Basics of Directories: Discussion & Question

I'm not a newbie to Internet Marketing or Web Design. But, even though I've been at this sometime, I'm still a little confused about the concept of running a directory site.

I do understand why people want to be IN the directories... anything to boost PR and traffic and position on Google SERPS is always a good thing. But the question I pose for discussion is: Why do people run directories? Especially free ones?

I have 13 sites. My best one averages over 15k unique visitors a day. My lowest performing site (not surprisingly) is actually a directory site. It gets one or two visitors a day.

I can't find the motivation to work on my directory site. It only has a pagerank 1. Nobody visits it. Hardly anyone emails me to request links. And in the rare event they do, they don't offer me anyhing in return. And, even though it's a niche directory, I've never received a single niche-related link exchange request.

Oh sure.... I could go on the DP forums and say "Hey everyone. I'm giving away free links on my directory site." I'd get lots of requests if I did that. But why would I want to deal with a hundred link request emails and PMs anyway? Seems like a lot of work.

Also... I'm always afraid of the outbound links affecting my "good" sites (shared server). I'm afraid google will "find out about it" and punish the traffic that my other sites receive.

So remind me... why do people run directories? How can I improve my directory? And why should I want to? I'm thinking of letting my directory site domain expire... unless someone can inspire me to keep building, updating, and maintaining it.

I mean, all you directory guys must be making money or getting something out of it, right? I must be doing something wrong.

Thanks for any and all replies. Looking forward to the discussion and enlightenment.

 

It would be hard for anyoneto advise on improvements without a url.

As for inspiration, this is some thing that comes from within and if your fire has gone out as for running the directory let it drop.

Free directories in general rely on advertising and or affiliate links etc to generate the income or are in some way connected to a bigger site.

hope it all works out for you.

 

Thanks DownUnder. I think you're right... in my case, I just can't justify keeping this silly directory. It's kind of pointless, since nobody views it and I don't update it.

The main reason I didn't post the URL is because I didn't want a bunch of emails for unrelated links.
It's NOT a well-designed site, but here it is: Education Sites.

Can this site serve a purpose? How would I get traffic to it when external links won't rank favorably in the SERPS? It DOES provide links to my larger sites-- but do they really matter?

 

For one thing, it sounds like you don't have a good submission system in place. You should not have to get email or PMs from people. They should submit, and the reciprocal link verified before the submission will go through. That will cut down on your work a lot. Most, if not all, of the current version scripts do this automatically. As far as the rest, though, you need to put work into the site before you can expect to get results from it. Get traffic and links flowing, and people will want to be listed. Also, if it is recirpocal only now, consider adding a paid option too. Some people just don't do reciporcals. I hope that helps. Of course, like DownUnder mentioned, if you don't plan to work on the directory and improve it, at its current state, you could let it go.

 

Let me ask you a few questions...

Do you remember why you created the site in the first place?

Did you expend the same amount of effort on your directory as you did the site that gets 15K visitors?

Did you really expect a website with such a plain look, no pictures and so very little content to rank well in the SERPs and have great PR? Stand back and look at the site as if it wasn't yours before you answer that question.

Did you submit your site to Directory Critic, VileSilencer's list and the other traffic-producing directories of directories sites? Yahoo is showing only 8 backlinks and none of them point to an interior page. And at least three of them are from sites that at least by their name appear to have nothing to do with education and learning.

How much time have you spent looking for sites to add to your lists? General Teaching & Learning Information - no listings? That seems like it would be one of the easier categories to find good sites for.

I'm assuming the Niagara Falls site is yours? I saw it on at least two pages - you really need to remove it as you have it now. Perhaps if you created a category about educational vacations and wrote an article about how parents could use such a trip to educate then it would be relevant, otherwise listing it only has the potential to harm your directory and limit the value of the listings it does have.

I have an education-related website and to be perfectly honest with you, your site looks like it was designed only to get a fast buck or glean email addresses. The overall design and bold red headings make the site look more like those long sales letter sites than a directory. With so few listings, so little content, requiring a reciprocal and with no easy way to submit; I would not submit to you.

If you are coding the site by hand and don't want to use a script (there are free versions available) then at least include a contact form where folks can submit their sites. Google also sees required reciprocals akin to selling links and I would strongly urge you to rethink that policy.

Your "seems like a lot of work" comment makes me wonder if it would be a good idea for you to let the domain expire. Personally, I think you have a good niche and keyword rich domain. I haven't seen another directory on education related sites (haven't looked yet as my site is somewhat new) and I think with some work and a bit more effort you could easily turn your site into something much more exciting and valuable.

I hope you take my comments in the spirit in which they were intended and not as an attack. I wish you well with whatever you decide to do.

 

I run mine to make money basically, but odd as it sounds there is quite a nice feeling from organising sites into relevant categories.

Im a bit OCD anyway and it goes well with running a directory.

Through running a directory i carry on reading about SEO and what to do or not to do.

Its a rather long term thing too, i plan to hold onto mine regardless, its over a year now since troubles started and i still have mine, something tells me its right to do so too.

 

I wanted to get the link exchange pages off of my regular sites...but didn't want to stop trading links. I was afraid the "resources" and "links" pages were hurting my other pages. So I thought I'd start a new site to make 3-way link exchanges easy.

Not at all. The directory site is, admittedly a no-effort site. Which is why I posed my question: Why do people do these things?

I agree it's plain, boring, and has no content. I never claimed my link exchange site was any good. But that's part of my problem.

I can't justify spending $50 for graphics... for a useless site.

And I don't really see ANY link exchange sites that have useful content. They're all just... links.

I don't know of ANY link exchanges that really rank well in the SERPS.

I did not know about those. Will check them out.

See.. that's where my "vision" fell apart. Everyone was emailing me on a daily basis BEGGING for links on some of my other, more popular sites. (Who can blame them?) But, at the same time, I wanted the dofollow links OFF of those sites so they didn't hurt me in the long run. So I created this thing.

Now, when people email me asking for a link, I can offer them one on my directory site. Problem is-- they don't WANT a link there. (Of course, I can't blame them.)

And, see... there's my problem again... I'm not even trying to get submissions. Because I think to myself: "Why do I care if they get a link on my site? There's nothing in it for me."

Fair enough. I'll change the reciprocal policy. And I'll add a contact form. Maybe that will help.

Indeed. +rep for your advice and feedback. I appreciate you taking the time.

- fb

 

You put your time and money where is most profitable and everything else is secondary.

It is true that many directory owners have many reason why they run/create directories, so let me point some of the reasons:

Directory owners create and run directories because is their main source of income. They know the ins and outs of the directory business and are making thousands of dollars a month.

A large percentage of directory owners create directories to earn money. Main source of income is not enough and don't know anything else but to create and run a directory. If they have a site with thousands of visitors and earning money, do you think they would spend their time with directory that is basically dead?

Other directory owners have directories because they are attracted to how directories work and don't care if they make any money. That's why you will find Free Directories everywhere.

Still others create directories to test ideas and methods to help understand and improve the directory business.

We can go on and on listing the reasons, but I think the above suggestions cover most of the directory owners.

 

The main reason why i run some directory sites is because the click through rate for Adsense is so high. A lot of people on here talk about how directories make no money with Adsense, but these are the people who dont know how to pick a niche and place their ads.

When you create a directory you should match the listing layout, font and color exactly like the adsense ad you are using. I use the large rectangle ad and place it directly above the listings in each category. To the user it looks just like another listing in your directory.

I run some local real estate directories and get clicks that are $1+ and the layout creates a high click through rate. When i create a site i manually list all the links and set it and forget it. I dont even mess around with listing other sites. I set up a flat fee though, if someone really wants to be listed they can pay $49.95 a year. Otherwise i dont want to spend my time maintaining and adding links.

 

I think a lot of people run them to make money from selling links or adsense revenue, but there are some crazy people like me who actually enjoy it for the sake of it. I actually review all submissions and reject a massive amount but I have ensured the quality remains high this way