Brand spanking new directory!

I've just finished work on my New Directory. And, it's finally live! So, feel free to submit your site to the directory.

It took me around 100 odd hours to complete as I wanted it to be fully automated. The listings, links etc. are all managed by the backend software running PHP scripts. New listings are immediately added to the directory and appear on the site as soon as the user's email address is confirmed.

I have taken extra care to ensure that the pages are search engine friendly (i.e: No long URLs or passing category IDs via URL). Currently there are around 200 categories on the site but if you feel that I have missed out any key ones, do let me know and I will be glad to add these to the site. All categories and sub-categories have a link from the home page, so that the listings get the full PR benefit from the home page. And, there would not be more than 15 listings on a page. In fact, I might even drop it below 15 in the future if I feel that the page gets too long to scroll.

I have also added an "edit listing feature so that users can edit their own listings, instead of emailing me if changes are needed. This also includes changing the directories the listings appear in, title tags, descriptions, password etc.

I would love some new listings in the directory. All listings require a reciprocal link and I do understand that some of you might want to wait until the site's ranked. But, I would love to get some feedback on this if I could.

On the other hand, I would be heavily promoting this website over the next few months so if you submit now you could get on the first page of your sub-category! Either way, I would love some feedback. Thanks!

 

Not too shabby, the only problem I have with it is your script for finding the reciprocal link on my site doesn't work.

 

Hmmmm. Strange! Could you post or PM me the recip URL you were trying to use??

 

I was searching for the Internet Section but I couldn't find it.
And maby to fill up your directory you should get rid of the All submissions made to the directory require a reciprocal link

 

Thanks for the comments.

I do have got a "directories" category under "Reference" which might suit your sites the best imo. Most other internet promotional related categories are under "Online Marketing".

And, the directory has only been live for a few hours. I am not in a hurry to fill it up and the main reason I have asked for a recip link and an email confirmation is to avoid SPAM. This would be a big issue in the future if I remove the mandatory recip link, especially since submissions are automatically created. (Of course, I don't mind getting some of the PR too) I am fairly content with the rate at which it's filling up so far. Thanks!

 

what he said.

Good luck with the directory though, and if my site was site about directories or search engines, the recip link would be no problem. It just doesnt make sense for me though to put up links to 1,000 directories on my website, they would be useless to my viewers.

again, wish you the best with the directory, it looks real good.

 

Those are fair comments. Thanks!

I did tackle the reciprocal link's usefulness to your members to some extent. If you go to the category of your choice and click on "submit your site", you get an option to link to one of three pages: Home Page, category or sub-category. For example, if you want a listing on the rugby page (say), you are given the anchor text and description of three pages: Home Page, Sports page or Rugby page. So, you could link to the Rugby page from your site which would also be the page where you listing appears.

So far, it seems that the people who have submitted their sites have chosen to link to the sub-category page. For example, a fitness site has linked to the fitness page. So, although the directory might not be a useful link for the site's audience, the fitness listings would be!

And once the site's pageranked users will see other benefits (PR and benefit) as well to get a listing and link back. Thanks once again for the feedback!

 

I know it is not the website review forum but I think the design could use a little work. The red and blue contrast too much. This tool is great to help pick a colour scheme. Click on triad then pick a primary colour and the colours will work together nicely. I also don't like the italics much.

Ross

 

I agree.

I acknowledge that there's probably a place for paid directory listings and for reciprocal-link-required directories but for many sites it just doesn't make sense to be linking to them. I never pay for directory listings and I never submit to reciprocal-link-required directories. If there is something about a specific directory that I think would be beneficial to my visitors, I'll link to it but not because it's required.

There are better ways to deal with spam -- email verification is one.

 

Please share!

The other option I was considering was a random image which is what most sites seem to use these days. Any other suggested methods would be welcome.

Re reciprocal links, that's just how I decided to set my site up. As I said, I am pushing on getting as many links as I can through free submissions, link exchange etc.

Once the site's pageranked, users will link to the directory just for the return link. The return link from my directory would be the "benefit" for their link! Well, that's my vision for this project anyway.

Benefit of linking to a new directory
PR can only go up!!

 

I have no idea of what you are talking about

And I agree with the crowd. Reciprocal link needed? No, thanks... next?

 

I was talking about my site's PR. It's a new site, hence PR0. It can't get any lower than PR0, right?? Never mind!!

And, as I said in my first post: I do realise that some of you guys wouldn't want to link to my directory "now" and you are more than welcome to submit your site in the future once it's showing a lot of green! This is just a good opportunity to submit your site and get on the first page, while the directory's still new!

 

I did: "email verification is one" -- submitter must submit a valid email address and then is sent a link to verify the submission -- that will at least stop automated submissions.

That's a good option to -- accomplishes the same thing as email verification.

 

Oh, I "AM" using email verification.

fryman: Thanks for your opinion. As I said, it doesn't work for everyone but some people don't mind linking back. I went live around 48 hours ago and I have around 28 submissions (4 awaiting email confirmation). I don't really mind this rate, especially since the site isn't even ranked at the moment and is nowhere to be seen on Google.

Just out of curiousity, would you have submitted your site (with recip) if my site was a PR7 (say) or even a PR5?? (That's where I am hoping to be)

 

No. I wouldn't.

 

Wow! I am quite surprised to be honest! Although I don't think "FREE" PR7 actually exist. They all seem to turn into a:
"Pay us for guaranteed inclusion or wait forever for a free listing"

Anyway, my listings are up to 35 now (over 3 days)! Lots of good places left, of course. Some categories are filling up quicker than others as expected. Want more listings!

At this rate ...... 12 a day .... 360 a month ..... 4300 per year, i.e. 4,300 BLs from unique sites per year. Once Google starts showing kindness to the site, this should really hit off!

 

I got a link free in DMOZ on a PR7 page, which led to a second free directory link in the google directory also a PR7 page

 

Thanks for your comments Sarah, although I do beg to differ. Reciprocal links are totally acceptable by Google and other search engines, i.e. I have never seen any site being banned due to asking for a reciprocal link.

A link farm is something totally different. It's a product or service which contains a list of hundreds or thousands of sites and as soon as you register your site with that "link farm", it immediately generates links from all those sites. i.e. You could generate a few thousand links to your site overnight. These are frowned upon by search engines. The co-op for example is arguably a link farm as the links are being generated on hundreds of sites overnight.

As far as benefits from my directory are concerned, it would be not just PR benefits but targeted traffic as well. I can say this as we are listed with a few directories (paid as well as free) for our work sites and the traffic that we get through these are highly targeted, purely due to the structure of the directory. A person who clicks to your site from a page on my site that is full of real estate listings will be highly interested in real estate (or so I would think).

My directory isn't a link farm as it only gives users "one listing" on my site, as opposed to a few hundred (or more). The only difference between this and any other "link exchange" page is that mine is automatic and immediately displays your listing. Thanks once again for your comments.

l234244: How long did DMOZ take to include your site?

 

2 months, although only 4 out of 11 sites submitted are included so far.

PS - I think its a good idea to get reciprocal links to the inner pages of a directory. In this way it looks less like a link farm, where all reciprocal links are normally pointed to the homepage