Yep, I agree, unless the directory is niche and an authority on a subject, it won't make a large enough profit to make it into the big leagues. I understand why many run directories, and it's just to make a bit of cash, which is fine, but they will never be anything. The way things are going in the directory world, many have crashed already and more will follow, infact Reed have recently announced a new B2b directory - and it's huge. I'd even go as far as to say this directory rivals dmoz for size, now I don't know if they are planning to take on business.com, but they could eat them for breakfast if they chose to. The only reason Reed can do this, is they are loaded with cash, (with their 80 odd portal sites including Totaljobs and Caterer.com) but don't really need to do this for the money. Nope, this is about Power games here. I reckon, the specialist engines and portals will begin aquiring other sites and engines. Some like Reed, are already putting new search services online, so it's happening. The end of the smaller guy is close.
What makes you think that EK? What experience in the directory industry have you got to quantify that remark?
Because I've been doing this for 6 years Jamie, and ownership of 2 search engines - one highly targeted (niche). I also studied off-line directories way before the web, and then studied the web closely for 3 years before setting up my engines. No offense intended, but if this directory is so Hot, why get rid of it says it all really
That being so, the statement is also a broad one that does not cover all directories and would not apply to all instances. I am glad though people are saying the general directory is dead, the more the QBC crew read this and move on the better and the sheep will follow, for the rest it will leave the dedicated directory owners with a better platform and enviroment to work with.
check here http://www.ventedoy.com/latest/ and http://www.szab.net/latest-links.html to give you some idea.
Ok, let's say for arguments sake you own a catering website. Where would you prefer to place an advert: A) Caterer.com (Reed Business owned) or B) dmoz ???
If you are curious as to why most directories don't make any serious money it boils down to a few key things. First, they are a broken business model. If you give the user the option of free or paid, they'll choose free because they're cheap. Also, unless your directory provides some value that other directories don't then you have no sustainable competitive advantage. Second, if you are pushing 3 adsense blocks, other banners, etc.. all at once on the page, it is a terrible user experience and is very unprofessional. Online marketers willing to spend real money will NOT spend it on a garbage directory filled with ads. If you are charging for submission, then the submissions ARE advertising, drop the AdSense already! Last, if you are pushing the "SEO" or "Google Influencing" abilities of your links then you're doomed to be banned at some point or another. Any site that enables the gaming of Google in any way shape or form and is dumb enough to advertise that as a benefit, is bound to be smacked down hard and get deindexed/delisted/etc. by Google. That just isn't a great long term proposition. Oh yeah, and if you are foolish enough to be encouraging reciprocal linking, then you're also just asking for your site to get banned from Google since they've mentioned more than once that excessive reciprocal linking can get you penalized or banned. The bottom line is that building a "free link directory" and expecting to make any money is foolish. Slapping together a generic template and a php link directory script does not constitute a working business model. It just doesn't work that way.
Wow... Very good post Ideastone. You've made me re-think the whole project I was starting and your input gives me some solid ideas for changing the basic business model in a way that's more sustainable. You're right that it's really a double bind for directory owners; it ends with either being deindexed/delisted or remaining profitless. It seems like establishing a new SEO friendly directory is pretty hard these days as well... Thanks and take care.
like all niches, there are time ups and downs ,,and this is very serious coz it deals with Google rules....wasn't sure if one directory can give at least $200 per month these days...just find other niche bro