Hi Guys, I finally made a post about some of factors that make up a quality directory. http://www.directorytotal.com/quality-directory-selection-factors/ The post has been made according to the latest Google update.. Post in your comments..
There is a minor correction to that, but overall extremely nice. You can be banned by Google for linking to bad neighborhoods, but not being linked from one. Worse case scenario is your link from that directory would not pass off any value. The theory behind that is you can't control who links to you, but you can control who you link too.
Good post, excellent points made, glad you put optional next to Unique Design, i dont agree with what many say about a unique design and it showing that you care because you payed for a good template to be designed. Its only one part of investment and i dont think it means you care, as many enjoy the comments of dude you have an awesome design, and yes it does help present the content in a nice way but i think it can be overated, bigged up and sometimes a minor obsession.
Hi Floppy, I have just edited the blog post. Thanks for pointing that out. @ Pipes - Thanks so much buddy for your comments, I am really happy that you liked it.
Well written amit. Whilst pipes is correct, he is only to a certain extent. Can you imagine going to a 5 star restaurant and being given a menu thats made out of cheap paper with rainbow color text on it? I think a design speaks wonders about the directory - it helps to represent its quality, but like pipes said only to a certain extent.
I do agree that design contributes to the presentation and can say a lot to a visitor, especially one who may be influenced heavily by appearance.
6. Links in the category You only mentioned one aspect of editorial integrity. There are more: * Link titles - are they all the same spammy keyword titles for search engines or names intended for humans to read (and understand each listing as being distinct) * Descriptions - Are they consistent? Is anybody actually taking the time to edit them to a standard? While this won't necessarily impact SEO value of a listing, it can be an indication as to whether the directory is going to be around in a year or two IMO. * Number of links in a category - Too many = cats not being subdivided appropriately, too few = not a valuable resource for end users
Thanks Bernard, some really good points made there, I will update my blog post to include these points.