I am a bit confused, I have purchsed a directory script, have purchased a hosting plan as well as a domain. I was planning to make a general directory as most of the people are doing here, and try my luck to promote it. Now I am confused as to start with what One option is that I keep on with the plan and create a general directory and start promoting it and make it to the size of DMOZ Second option is that I just create a health directory, and only with sites related to health and related issues. This is because I am a medical doctor by profession, so I would be hopefully able to better manage the health directory. I have also a few doc friends who are also ready to contribute in this directory in evaluating and adding websites. Now if I go with only health directory, I think I will lose a major audience and market Of course I cannot manage both, as I have limited amount of time because of my professional commitments, but would be able to manage sometime to easily run one directory. Please can you people help me out with what would be better if I have to select one option. I dont want to create a link farm sort of thing, but a directory with good links in both cases. Thanks a lot in advance.
My suggestion is you run 2 directories. They can support each other. I think it is not hard to manage.
I'll say to better focus on a single General directory first. Build it a big as you can. Starting a directory for a certain category wont help. You'll lose a larger amount of traffic.
Since you have such a strong knowledge in your field I would suggest you stick with what you know. Niche sites can and do rank fairly well in the search engines and your site could end up becoming a true resource. Unless you do something spectacular with a general directory or have oodles of time and money to throw at it, you will be hard pressed to rise above the numerous others already out there. Additionally, niche sites will receive less submission traffic - that's a double edged sword. Less submissions means less time to maintain the site. Less submissions does mean less submission traffic. But, any owner of a niche directory will tell you that they receive far more non-submitting visitors than most general directories do. Good luck with your project. whichever route you decide to take.
Niche directories get a lot less traffic and a lot less submitters, but if you promote it like a crazy person and have all quality links... you will get enough traffic and high quality traffic! Some day Quality is better than Quantity For example, if you had ads all about medical field... and all your traffic was medical or doctor related, i bet you would get a HUGE Click-Through Rating.
Number of links alone does not equate to quality or true value of a directory. It has never been that simple. With a medical niche, I would suspect that the Adsense values are quite high in some specialties and could make the site much more successful than an average general directory. It is a much more attainable goal to be the DMOZ of all things medical than to become the next DMOZ in general and still maintain any prior professional commitments.
If you go with a niche directory, I would suggest you narrow it's scope even further, say towards a certain specialty. I have a general directory and my best submitters are always in my health category. Dental and Cosmetic Surgery. You can still have sub-cats, but if you run a health realted directory, it's still general in nature. Are you planning to run it paid or free, or both? The more specific directory will do better as paid while general can be run both ways.
I am really thankful to all for your suggestions. I am getting more inclined to at least start with health directory, which I know about at least to some extent. There was also a suggestion of making a general directory, but concenterating on the health portion the most, and promoting. and then if the time permits, start promoting other sections. As far as paid directory or unpaid is concerned, I think that it should be free for information-only sites/pages. For e.g. in Alzheimer's cat, any site providing good info about the disease should be freely listed, but any commercial products listed should be charged. This way I will be able to create a good site collection. Please guide me with anymore help or suggestions or comments. Thanks a lot for the time.
Hello... Always go with what you are comfortable with.... Niche directories are great if you find the need for demand Health is a good area if you know it then expand if you see it a wise decision. thx malcolm
I would recommend that you should NOT even try.. Niche directory has many advantages even though it may grow slower than general directories in general. You can get ranked high in SEs fairly easily with niche directories.
Go with a niche directory, because you have the expertise and the interest in the subject area. It would also be a good promotional point, since most directories are run by webmasters and tech types rather than doctors. But the most pertinent question is, why do you want to start a directory anyway? If it is for money, forget it: you will almost certainly make much more in a shorter time by focusing more on your current occupation. It takes a considerable investment of time to build up a directory until it can bring you decent returns, especially if you insist on making it a high-quality resource. If you want to do it for the betterment of the internet, by compiling a list of trusted sources of information for medical professionals, then go for it.
I would agree that health directory is the best option for you. Stick to it, make it good and don't forget to promote it offline. If you get to 150+ uniques per month, you can integrate adsense and enjoy.
yes, I think I should work on the health directory. No doubt I will lose a major portion of submissions, but I think this is the way the things work in life. There is a story of a monkey in which he entered a room in absence of his owner. There was a bottle with a almonds there, he pushed his claw and in the bottle to get almonds, but he tried to grasp almonds as mush as possible, when he tried to get his claw out, it was not possible because the after forming a fist the bottle neck could not let it out. Meanwhile the owner entered the room, now the option was to leave some almonds and take some almonds, thereby reducing the diameter of fist and take it out, but he kept on pulling, not ready to leave anything from his grip. The owner came near and slapped the monkey, so as a resultant vector, all was gone from his grip. So I think that I should stick to a health directory, invest on it, promote it and grow it to some reasonable level, and make it a good source for health reference on the internet.
I'm sure I heard/read somewhere that they use that technique to capture monkeys in India Good luck with your directory!