Is it important how your directory looks like?

alexa?
lol did you check this

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=alexa+sucks&btnG=Google+Search
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=alexa+spyware&btnG=Search

 

I've paid for links on established cookie cutters, but I wouldn't on a newly launched one from someone who I don't know. Look at the backlinks, age etc and make a judgement.

It's hardly rocket science to make a few changes though, is it?

 

I know Alexa is not reliable but do you have any other better form of ranking traffic?

 

As i previously said traffic comes later first comes its quality factors as stated previously.
Let me give you a example :
Take this directory for example - http://www.ezilon.com/ its the highest traffic source for me till now for my old sites and i guess many dp members does not know about this
Iam revealing because of this small debate
Check out their Alexa : 4xxx
PR : 6
ILQ : 18290
Page Strength : 6.5
Pages Indexed : 183000

 

Thanks for sharing this info, Ezilon also as a nice look
But I don’t understand how this relates to alexa, you receive traffic and the directory as a low alexa number all is Ok.
The strange would be to Ezilon to have a high alexa number 4xx,xxx and you still receive high traffic.

 

Do let me know if you find any such directory with tons of visitors and 4xxxxxx alexa, and passing visitors to the listed websites.

 

Well said guys till now. But lets not shift our focus to Crap Alexa.

the solution has to be... bye bye so called useless good looking directories and hello to free templates but strong and powerful directory.

No one needs links in a useless, PR0 beautiful directory.

 

alexa ranking is seriously flawed to capture long tail web traffic. it's really meant for top-tier web sites only. Unless you are one of those top-tier sites, no one can tell anything meaningful from your alexa rank. just my opinion...

 

The strength of the Directory comes first and the design comes after it . A good design is not the main thing for which a directory is developed / setup , it should be well promoted / marketed and developed so as to pass a good PR .
But yeah ... no one is gonna mind the Good Looks but developing should be the priority , having said that it doesnt mean that you should start with a total crap design ..atleast it should be an okie design if not a wow one .
Just my opinion and opinions may differ

 

Adding to this a good designed template costs around 100-300$ thats nothing before the promotion i do for gii.in and till now 5k$ have already been invested into this,Iam in search of authority links and PR8+ links if you guys can find them.
I can buy a template anytime but i would rather work on its quality first design later.

 

You have a point there. You are talking about directory usability from user's perspective. It may be true to a certain extent, but unfortunately directories nowadays seem to increasingly less useful from user's perspective, probably because of such advances of search engines. Rather they are more heavily used by webmasters to boost their search engine rankings..

Most of directory traffic nowadays, are even not direct traffic from directory visitors, but traffic referred thru search engines. So I would say directory usability is certainly important, but not seem to be as influential as it used to be...

 

What is most important to a link submitter is the quality of the link they are getting, PR & so on. To a submitter design does not matter, but having a good catchy design is a good way to make them remember your directory.

Design is important for the 'users' who browse your directory though

 

Yes, $300 is the price month of some links; this is my first point, if design is not so expensive why not invest on it.

And I believe that your directory "amitpatel_3001" will be one of the best promoted at least on DP I looked at your backlink structure and you don’t have to say anything more.

 

The last thing that is important on a web site or directory is what it looks like.....

-site content
-script
-submissions
-categories
-Is it submit friendly, and so on.....
These are things you need to concern yourself with / Not how pretty it is.
This will get you NO extra traffic....You cant be productive till your sites content is rich. ( late )

 

Yes indeed!
Absolutely agree with you...

 

Hmm, interesting conversation, let me add a different perspective.

I have a very limited budget - OK, I have no budget. I often submit to new directories knowing some might be around and I can get a better PR link for free by taking an early risk. I also know that strategy will lead to submitting in sites that will be dead before the next PR cycle.

All that said, how can you evaluate all the factors already mentioned for a new site? We all know how long G, Y, and others can take listing backlinks. Same goes for indexing.

What's left to evaluate is what can be seen.

Do they accept spammy sites? While my site is niche, my first spammy submissions were not among the first ones - so, new sites just may not have listed them yet.

Easy to navigate and a straightforward submission are a must - but I don't always get that far.

If the site is yet another Phpld site using that same orange and green template - I'm not that impressed from the get-go.

If the site actually tries to change things up a bit but leaves a magnifying glass with that uneven background - I leave, chances are high they are a QBC. I have seen several of those and find it absolutely amazing they leave it that way.

I'm not impressed by sites that leave the default text in the featured/sponsored columns on the front page - I think it is 'Put your links here' or something uninspiring like that. I don't know, at least change it to "Your link could be here" or something with a bit more marketing to it.

There's been a lot of talk about the search engines devaluing links from directories. While I don't believe that will happen across the board - I do think these sites that all have the same exact category structure and same page layout (underlying html will be identical too) are eventually going to be penalized.

While I am looking for free links, I don't waste my time with sites that couldn't be bothered to do anything more than put their name in text as a site header and simply use a standard template with no modifications.

So, when considering whether or not to take the time to submit to one of the newer sites; yes, looks can and do matter to me.

 

Decide would you go for plain looking google which takes fraction of a second to load which gives mroe or less perfect results (or) rocking designed MSN which takes couple of seconds to load and gives inaccurate results.

 

Lets go another route: Lets say you had a 10 mo. old site that was free, and had a regular everyday look.
Lets say it was a pr.4 with back page links, and #1 serps in many categories.
Lets say the traffic was amazing, and the alexa was as well....

How can i say that this plain every day new site was not a quality site to submit.

I see alot of web sites that have popularity/pr/high alexa results, and are very beautiful, but they are missing the most important thing for a directory, or seo on the board (SERPS) .
If i submitted my business to make money to a directory,and I want to be indexed, And seen. If that high pr beautiful site with massive popularity can't pull himself to the top of the search engine how can it pull my business
I think im going to submit to the young free pr. 4 with high serps and lots of traffic...

 

So why is PR so important to you and not Alexa?
Is it because it's a 'selling point' for your directory?

What is your take on PR and relevance to a directory.

Here is your 'cookie' question for the day:
Would an empty directory with a PR6 or PR7 be more important to you than a directory full of useful links and resources standing at a PR0? Why?

 

Exactly. However we talk about directory's design. The first impression is important - and it's mostly the design who creates it. If a submitter will see that a directory with a free template charges 20$ then he will instantly turn. If a submitter sees the unique design, and that it charges 20$ he will start researching about the dir.

That's what I could say