Hi, This interview is with Interview with Fabio Cuffaro owner of Massive Links Directory by Directory-Owners.Com Q. Are you able to give us a short insight into your background? I started my career in sales 14 years ago when I was 19 years old. I sold furniture, clothes, electronics and coffee. In 2000 I started my own coffee and accessory distribution company until 2003 and then sold my company to my supplier. In 2003 I decided that I was going to start something new and that business was going to be on the Internet. Q. How did the idea of Massive Links Directory come to you? Did you expect it to be one of the industry leaders? The idea of Massive Links started when I was just learning about the Internet early in 2003. I had a tremendous learning curve ahead of me and I thought that the best thing for me was to buy a domain, a hosting package and start playing around with HTML and CSS. I had no clue on what name to use and then it came to me, Massive Links. I was going to use the site to place links to sites that I had visited and that I liked, basically it was a personal bookmark site and that’s why I chose the name Massive Links. It was a site that would contain massive amounts of links to my favourite sites. As I added daily to it I decided that I needed to create a structure and so that’s how the directory came about. Not too long after I was getting requests for submissions and that’s when I looked into making it into a real directory. When I made the move from a personal bookmark site to a commercial directory my intention was to make it into a market leader. Even though Massive Links has come a long way from its original conception there is still much to do. Q. What was your biggest challenge getting the Massive Links Directory to where it is now? When I think back there hasn’t been a “biggest challenge†but rather a constant battle to improving the directory structure, fighting spam and combing the directory for sites that have changed over time to something that is nowhere near what the site was when it was first submitted or added. As for recognition that is also ongoing as we are always working towards exposing the directory to new people in different markets. Q. What are the main points that make Massive Links Directory stand out from all the rest? The main thing is the lack of third party advertisers in the site and the overall simple design that makes it easy to find information. The directory is set up for people to actually use the directory as an alternative to search engines. People submit to directories for different reasons and we take all of this into consideration but our highest priority is to provide traffic to sites that are listed in the directory. That is the reason that we don’t have any third party advertisers anywhere in the directory categories, so that we could provide the maximum exposure for the sites and the possibility for them to get traffic from us. We do have third party advertisers in our search results because even though there are thousands of sites in the directory we are still limited to what we could provide. The feed that we get to supplement the search is done to help consumers get the info that they’re looking for. This feed is clearly stated as being a sponsored result. Q. In the start of your venture into the directory sector would you say the philosophy “you have got to lose money to make money†apply to Massive Links Directory? I don’t believe in losing money. I do believe in investing money so that there will be short or long term results. ROI is important to any business surviving and anything that is losing money should be fixed or removed. Of course there are mistakes along the way and losing money is a fact that needs to be dealt with constantly. Behind every decision to spend money there must be a reason behind it to bring back positive results. Q. Have you got any future plan to expand Massive Links Directory features? Yes, we are looking at ways to improve Massive Links and to maximize the exposure for the sites that are listed. We have a long list of features that will be added to the directory over time. Q. With Massive Links Directory, when could you tell that you was on to a “winner� I realized that there was real possibility when people were requesting to be listed in the directory when it was just a personal bookmark site. Q. With Massive Links Directory was it you first success or did you have trial and error with others sites before you got it right with Massive Links? Massive Links was the first site and the first site to be successful. The trial and error should be looked into before actually launching a website. Too many times people start up websites and then realize that they can’t make money from it. I believe in market research and then launching a site if it really has potential and then get behind the site and keep persevering and pushing forward until it starts bringing back results. Q. Who do you think is your direct rival in the directory sector? Of course there are lots of directories out there but the bulk of them are in it for the same reason and that’s to sell links. There are only a few directories out there that I believe to be rivalling Massive Links. I do think that the real battle right now is for market awareness of directories over search engines. Q. With many website owners now placing high level's of attention to SEO, do you think that directories will have to evolve to keep up with the changes on the internet? Directories like any business always have to keep up with demands. There are changes that happen throughout the year and these have to be looked at closely and then make changes accordingly. Q. In your view what is the biggest challenge for directory owners in this day-an-age? The biggest challenge for directories today is their battle to be recognized as an alternative to search engines. People say “how can directories be an alternative to search engines?†Search engines are an important part of everyday life in the world today and really we need them but many times for research purposes directories are a great alternative to search engines. The main reason is because in a good directory you don’t have to sift through spammy websites like in a search engine. The sites that are listed in a directory have been reviewed by a human and are usually of good quality. It’s easy, you find the right category and there you go, all listed for you with no spam. It’s very straightforward. Q. What do you think are the main key points to a successful directory? I think that the main key points to running a quality directory are to build a solid directory structure and to place quality sites that are relevant to those categories. I’ve seen some directories that have one hundred categories and keep on placing all the submissions they get within those same categories. You then have categories with hundreds of listing within one category. How is this helpful to anyone trying to find information? If it’s strictly for SEO purposes then those sites are listed with sites that are not relevant with each other and buried tens of pages deep within the category. It becomes a FFA page within a directory. Q. With so many directories, what do you see for the future of the industry? The directory industry is the same as anything else. There are directories that will succeed because they are well planned out and have a vision for the future. Then there will be the majority of directories that will come and go. The problem is that people “try†to get into the directory business. Most of the time if you “try†something you’ll usually fail at it. I think that the directory business will always have a place on the Web. Q. Do you own any other sites or scripts? Yes, Inwurx Media, my company owns several sites. One of those sites is Total Web Talk http://www.totalwebtalk.com, a webmaster forum. The forum part of the site is growing and has a member base of over 2200 members and on that site we also have a suite of webmaster tools to help webmasters move forward in their Web endeavours. One of the most exciting tools that we have is a directory tracker program. The program will keep track of your submissions with the directories that are found within that list. It will check if your site is listed in those directories and will let you know if it is. If your site isn’t listed then you could go ahead and submit to the directories that don’t have your site listed and the tool will help you keep track of the submissions. We have a new project under development that is quite exciting but that will be announced at a future date. Q Are you able to run a very successful directory and still have a personal life? Properly balancing a business and personal life is imperative. I work Monday to Friday with ten to twelve hour shifts and then Saturdays from eight to noon. After that I focus my time with the family. Q. How do you relax at the end of the day? I usually go home, have dinner with the family and play with my children. I occasionally enjoy smoking a good cigar with a friend. http://www.directory-owners.com/showthread.php?p=4471#post4471
To be honest, I didn't even know of massivelinks.com until now. Nice to know I'm not the only one working massive(no pun intended hehe) hours. Everyone else seems to be doing just the same. thanks for the interview Podman.
Nice Ineterview MGS.Well honestly I didn't even know of massivelinks.com aswell . Keep up the good work Thanks and Good Luck, Saad
Got many interviews lined up Next one is in 2 weeks! If you like what you see from Directory-Owners.com you can alway slink back -Dan
Hi, Never heard about massivelinks.com here at Digital Point Forums. Anyway another good interview podman. Keep it up. Hope one day you will take my interview too Just kidding....
Massivelinks is a very well established web directory, recommended! And another gem is the twt forums.. Good interview.
I have been listed in Massive links for sometime and Fabio has helped me in the past with my site. He is a great guy