I am building a directory similar to yell.com but for a niche 'Business Name', 'Address', 'Tel Number' will be the main fields. The problem I have is: I want to fill the database with contacts quickly. The contacts will be non paying - I just need it to be full so it looks professional. How do I do this? To buy a list for one category in one area costs many £££ or $$$ Is there a cheap efficient way to fill the database with all the 'IT stores' in the uk or 'Network Cabling Companies' in the UK...etc
A few options are - hire an editor to find and add listings - find and add listings yourself - purchase a database <but you end up with duplicate content> The database is what drives a directory so build a good one that is unique.
Sadly I cannot add them myself because there is about 30 categories, and for each category is about 200 areas, and for each area I want about 10 - 20 listings. I need about 120,000 listings. Why would a database have duplicate content? Thanks.
Do you mean duplicate content with your current database or with an outside directory? I'm guessing you mean the prior. Do you know where someone could find a directory database in a given niche?
Its impossible to fill a directory Professional looking doesn't come from having a load of contacts in it, why do you feel the need to rush it? If you try and do this some quick way all your going to do is end up looking like the other sites out there that have done this already. Then it doesn't look professional at all it just looks like you duplicated. "I am building a directory similar to yell.com but for a niche" No your not my cousin used to work for them, lol, its teams of people so yours would not be like them at all. Theres no benefit from what you plan to do.
If you are purchasing a database from a service, that database could be sold any number of times by that service. So any site that purchases and uses the database in addition to your site would be duplicating your content.
Why? What sites? Why does content have to be duplicated?? A directory needs to be full so when someone searches 'gardener in London', a list of gardeners appears. What are you talking about? When I say like yell, I mean a directory that displays 'Telephone number', 'Business Name', 'Address' and not an SEO directory for people to submit websites. I will tell you one benefit. If someone searches an empty directory, they find no results, they leave. My website is not just a directory, it is a resource, the directory is there as a free tool.
Ahh I see. That is not a problem for me. Yahoo Listings, Thomson Local and Yell.com have the same listings 'duplicated'. The site is not for me, it is a friends site, he already has 4000 UV a day on the site, with a low bounce rate and a relatively popular forum. The directory would be there as an extra feature. If for example you are on a networking forum trying to get help and you want to find a local 'computer repair shop' you go to yell/thomson local/Yahoo listings...but if you can make that search without leaving the forum then even better.
Not sure what you mean. Again, theres no such thing as a full directory. People dont search empty directories.
I'd suggest start by filling some of the categories yourself and then hire an editor(s) to carry on the job by adding content based on the criteria of what you've added yourself.
The problem though is I am not sure where to take the content from. Filling categories with listings from Yell or Yahoo would break their terms and conditions.
There's only a finite number of options to filling a directory... 1. Do your own research and add the listings. 2. Submissions from the businesses/website owners. 3. Pay someone to research and find listings for you. 4. Buy/beg/borrow/steal a database. 5. Some combination of the first 4.
There's a lot of good suggestions in this thread. Like swedal, pipes, ymc, and syted noted, the best way is not the fastest way. Take your time and build a quality directory even if you can only add a few listings per day. The idea is to make your directory valuable for the visitor, not just the submitter.
1. Don't try to do it all yourself, there are plenty of good directory editors who can help with this. (of course you have to pay) 2. You may want to buy a company database for this. 3. If you can afford an offline process works best, also allow businesses to add themselves to your directory
It takes years of hard work to develop a directory. No shortcut will leave you with a quality human edited directory.
Interesting, thanks. I have found a number of databases for sale for about $500 - $1000, however I am not sure If I could get in legal trouble for using them. I might buy an email or fax list and send out mass to all companies in an area, i.e, all 'Shoe Repair Companies', hopefully they will then go online and register to the site. It would be worth them registering because the site has 4000 uv a day who could potentially be interested in using their service.