you will make money from your general web directory only if you came up with something unique, something to pull you up above the crowd. Untill then, keep on working partner. Couldn't agree more.
I will have a directory up soon... So will be able to give some figures then. The posts here are a bit scary though, not making money isn't something i am looking forward to with my general directory up
Well don't make a general web directory. Every guy comes along and makes one. The niche is saturated so the money gets spread further meaning new guys like you don't have much luck.
I make about $50 or so a month without really trying. Unfortunately Axelis is on the back burner right now. I need to do some other stuff, and then it really needs some development. Sometimes, it almost feels like I'm cheating, but hey, it seems to be working!
Generally speaking, general directories are very competitive, and it's hard to make money on them. Even a year ago, if your general directory has PR4 or less, you couldn't expect many submissions. Nowadays, many directories don't have high PR or got penalized by Google. Of course, I'm not saying PR is the only advertising tool for directories to sell links (or receive review fee, however you word). In the reality though, many people still look at PR to decide to submit a link in a directory. In my experiences, the bottom line success is dependent on unique visitors from search engines to your directory, at least 1,000/mo.. Even if your site has low PR, there are many business owners who would want to submit their links just because of the fact they found you. I understand that the tendency that many directory owners have to think what they can do to attract people. It could be the design, content, MODs, etc. But sometimes, people simply want to get listed their links. There are many real business owners who have no clue about directory industry, phpld, deep links, PR, SEO, and all those related hypes and myths. I am saying this through my experiences. When it hit PR6, I advertised my directory with "PR6 emphasized". It brought some of the people who knew SEO, but when it penalized to PR4 and to PR0, I still got submissions. Now it has PR3, and I still make good money with it.
Exactly right, and is why businesses are fed up of submitting to them and being contacted by them - they don't produce good results anymore. Everyone is copying everyone else because some smart dude said it was a good unique idea to copy the 1000 others out there Doh!
Change it now before you fill up the thing with sites, only to realise that people want targeting and non mixed results - then you will have to delete categories and sites to fit the new model/idea. Change it now or you'll only make work for yourself.
Sure you can make money with dirs. If you invest some time and money to make it a valuable resource...