, indeed I will let you know.
Thanks malcolm, britishguy, and anon, you guys are giving me fantastic ideas that I will def. be looking into now. Looking forward to seeing your projects when ready as well. Thanks.
Remember a web directory can take any shape or form and the more different it is and content it has the better off everyone will be in the long run. thx malcolm
Malcolm, that is exactly what we are doing, under the bid mk2 model per say and what i have ben trying to say for some time. that part will be here in days not weeks or months, but i was / have been shut down and told it wont work so i have just kept quiet. but i promise you will see nothingshort of pure magic. I will be happy to explain it further so long as i dont keep getting shot down, I'm full of bullet holes and it will never worksnow
LOL working on it now and still having some last minute programming faults with allignment. which means it goes back into the work shop next week unless i can sort it this weekend. frustrating the crappers out of me, but whats a few more days. update What i can share ( and no bullets ) is this in relation to Malcolm's post. in that incresed advertising. Most people are looking at what is right in front of them in that the best place to look for aditional advertising $ is those businesses already listed in your directory. It goes without reason, that if you promote your directory and you have a high number of visitors that the business in that directory would like extra exposure. so this is black n white one of the basic structures we will employ, it is nothing new or magic but a optional way to structure things, that will create revenue if done properly and in conjunction with quality and marketing. All listing in our directory will be free, and in that the entire directory will make no reference to PR or any related issues but instead focus on our promotional methods ( ie we wont make claims of joining the directory will giveyou better PR or related results ) From there these customers can if they wish pay to advertise in the directory ( not a review as is known n some cases ) and that first level of paid advertising will be called a feature ( the same as it is now ). The difference is these features / paid advertising will be per annum not a life time extension. This in itself creates a residual income. If after the 12 month period the advertiser does not wish to re new the advertising it will drop back in the alpha numeric free listings ( the free listings do not have a full page feature that the advertisied listings will have ) Ok basic and simple stuff to this point, and this is where we can bring in the new model of what is known as the bid directory or bid mk2 as i call it. To further explain this the word bid or any reference to it will not exist and is a legacy of mk1 what will happen in exactly the same way as yahoo is you can opt for a premium listing ( bid mk2 ) this option is only available to featured listings that have advertised. they will work on exactly the same principle where they can choose the $ amount per click, these listing will be above the featured listings in $ per click order and controlled by the customer. when the $ amount runs out they fall back into the featured listings in alpha numeric order. example only of the 3 levels It only makes sense that my own customers would want to use these options to further promote thier business. we have many other little tricks to go with this that will take this feature to a whole new level again, but that will happen down the line. In addition to that you then can start to look at external sources of advertising to come in and compliment this, but look at your existing customers first these people are the ones who will support your system as they have listed with you already. By the above we can see a few simple changes increase the residual and advertising $ coming in. ( i nearly wrote another secret but might save it ) For those with bid / any directory taking a hiding, please realise you are sitting on a pure gold mine if you have the vision to make a few changes and are prpared to work hard, soon there will be a big gap between the directory just thrown in the pool to try and make a few bucks and those working them.
Sounds good DownUnder! i think those are some gr8 ideas there, I did launch a mobile site few days back, still tweaking it! (the mobile hardware is more complex than i thought!) Next I plan to follow my original theme... i got the wiki style URLs, just in that direction! (....naaa ...thats all i say right now! )
sounds like your working on some great stuff, i will also share some wiki type stuff as we move forward, and it will out of the square. i would like to learn more about the mobile but i am not ready for that just yet. anyone is welcome to share the stuff once posted here and i will keep dropping back with updates. I will have a demo page up shortly even though it has a few errors i cant fix till next week. looking forward to this thread being used by all so if you can once public throw up your ideas it would be great.
Not talking to myself but a further update to the OP's question. We have outlined above our base structure, and thanks to this post, i have given further thought in relation to this topic. Currently we do have all banners etc connected to those listings in the directory, but we were looking at bringing in some outside advertisement say in the side panel etc to add to this and in relation to the OP's question. With that we have decided that we will bring in no extra advertising from anywhere but instead the whole directory will only support and feature those people in the directory and their advertising. This throws extra pressure on me to get it right or i have no incoming $, but i see the positive in that the people who enter the directory are the people / customers i support and in that their investment should not compete with outside forces. It can only go two ways, hope its the right call.
yes Mike, i now ( as of today ) have my base starting application working, so it will start to evolve in the coming days. Then i would say 12 months off final testing and implimenting all options.
Yes DownUnder some of these projects take a long time to fully develop, - assume that during the interim months phase by phase will go live All the best, sure it will pay off for you, in the medium to long term, hard work usually pays dividends Good Luck