While I appreciate the traditional phone book (a directory) and certainly see the need for a handful of directories I am puzzled by the sheer number of directories on the net. What is the incentive for a person to build a directory? Can directories generate income, other than say employing adsense? I would really like to hear from some directory owners/developers as to what motivated them to want to start a directory.
Money and profits are my motivator! The demand is increasing for Directories because they impact your SE rankings. Since more and more people are learning of SEO and practicing it. I think directories can pay off in the long skeem of things. Another Motivator is that it is extremely cheap(resources, time, capital, experience) to build a directory. Yet only the good operators can make their directory superior(Chris' AliveDirectory) Lastly basic Supply and Demand, the increase in supply has increased because of expectations of future prices.(Biz Econ Major, haha)
There is a huge need for directories...the more the merrier. And niche directories are very needed. Get a good niche going, and not only will you have great submissions to the directory, but a heck of a lot of visitors looking for information. My experience has been that adsense for income on a directory is very minute! As I build my directories up, I am moving more and more from free submissions to pure paid. And will be experimenting with different avenues of income generation like affiliate programs, clickbank programs, that sort of thing. As in a visitor (or link submitter) goes to say a category of auto sites, there is or are ads there specific to autos.