Hey, Well this interview is with John Scott owner of V7N Directory This interview was done by Directory-Owners.com and we would like to thank John for taking part! If you have any feedback please posted Q. Are you able to give us a short insight into your background? I first got into the directory business after being a DMOZ editor. I thought DMOZ was a very noble project, a community oriented effort to organize the wealth of information that the Internet has to offer. I was disillusioned soon enough, but the concept of a quality, human reviewed web directory is still something that excites me. We’ve operated web directories for a couple years now, and it has been a great learning experience for me. Q. How did the idea of V7N directory ( http://directory.v7n.com ) come to you? That was actually an accident. I asked my graphic designer, JuggoPop ( http://www.v7n.com/forums/members/juggopop.html ) to come up with a design for a V7N Directory. I failed to specify that it would be a webmaster directory – that is, a directory of web hosts, web designers and SEO consultants. The screenshot he provided (http://www.v7n.com/directory/About/images/draft-1.gif ) convinced me to go ahead with a general, English language web directory. Since its launch, we’ve focused our efforts as an organization primary towards building a quality directory that drives traffic to the webmasters who support the project with their submissions, while at the same time providing a useful and quality directory to the general public – i.e., searchers. Q. As V7N directory is attached to a forum, how do you think it benefits the directory itself? Internet traffic tends to center around communities. I think you see evidence of this with the recent success of MySpace. I believe that having the V7N Directory attached to and supported by a community only strengthens its position. Members link to the directory. Members contribute to the directory. Members keep an eye on the quality of submissions being approved in the directory. Q. What are the day-to-day challenges of running V7N directory? Dealing with website owners. For the most part, SEO professionals write quality titles and descriptions. But website owners tend to be more abusive of our guidelines. Sometimes it can take 4 or 5 emails back and forth before it finally dawns on the website owner why we cannot list his website as “the very best of the bestâ€. Q. What promotion methods do you use? In the past, we’ve bought some high PR links. I think that buying PR is something that can get you into a bit of trouble, especially if editorial integrity isn’t maintained. We still do buy some quality linkage, but the criteria has changed. We’ll looking more for traffic and visibility rather than just PageRank. Q. The cost to submit a link to V7N Directory is $79.95. How do you decide to change this much for a submissions? There are several reasons for the submission fee being what it is, but to sum it up in one word – value. We promote the directory, we promote the specific categories, we drive search traffic to the directory and to the listings, and it all costs money. We want to be the best value web directory, though, so I would hope that we give twice as much value as other directories charging that much. Q. Who do you think is your direct rival in the directory sector? I don’t think in terms of rivalry. I support other quality directories, such as WowDirectory, Umdum and RubberStamped.org. Q. Have you got any future plan to expand V7N Directory features? Right now our focus is one expanding the category structure to include more categories, while at the same time populating those categories with authority sites. Q. With so many directories, what do you see for the future of the directory industry? Like any industry, time will tell who are the serious players and who are here to grab a quick buck. Most directories do not promote at all. That tells you a lot right there. The fact of the matter is, the web directory business enjoys a lot of cash flow; but I wouldn’t pay a single dollar to be listed in the vast majority of directories out there. It’s not about generating sales (submissions); it’s about being the best. My father used to say, don’t worry about money – just be the best and the money will be there. That’s how I approach the V7N Directory. We may be in the red with it right now. Honestly, I couldn’t say. But we will continue to grow the directory, populating it with quality sites, promoting it and driving traffic to our submitters and perfecting the category structure. We will make it the best directory on the Internet. 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? They will. Google has an advanced algorithm, and they seem to be able to sniff out crap directories. Running a directory is a lot more labor intensive than it used it be, especially the way we run V7N. The vast majority of the descriptions get rewritten from scratch. Not doing so decreases the uniqueness of the directory content and lowers its value. Q. What do you think are the main key points to a successful directory? Quality, quality, quality. Q. What are your top 5 SEO tips to give directory owners? 1. Watch who you link to. Reject submissions that violate your editorial guidelines. 2. Watch how you link to those sites you link to. Webmasters want keyword titles, but doing that decreases the value of the directory. Again, maintain editorial integrity. 3. Watch out for duplicate content. Write your own titles and descriptions, because chances are the submitter has used the identical title and description on hundreds of submissions. 4. Promote. PageRank may come and go, and if that is the only value you have to offer, Google effectively controls your revenue. Promote your directory, promote the individual categories within your directory, and drive traffic to your customers. 5. Add quality sites. Authority sites that searchers are searching for add value to the directory. Remember to serve the searcher as well as the submitter. Q. Do you own any other sites? The V7 Network operates many sites, and we use most of them to drive search traffic to the V7N Directory. An example would be Suzuki Bikes.com, a site on which the V7N Directory search box appears on every page. That site alone drives tens of thousands of searches per month. Q. How do you relax at the end of the day? I usually work from dawn to dusk without any relaxation. But just last week I was fortunate enough to find a penthouse apartment in a very entertaining district of Tokyo, with beautiful views of the city. Once I get settled in, I look forward to spending some quality time on the deck enjoying the views. Alternatively, I get drunk and streak through downtown Tokyo singing the US national anthem. Q Are you able to run a very successful directory and still have a personal life? At the moment, I’d have to say no. But we are growing our editorial staff and I anticipate being able to spend more time with my children. For more check out:- http://www.directory-owners.com/showthread.php?p=3011#post3011
Again another good interview! Wish i could go to the forum and read the whole interview but for some reason my computer shuts down completely. Anyway, Thanks for the preview and good luck on the next interview!
Hi, This is the whole interview We will ahve more very soon We have 2 ready to be published but i will wait a while before i do that -Dan
Good to show that even thought he lives in Toyko he still shows his true colours. Pride for his country