The Biggest Problem with Directories?

The biggest problem I see with the majority of web directories owned and promoted by members here is that they basically just promote other web directories owned by members here.

Look at the directories category; it's likely you'll find the majority of the listing here, I don't see anywhere near the number of listings in any other category. Imbalanced?

Featured listings? The majority are in the directories categories.

But we have editorial integrity and we don't accept just anyone that submits to our directories.

Something we should all take the time to think about.

 

Nice post Creed. I know a lot is pissed at the moment but we have discussed this way ago before all of the penalization stuff and Jeff was the first one to weed out after those discussions.

I hope they understand.

 

You could be into something Creed, we should maybe start a you drop my links and I will drop your links club. The other thing that I have noticed is that a lot of them offer deep links and charge extra for them, could this be seen as selling links?

 

Some are considering and ready to drop the deep links option. They are useless. If there are needs for a website to have deep links it will just be added as a bonus. Otherwise there will be only Premium and Regular.

 

It is natural phenomenon -nothing abnormal.
I believe directory owners are craziest promoters than any other webmasters.

Now if someone - decides to reform the categories- it is his right to do it. If one directory is not upto the editorial standard of the editors --then they have every right to remove it. I have no problem if Jeff removes one of my directories from Aviva - as it is still under developmnt.

I have some reservation regarding this point. So far we have been propagating that directories should be informative and useful to the end users.

To do that - we have added/been adding high quality sites in our empty categories.

But the recent incidents have forced me to give a serious second thought on this. Though many directories who are allegedly penalized for SERPs ( I don't believe it is penalization) -- have great sites listed in them and are highly useful to the end users- still they have the same penalty ( if it is) like others which have many empty categories are allegedly fed by news feeds for contents.

I too have one site where I painfully added 800+ sites --all authority. It is under penalty. On the other hand I have a directory with 750+ categories and only 165 links. That one is rocking.

So Google algo makes no difference here.

Recent observations by Rand Fishkin has also made me change my views. Slowly I am beginning to believe this guy knows better than me about Google and SEO. Otherwise he would not deamnd $1000/hr consultancy fee and get it.

I particularly like to mention his point NO 6

I think the problem is --all of us are too greedy -comepetitive.

We want too much too soon.

DMOZ/BOTW/Yahoo directories have good listings not because. they added most listings. But its is because they are online for many many years and have grown naturally.

Of-course - I don't mean that directory owners should never add sites themshelves. But it should not look artificial.

Maybe - we may be well -off by adding sites indiscriminately from time to time when we find a Good site while we browse the net.

From now on- I'll go for imbalance-but-natural way ( might add 1/2 sites from time to time) --I don't care if it takes 3/4 years to get a category filled up.

I think Google bot does not like too many outgoing links too quickly to all quality sites. It might suspect some manipulation of SERPs that way.

Just my .02 paisa.

 

Sorry can't agree with that. Some add websites because its a hobby. Theres a difference. Compostannie and threebuckchuck as an example.

Cascandra has started doing it and I saw many followed. It's a positive thing and not really bad idea. I think I have 5000 edits at Dmoz to be exact in a 3 month span. Let me guess more or less 55 sites a day to add ? Not bad.

Just my 2 cents

 

I think you will see as well as what is suggested, will be a general move away from this forum and some other places.

Eveyones been picking at each others saying i think this is the problem, i think that is the problem, too much was shared in general with each other.

Most other businesses would of found our past operations a bit bizarre, while its good to give advice and share (the whole point of a forum) i think you will see less announcements of check out my latest feature.

Or heres a mod, share it, people will be like, ive got a great idea and im keeping it to myself, none of this is bad and is actually perfectly normal.

So too much promotion of other directory owners will probably lessen, for example i cant imagine banks carrying leaflets and offers for their rival can you?

Naive we have possibly been, learning lessons we are, turning to the dark side? not quite, just being more sensible.

But not everyone will take this same route and if people decide still to promote other directories well then i think that is up to them dont you? respect all round.

 

Directories would be a sucess if they concentrate on 'Global' consumers, than just restricted to forums.

 

There is nothing wrong in adding some good sites to your directory, though it may look artificial it gives valuable information to the users browsing that particular category

 

Some good points. I would also add that we have to stop chasing PR even if it can be profitable in the short run.

 

- No one is more PR hungry than a directory owner
- All new directories and promotions were announced in the directory section of DP, they should be be announced in advertisement (link sales)
- It is very hard to get natural links to regular directories.
- A great number of directory owners put Directories as a featured category and also a level 1 category.

I don't think it is that harmful to have a full directories category if quality is considered. but what it is really harmful is those sitewides to other directories.

Also, now you won't have the business practice "submit to mine I'll submit to yours" because if all directories are interconnected, only paypal wins here.

 

I agree with that too, for me personally i need to train my brain to ignore particular things, i think some of the enjoyment will come back to online promotion and business with being able to ignore things that are unhealthy for business.

 

I hope you are wrong. As a webmaster of several sites, I find deep links useful. I do think that the use of "detail pages" is a waste though.

business.com has offered deep links on the same page as the main listing for years. Google has started showing deep links for some search results. They can be helpful to visitors for finding what they need from quality sites with lots of content.

 

I've spent time to fill all categories at Peak Level .. and everytime I have some spare time I include one quality site to fill the categories that have less resources .. really hope its worth all the effort.

 

Being new to the forum, i will throw this in as possible answer to the post title.

1. problem i see is this, anyone can get a free script etc etc and start a directory in 2 seconds

2. maybe some popularity with directories and or the perception of easy money

3. no form of control over age qualifications or any prior business skill is needed

The result is you know have countless Newbies who probably are still pulling up their school shorts getting under way for a nickle and a dime in the hope that something might happen

Further to this there seems to be these nickle n dime people are not happy with one directory , hey i will run 20 even though i know nothing about one.

To further compound this and due to lack of any real knowledge of building, maintaining or any other business skills then ask every other nuff to join their directory, resulting in nothing more than a shambles or me after a night on the plonk.

Then after they have done this may pop up and say i have a directory but how do i promote it, how do i do catagories how do i do this ( but i have 20 of them ) this adds testoment to the lack of knowledge and skills.

Finaly when things do not work, they basicly dump thier crappy smelly piles of rubbish on the stinking heap and the vultures , link chasers come in for the kill and fill these free directories with more crap adding to the directory smell

Where does that leave the directory owner who works hard in amongst all of this ? I'm not sure but these people do leave a nasty smell that lingers over us all.

The first rule is ( for me anyway ) is i will not submit to any free directory ( exeption 1/1000 ) if people cant be bothered to even place a $1 fee then goodbye from me, these people who start these are wasting theirs and everyone elses time.

The good news is the better directory owners now seem to arming themselves with cans of air freshener and soon the place will smell sweet again. The rules are changing and new players are coming in and the message is simple Play hard (but fair) or go home.

 

Offering just plain Premium and Regular are ok to me but:

More here. http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showpost.php?p=4621205&postcount=19

 

As a directory owner I try to give other directory owners the benifit of the dout with the hope that they also are trying to build a quality resource. I know not every directory owner has that in mind but the truth is how you can you tell who is for real or not at the beginning stages? I'm sure alot of owners did not take me to serious when I first started but hopefully they do now.

I am all for supporting other directory owners on this forum. Why? Because this is our market, and we are not like alot of the other greedy markets out there who only care about themselves and not others, this is a support forum so what else should we be doing? It is our job to point out to the public (at least under this category) which directories offer the best value and which ones do not. That is why this section was created right?

@jhnrang:
I'll have to disagree with you and randfishin when it comes to adding quality listings to a directory and whether or not if it looks artifical or natural. Let's keep in mind that the original goal for directories was in fact to provide quality resources for the end user. Now granted, search engines have pretty much taken this over with their so-called relevant search results. But directories can still provide that value to the end users by offering sites that are in fact relevant to what they may be looking for. If a directory has empty categories how can that benifit the end user?

The truth is you do not know if someone who is visiting your directory is there to submit their site or is there to find something that may be useful to what they are looking for. And therefore it only makes sense to make sure that you have something for them to view instead of a empty category filled with only sitewide listings.

My final point and a little off topic is that directory owners should not be concerned about what google is doing regarding the serps because there is nothing you or I can do about that. That is why there is advertising, if you advertise correctly and in the right locations then you will still be succefull not matter where you rank on the search engines. And to be honest pr really has nothing do with it, that is also just an added bonus. I still get lots of submissons from webmasters and site owners who know that there site will be listed on a pr0 page yet they submit anyway. For example this category which is not even 2 months old already has 2 pages of submissions.

In other words, directory owners need to do what they feel is best for their directory and what they think is best for the end user. If you do that then there is nothing to worry about.

 

I have recently decided to drop the deeplinks/site resources option as I felt it was only being abused by submitters. I'll still add links to interesting pages for the benefit of the user. In my particular case it felt counterproductive to the original purpose of why I had this mod installed. This option works fine or fits well with many directories - this was a choice based on my personal experiences.

I believe that the majority of listings from Yahoo Directory and BOTW are editorial additions.

I think it just shows that everyone is swimming in the same pool when we're just a short walk from the beach.

 

Why do we keep trying to kid ourselves that the end user is the casual visitor surfing for content.

So simple. We all work for Google and this is the first thing we need to recognise. Then if we can get our head around that one, the next point is that other web masters will pay us to review their sites. Thats it, in a nutshell. No mysteries here.