How much Do I need (cash) to open a online directory?

HI guys

Completely new to this forum, I am thinking of making online directory myself. How much Do i need to spend at first, including domain, and how much do I need space? Is there any template avialable , do I need to pay for those template too??

Suggestiosn will be highly appriciated!

Thanks

 

You will need a lot of money and the expenditure is ongoing

Not for the faint hearted and if you put less than 2,000USD and all your time for a minimum of 1 year, otherwise you will get nowhere

Anything less, just forget about the idea and move on

 

if you want to have PR6 in the first or second PR update then you will need a lot. However you can start small and invest wisely, don't throw your money for unworthly links. set a budget and target permanent links, this way the number of your backlinks will keep on growing. avoid selling sitewides. invest in content not only backlinks...

 

I think he is talking about the initial investment required for a new directory. Promotion and marketing is going to be the second step.

Initially, You need say $100- $150 that includes 1 year domain($10), web hosting (500MB or so $80-$100/y) and a license of phpld ($25 - $75). This is all it takes to start a new directory. You can even try the free version of phpLD and later upgrade to the paid version. If you have a good budget to start with, then you should better go for a custom skin otherwise there are free phpLD templates available.

 

Yeah, it is not too much to start up, but it will cost you if you really want to compete with the big boys (most of them are in this forum too)!

 

I figured out I only read the title of the thread

 

I don't think you need much to start off with, but in the long run anywhere from 1,000 i would think...

 

If you are looking to get a feel for how a directory works before you invest a lot of money, you might want to consider trying the free version of phpLD or the free link bidding version of phpLD. Then once you understand better how things work, you can invest more. There are lots of free templates available as well, but they usually require some sort of link back. You can always make a custom template in the future once you get going better.

So if you already have hosting and a domain, the cost to start is zero, but the cost to actually get somewhere can be measured in both time and money, and you will have to be prepared to make a stronger commitment in the future.

 

Thats right mikey1090 tell them how it is really


Not how they want to dream it will be

 

If ur a coder urself, expenditure comes down! for me
Domain:34$
hosting 9$/yr! [Quality Hosting, (Hostdime,com reseller! www.myNetMall.net)]
phpLD free version, ... really dont know if ill be good at it, ... planning to upgrade if i do good!

18 days into this business, just started marketing, so just spent 14$ there,

Revenue: 1.45$

looking strong and looking ahead!

hope this helps

Regards
M.

 

It's true. The process is never ending and money will always be spent on advertising.
As an example, I was a bit peeved with an email I received about 30 mins ago on www.bigweblinks.com, so I just layed the smack down or should i say 'DUMP' on arise directory.

 

If your not in a hurry you'll need about $10 or whatever a suitable domain name costs these days plus whatever your willing to spend on hosting... i literally started mine with an empty paypal account and i've had quite a bit of money in there from time to time however literally everything i earn goes back into my directory(ies) so its an on going expenture which doesnt actually cost me anything... its self sustaining!

Having to spend a lot to earn a lot... well that depends, having invested $0 of my own money i'd tend to disagree! Time can be just as valiable as money in the directory industry (thats just my view though).

 

this question is like asking, how much money do i need for my entire lifetime?

its never a single value and shld be a day-to-day or month-to-month issue. It depends on how fast or slow you want to take it. You can spend $50 every month buying just 1-2 links or $5000 every month, buying lots of links. So the question is, how fast do you want to grow your directory?

 

Im going to reply by the question asked which was how much to open and not how much to promote.

A domain $few
A free script
Very cheap hosting, under $5 per month, most will provide you with more space and bandwidth than you actually need.

Promotion is a completely different thing altogether, but you can be up and running for around $10.

 

buy a domian and space form godaddy!! $4 a month,
buy a directory script! try the phplinkbid script, it is easy to install and manage. it will cost you about $30!!

then get a template, may be free!! then you have the directory running!

after that, start seo and other stuff! if you have the money go for the kill! i just saw directory dump's bid of $2k bid on bigweblinks directory! so it all deponds on how much you can spend!!

other wise go the slow process, make backlinks, do free directory submission, etc, make some PR, wait for 6 months! keep doing seo, and then you will have some pr4-5! then you will get some paid submission, you can re-invest that money to develop your directory further!!

Though i would suggest, that if you don't have a huge advertisement budjet, don't start a directory, it won't help!

 

that's f*n' crazy. spend wisely.

 

If you are new to the business then I think it is a mistake to spend a lot at the beginning. You can start with the basic (domain, phpld version, hosting, template) plus some budget for link buying. Maybe a total of 500$.
Then you can see how you are doing and as you get more familiar with this kind of business you can start spending more.
Of course as others mentioned above you have to spend, in order to earn.
And if you spend you can move up a lot faster.
But if you do not know how and where to spend you can waste a lot of money with minimum results.
Experience is the biggest weapon here. You don't want to have your bank account a few thousand $$$$ thinner with no return.
So my advise, try with a logical budget, and learn your way up.