Yes you are right Jamie, things are improving. However if people gave good examples it would really help this thread. Another positive is that people are becoming aware of the other directory scripts out there apart from phpLD. Thats two good examples I have given. Awaiting more response.
You have to stay neutral though dont you mikey as you own a webmaster forum and have to keep that balance, lol Theres an example for you
Inside or outside of my forum I will voice my opinion if it raises awareness and/or improves the directory scene.
But you know its not healthy to swing too far to the left or right i would imagine icase your forum members thought you were biased.
You're right Mikey - I for one am just about to change from phpLD to another script - eSyndicat vrs phpLynx - that's my battle for now. I guess I'll be going with phpLynx...their latest release for the full version has some killer features that'll make my niche directory much stronger than phpLD's 3.3 release can. The difficult part in the web directory world is getting across the point to new directory owners (heck, even some of the more experienced owners, too!) - no unique content or structure = no success. Google attacking directories is a farce. Do Google penalise SEO companies? (God, I hate that phrase). I think not. They're influencing how Google crawls and ranks sites, so why aren't they punished and we are? I'll tell you why...because Google love the brown nose they receive from the ODP/Yahoo directory. Simple fact of life. IMO, article/blog/directory niche sites are the only way forward, every week more and more 'general' web directories are flooding the market, demoralising both the great web directories and their own, spam-fueled directories. Although, there still are some strong 'general' web directories - but their power is falling dramatically. Standard web directories aren't getting the traffic, revenue or quality submissions that they once were, and competition is fierce - all you gotta do is know how to talk the talk and walk the walk
Hopefully none of you are naive enough to think that changing from a phpLD directory will mean no more negative attention from google, because of course all you have to do is pay for the removal of the linkback. Its been mentioned before but google doesn't penalise scripts, is for completely different reasons.
No, I am moving due to the better features and practicality of using phpLynx. It has been rumoured and shown by many directory owners that phpLynx-based directories tend to rank better than phpLD directories. I don't know the insides of that, but, as with all directory owners, you learn from others experience, both in positive and negative manners.
When I initially mentioned more scripts being used it was in reference to trying out new things and being less of a sheep, nothing to do with that search engine.
a lot of the popular scripts are similar and will be enough to handle the majority of directory needs I would advise spending time on writing unique content for your directory the matter of phplynx indexing more pages is covered here also: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=699691&highlight=indexed+pages+phplynx make up your own mind if that looks like a benefit I think on the whole its a better place to be in owning a directory beforehand a lot of people were in denial about the consequences but now its happened and we`re on the other side of it anyone smart enough will already be making some changes on what we know since last sept of course changes wont guarantee a recovery from last sept but hopefully its a step closer
@pipes - I like the fact that you are optimistic, but to state all those positives when they clearly aren't happening, discourages people from making the changes that they need to make, because they believe that everything they are doing (or not doing in this case) is ensuring their survival. Point #3 regarding editorial standards improving *sounds nice* but isn't happening. I made a call earlier to try and encourage people to clean up their content, but I am yet to see anyone take the bait. People wonder how they can become like one of the "big directories" and part of the problem is their actual content. They willingly list bad submissions (the site itself might be good but the submitted information is terrible). The key to a good directory is in an active editing/reviewal process. We are downsizing our list. We are hoping that by pruning the dead wood off the branch we will ensure that the tree survives. Those directories that choose to follow our lead and do their own pruning will be the ones who are rewarded in the long run. Not just by us, but by the industry and the engines who will recognise their continuing efforts. My suggestion is this. If you have 10, 20, 100 directories... downsize, and concentrate on a far smaller number. 1 great directory is far better for your digital portfolio than 10-100 medicore ones. Lastly, remember this: If all you are selling is a PR link, then you have nothing to sell. Those days are over, done, dusted, gone. Market your directory differently, and people will look at you differently