Recently we have been unable to maintain (ie keep up to date in real time) a Directory we have had for a long time due to lack of human resources So we were looking at our options, either sell out, or maintain the Directory professionally. We decided eventually (although we had many buyers) to keep the Directory So this is what we have done :- We have brought in one full time support resource, for review processing,URL submissions and link building etc etc In fact doing everything except having access to the payment gateway (We use someone based in Asia, great deal for them, works out well for us too, we pay a flat rate for support, then when we reach a target we offer incentives, more revenue more commission) We are securring more quality Back Links We have added many new Mods including Daily Listing, Cool Listing of the Day, Deep Link Reviews, etc etc This MAJOR UPGRADE has only been running less than a month and already the Directory is fast getting back in shape Take a look Directory SearchingDeep http://www.searchingdeep.com/ I know that its possible to get a number of services individually, ie Directory submissions etc etc We of course keep an eye on things but that only takes an hour or so a day which we do daily We have only been doing the outsource support for a few weeks now and its working out well, but of course we need to ensure that its continuous and viable all the way and can be maintained I saw one respected member here mention in a thread recently he was considering selling off some of his sites as he did not have the resources to maintain This solution we are operating here might prove to be the alternative option to selling out Downside is that you have to share/pay out a lot of this site revenue for support services etc etc, but the:- Upside is you keep the site and if business to continues to increase, the net worth of the Directory will increase proportionally Does any other Directory sub-contract out the support, review processing, link building etc etc to 1 Person Turnkey ? Comments :-
Outsourcing support and tech work is a great way to consistently grow your directory. Great job Pete, good luck with growing the website.
Outsourcing someone to work aside you always help - If your directory is continuously growing, becoming popular, many submissions and want to change design/mods frequently.. A single person cannot do all such work for a POPULAR directory.. But a question always remains - How much to pay and on what basis - to the person you outsource ?
I have someone who takes care of listing reviews on a daily basis for 2 directories, I do most of the link building although looking for another person to do this full time, because I have several other sites and upcoming projects gets a bit hard to take care of all. I really would like to pay one person to do reviews, link building etc... for both directories, but haven't found anyone that can do that, have asked most of my MSN and YIM contacts but again couldn't find anyone to do it full time. Pete if this is a company that you can share would love to talk to them more about this. Also got a listing thanks.
Interesting concept indeed and cool too. Out of my 4 directories -- I am taking it one at a time. While one of my directory is complete -with the basic features that I require (not too much features though). Now I am working on another -- and would take this whole month (June) for its content/feature development. Then I'll Concentrate on another --and then another and then one Niche. - -I think I could run 5 directories once they are fully developed in 2008 as I can devote atleast 14 hrs per day About link-building - well its a continuous process -(being a professional link-builder before helps me out) and I am more of a slow but steady builder. But your model is interesting indeed and might help many other people. Thanks for sharing it. Will keep it in mind -for future.
The only issue with outsourcing is oversight... are they doing a quality job the way you want it done? The submissions we recieve in our directory from india are generally much lower quality than other places. In our blog interviews the only time we get the same paragraph cut and pasted as the answer for every question is from India. This is of course not to say that all services from India are bad... just that any outside services need sufficent oversight...