So I was discussing directories with my wife, who does not enjoy web design/web marketing. She just couldn't figure out the value of a directory. I tried to explain the value to me, as I see it. Which basically is the links.. not traffic. But that's me. She personally has a great dislike for them. She's frustrated when she lands on them, and to be honest, I can see why. They are lacking. You're looking for something important to you, land in a directory... search again, and find only a handful (if that) of sites that offer what you are looking for. So my question is, are there any directories out there that really appeal to the average visitor? do they have a value aside from linkage? How can the main idea be improved upon to increase user experience? Please post links. thanks,
Well, I don't know about most directories, but it's something that I'm personally trying to achieve with my new one at www.freedeeplinks.com. It categorizes articles (and some other resources, like forms, recipes, crafts, etc.) from across the Web. Obviously the benefit to webmasters is the potential for unlimited numbers of free one-way deep links to their article pages. I'm actively trying to make it more appropriate for visitors actually interested in searching for materials, by: 1. Pushing the fact that if they're looking for "infomation", they don't have to sort through business sites, sales pages, and other results from general search engines. 2. Featuring categories in the header site-wide that are either timely (like holiday-related or seasonal) or that might be popular topics (like free business forms, marketing, weight loss, etc.) to help visitors find interesting articles quickly. 3. I'll soon enough be trying to reorganize the home page to add specific featured articles, so visitors will see the most timely pieces or popular articles without having to dig through the directory at all. It might be bad on my end if they don't go to results pages and click on ads (which have been paying well from those pages), but I'm more worried about making the visitors happy so they'll come back again later, and then hopefully search for something else. So hopefully there's one example where things are targeted to visitors and not just webmasters. I'm sure there are plenty of others... like directories of businesses or professionals in an industry, recipe directories... anything niche-oriented really. Jenn
Well I am a webmaster (of sorts) and I agree with your wife about them not being much help. I think the only reason they exist is because of Google PR and linking. If Google changed their algo to be simply content based (for arguments sake) I can't imagine they would be around for long.
I see a directory as a very small (tiny) version of yahoo. Featuring only sites, without any of the extra content that yahoo offers (games, news, etc). And... our directories don't go out of their way automatically to follow links and index new sites. They only index sites that have paid for submission (with the exception of free sites). Perhaps more directories need focus on added value. Games, news, sports, free email accounts?, etc. I like the direction you are taking Jenn. keep up the good work.
If the description is very acturate it could work better. But i think it is just good for link build up. Wikypiedia is a perpert directory. try to copy that. you;ll need super computer wizzies.
I would agree the only acceptions are directories that are very very deep. Directories made by webmasters are usless as they are not deep, have low quality sites, so it would be hard to find what you want. EX. if i was looking for a site about traveling las vegas, and i went to a "webmaster made" dir i'd go under Recreation then Travel, usually no sub categories so it would be hard to find info about traveling Las Vegas Yahoo Directory for example is example is extremley deep, and don't accept any old crap so could be useful.
Tell her to get off the PC and get her butt into the kitchen and make a sammich (haha only j/k ) Yours and her frustration alike can pretty much be recognized and understood by lots of people. We just have to understand that directories aren't grown to their full potential overnight. They have to start out somewhere. Directories imho, serve several pleasures. 1. the owner who gets paid submissions 2. the submitter who submits to try and help his own sake 3. the end user who does eventually come across a solid directory and are able to find what they are in search of. 4. SE's love info, links and text and I think dirs help to cover this very well. Now as far as appeasing the end user visually, well, directories really weren't made with that in mind. I have however, tried that approach with the latest directory of mine that I had skinned(very last link in sig). I tried to give it a vivrant fun feel and look to it. the template was made by me, but is no longer mine as i have sold it, but the directory will live on and only get better. It is there for demonstration purposes until I can get around to reskinning a new one. But regardless, it was just an approach I tried to take to differentiate myself from the norm.