Someone requested this topic few days back, and i thought i could share my view about this. This is what i came up with from my mind, on how to promote a niche directory. Check it - How to promote a niche directory Hope you like it, and please suggest more ideas if you can!
Hooking your blog as mentioned to other sites such as entrecard makes a big difference and helps to further promote your site with others with similar interests. Without any other promotion ( not trying to promote just yet ) I went from over 4 million in alexia to now under 1 million in ranks.
Hmm good question. Will take out some time in coming days and will specifically stress of some niches which are quite famous.
I thought the article was quite general and could be applied to any type of directory, not just niche directories. It was well written and covered some good topics, especially about getting the niche rankings. I also don't see how promoting a health directory in DP would work, seen as DP is a webmaster forum not a health forum...
I actually mean that webmasters here are not the one who have sites related to only webmastering. They may have sites related to health too, and the first thing they search for is in webmaster forums where fellow people announce and promote their niche directories too. But still, as you said, forums like DP, v7n etc. would be offtopic for a specific health directory to promote.
Ah I see. Perhaps you could edit your article. Change it to something like webmaster forums = good for gaining submissions. Health forums = good for getting health audience (you get the idea ).
The key to any online endeavor is knowing your audience. With niche directories, I have found I not only have to promote my directories but also find myself needing to explain the purpose of directories and how to use them for SEO purposes. Many site owners in my niches know they need backlinks but don't really understand the correlation between backlinks, Google rankings and keywords. Make a true resource and you might find your submitters excitedly sharing their newest find - YOUR SITE! I've never required a reciprocal to participate. But, I get a great deal of traffic every month from blog posts, forum mentions and other links from people who were excited about what my site offers. Make just another directory and folks will not be excited, they won't want to tell others about your site and you'll lose the most effective advertising that you can ever have for a directory or any other site.
Excellent piece of advice there chetan! Most people fail to maintain a niche directory for a long term especially if the niche is not related to webmaster.
Quite true. I can't understand why people find it more difficult marketing to people other than webmasters. Just take off your webmaster hat and imagine being someone in your target market. Or ask a friend or family member if they fit the bill
That's because people tend to go behind the niche which is making quick bucks, and not the one they are familiar about. Imagine a real estate agent starting a medical directory ;-) He would get bugged up with the directory within no time
To be honest I really wouldn't say webmaster is the big money niche anyway. It's just webmasters seem more generous and would list their site in a directory without much persuasion. Then it can be sold easily. Whilst there's nothing wrong with that, I often feel that the bigger picture is being missed. There are so much more niches that need exploring. The searches in those niches may give up their money happily in terms of finding a solution to their searching - whether it be unknowingly clicking PPC ads or knowingly buying a product to which the directory owner would earn commission on. These searchers are great. They make your directory popular which brings in the advertisers
Hello... Not bad article at all.... I would do everything mentioned as well as buy some links on niche blogs and sites as the visitors that come to your directory would be very targeted which means potential sells and of course clicks if you have ads running, but the most important part is listing quality sites for your visitors to surf & find. laterz malcolm
I actually can explain this in my way - Am a dental student, but when i keep my webmaster hat on, then i have some ideas and thinking about making money online.. or else if i would just login to my blog as a dental student in mind, i never think about making money or something like that.. So you have to keep a webmaster in yourself if thinking about making money and marketing your website/product.
I will have a go at this as well, I would say most are very comfortable behind the 14"" monitor and know everything about everything that perpetrates behind the screen and fully understand the virtual world. Take people out of that environment regardless of how good they are with the keyboard and they probably could not even market themselves, would not have any real world contacts, understanding, knowledge, people skills or sales ability to bring it all home and then apply those skills to the virtual world. In todays real world ( and virtual world for that matter ) sales / marketing is a highly specialized profession and just because you can claim and pretend to be anything while on line does not cut it once you step outside of your keyboard world. An even bigger mistake is people think they need to know everything, this is not true, you just need to know that not one person can be a expert in every area, and that often you need to so round yourself with many people who specialize in each field that you wish to add to your overall group / project to get the job at hand done.
Quite true. But when you write the dental blog posts you need to keep the dental audience in mind. Otherwise your blog would be total garbage