Is there some people go to directory to find informations?

Hi there, I wonder about directory site visitors. From my experiences with my own directory
- 85% of visitors come and submit their resources then leave.
- 10% of visitors come from search engine, didn't stay long then leaves
- 5% of visitors come and stay at long (over 30 mins.)
But I do not know exactly what're they doing when enter directories?? Anyone knows??

 

I am not surprised by your experience. I do not think a directory is going to be widely used for information unless:

1. it is very well established and well organized;
2. it has strong theme and is regarded as an expert source in that area; or
3. it is a part of a well established site and is more like an extended links area

None of this is to say that you cannot come up with the next best universal directory or that you are not going to create a directory which has a new and powerful way of displaying sites and matching them to the users' needs. Perhaps something that learns from a user's searches and responses to the websites shown.

I suspect the hardest time for all directories is in the beginning, when they have not yet reached critical mass. However, I am not sure how many entries is takes to reach critical mass -- 50% or 75% coverage of top sites in a topic -- 100,000 or 500,000 listings for a general pupose directory.

I know that from my own browsing I will look through directories -- aka links pages -- at a specific website if I specifically interested in the topic. Otherwise, I will move along. I also know that when I visit a directory, I want to see links match the category. I hate it when I visit something which says sports and there are entries for viagra.

 

This will sound dumb and obvious, but:

No one will really use your directory unless they find it easy to navigate and useful. If you provide good thorough descriptions and are categorized so someone could find a realtor in a very small town I think you will have luck helping people. Right now it is too small and hard to navigate.

 

Thank you for very useful comment. I'll try to add city categories to my directory.

 

Good luck, I hope ot helps, maybe you could start with a little city near your own and see if it gets any traffic

 

over 30 minutes? what can they do in all that time, except to submit 50 sites?