Fellow directory owners and webmasters, The recent runner up in a popular directory contest makes me think and reflect on what guidelines do these contests follow or are these contests merely a traffic strategy... The design of the runner of the contest looks like a copy of a well known directory and the winner has broken links on homepage as I type. Needless to mention that some directory contests put the winner on "spotlight"...not only it improves traffic to the site but also does it enhance the site's credibility as a directory. What do you think should be the jury guidelines for this type of contests? Design? Editorial integrity? Indexed pages? Back link structure? And what factors do you think should not matter...? All feedbacks appreciated
Everyone will have different criteria on what they think as important qualities in a directory. We directory owners often say: my directory, my rules (on what gets listed and what does not). The same goes for whatever directory contest you are referring to: their contest, their rules. But I can tell you how I would judge directories, if I were the one in charge of one of these competitions. (1) Content - category structure, are there alot of empty categories, are the categories filled with quality websites appropriate for that category, etc. (2) Editorial guidelines - Do they actually have guidelines, and do they follow them? Or will they list anything and everything...and in any category...as long as they receive a payment. (3) Maintenance - Is the directory filled with broken links (other than the occasional dead listing)? Are there error messages? Do all the forms work? Is there an easy and working method to contact the owner/editors? (4) Age/Activity - how old is the directory? I tend to trust older directories that have been around at least a couple of years or more, and appear to receive regular submissions. (5) Design - the least important thing. Look at the big boys in the directory industry: DMOZ, Yahoo, BOTW, Business.com, etc. None of them are going to be entering any website design contests anytime soon. No one looks through DMOZ's index wishing that they were wow'ed by fancy graphics and cool flash animations.
In my eyes and a number of others with whom I've chatted with over the years would say no, it does not enhance a site's credibility. It usually only serves as a false barometer of popularity. I've seen many contests over the years where some are either insecure or afraid of finding out where they really stand in the eyes of others that they'll resort to a number of tactics in an attempt to skew the results.
That's what I wanted to point out. When I said it enhances a site's credibility as a directory...I meant...in the eyes of general surfers and webmasters. It's evident that most of these contests are organized to showcase the contest holders' "artwork"/services only..
I think people are smarter than that. It doesn't take long when you visit a site to tell whether or not the accolades are genuine/deserved.
I started this thread following a "popular" contest that I closely observed and the winner was none but one of the privileged member of the forums where the contest was held...
Ahhh... Sometimes its a good idea to recuse oneself in such instances. Too easy to influence the lemmings.