Example on How to build the ULTIMATE directory!!

Destination sites, i think that sounds ideal for referring to them, you put it perfectly.

 

Thanks...

I have been doing this since 1994 so every once in a while I get something right.

I also think DownUnder has good points as well.

 

couldnt agree less,... so to say IMHO, even a classifieds script alone is not ticking my brains any more, will need to launch a bunch of services/

seeing classifieds sites around,.... most of them have 10 to 15 ads,.... ! nothing worse than an empty site,....

::Thinking::

M.

 

I respect that opinion. I also agree that just throwing a classified script up is not going to solve anything either. It is like Down-Under said... you need a real effort and a real plan.

I also agree that an empty site is a kiss of death.

But I know of very few stand-alone directories that get real end-user traffic. Do you know of any?

 

It's a portal, not a 'directory'. Many niche topics lend themselves well to portal building.

Relevant clutter = quality content, whereas, irrelevant clutter = spam.
As for the 'cluttered' comments all you need to do is check out some of the most successful sites on the net and many of them could be considered 'cluttered'. I consider them 'jam-packed' with links to relevant information. The key is to keep the 'clutter' relevant so that it isn't spam.

Overall I think the example is an excellent one and a good source of ideas and food-for-thought for directory owners interested in exploring ways to evolve/improve their businesses.

 

WOW some terrific comments from all of you!!! This IS dialog, I love it!!!

I think the simplest way to start "portalizing" or "verticaling" your directory is to have a plan, start slowly but to be consistent in terms of adding content.

For example a natural transition for a stand alone directory would be to start a blog where you start sharing some real, relevant and original content. We know how the big G (and other SEs) love blogs and the fact that you are using original content will be an added benefit. For example in the webmaster world there a literally hundreds of ebooks that you can start reviewing and giving your 2 cents. Additionally you can talk about strategies and other relevant information that you run across in forums. heck even talk about some of the SEO/SEM events that are occurring from time to time. For those who are a little more creative, spend a little bit of time on youtube.com or similar sites, find videos that are related to your niche and again talk about them. You will be amazed at how many "how-to" videos are available.

Next you may want to think about putting up an articles section, where you can start publishing some strong relevant articles. I would recommend not just firing them up but perhaps including some of your thoughts and opinions around the article to add a little bit of original content.

Remember to always take the pulse of your users. For example if you see that some of the posts in your blog are starting to generate a significant number of comments, you may have a blog audience that is willing to share info and a logical next step may be a forum. See if you can find a balance.

Classifieds are a little tricky. If you have a niche where products are part of it, eg: Golf Niche - heck fire up a buy / sell /trade script where people can sell their clubs. Again its a matter of taking the pulse. A clear example is here at DP, they have a buy/sell/trade section in the forums. It wasn't available when it first launched but it slowly took on a section within the forums.

Another thing I have found to work well for me is an announcement board. People love to talk about themselves and you should give the the opportunity to do so. Some will talk about their new sites, while others will talk about a new feature of a site or product.

One last thing is, if you want to be on G, play by their rules. Don't game PR or the search algo. Use the nofollow where appropriate and openly but discretely disclose advertisers on your site: eg: Instead of putting Sponsors above your sponsors, change it up a bit, eg: Advertise Here or Become a Sponsor or Sponsor this site or Your Ad Here. Remember to apply Google's rules across all your service if you want to play in their playground.

Finally, cull your directory. Take the time to go through it and remove any poor quality sites. You may need to refund some people, but its time to get it right once and for all.

Don't be afraid to nudge some of your more active readers to help start getting some of these services off the ground. offer some incentives. Most importantly, you don't need to fire up all the additional services at once, TAKE YOUR TIME AND DO IT RIGHT.

cheers

 

LaCabra:

A well thought out and well written posting.

Thanks you for prompting this discussion.

People can agree and disagree, but only through discourse and learning does anyone improve.

 

That is a valid point, I know nothing about horses so to me the front page looks very cluttered. To an enthusiast it probably just looks like a busy page full of good stuff.

 

Here is a sample of a standalone directory that seems to be doing things right. It is considered authoritative in Google, not only is it free, you can clearly see that they are doing many things right. Note how they DON'T focus on "human edited", "seo friendly" or "5 deeplinks" jargon? They are promoting their service, NOT PR or links for gaming google.

Front page:
http://www.freeindex.co.uk

Detail page:
http://www.freeindex.co.uk/profile(The-Silk-Road-Turkish-Mediterranean-Restaurant)_1763.htm

Very good job by the webmasters on this!

 

thats exactly what i have done with my directory. I added classifed and topsites and I am in the middle of adding more goodies on .

 

what link script do you think they are running on that site ?

 

Not 100% sure but looks like perhaps its a custom script.

 

again ...
@LaCabra (what does ur nick mean?)

u see this has a directory well mixed with a job site,
it is not a standalone directory!

A very well mixed and well done site! could be done with phpLD,
but would need a fantastic designer for it,....
someone who will go an extra mile with you, if u know what i mean!

i think this is what popoTalk was asking for in terms of classifieds!

 

I agree that this is not a stand-alone directory.

I guess I go back to a question I asked before:

Does anyone know of a stand-alone directory that has no added features (it is just a directory listing sites) that gets a ton of end-user traffic? And when I say a "ton", I mean more than 20,000 unique visitors per day. I am guessing no such directory exists.

 

Dmoz!

i get good of Dmoz traffic every day (5 to 15 uniques) on Bizz.cc,
considering this is an old and outdated niche!

i guess they get good traffic!

 

True... I should have eliminated DMOZ from my requirement. They are sort of in their own category.

 

I want to ask a question what do you think about something like this as an addon to your directory www. jodee.biz/adland.htm I don't promote it much anywhere but have thought about adding it to my directory as it can be intergrated to any page

 

@msolution/wasabiventures - my apologies you are correct, I didn't spot the job section.

@msolution ... laCabra = the goat (in spanish)

 

no worries, but the site is good!

Thanx

 

Anyone got a standalone directory (besides DMOZ) yet that gets tons of end user traffic?

I still know of none.