Life After PR - Yes or No

The internet is a lot bigger than anyones self interest. However its self interest which should drive the formation of a representative Association. I would like to see it happen and I think its going to be a lot easier than anyone realises. In its simplest form any organisation is the sum total of its members and the starting point is to get sufficient interest from enough people, to take the first step.

I would suggest that we agree to look for half a dozen points we can all agree on and then launch come hell or high water.

 

Of course there is life before and after any event and the Directory sector is booming

 

I think, above all, the function of an association should be to define acceptable business practices and ethics. Becoming a member would add credibility to the directory (and owner). Kinda like being "hacker safe" only different Maybe "QBC safe"

Should probably also be a central point for info about directories and the directory biz. As for who should run it...that would be tough.

EDIT: Sorry...never answered the original question "is there life after PR?". Sure...it will be interesting to see how everything shakes out.

 

The truth is link building is an essential part of SEO and directories play a vital role in this process.

 

I dont think so. There are enough forums around but a list of foums would be a good idea.

This is what I had in mind. I would suggest a structure where members join and are evaluated overtime and are held accountable for the business they set up and run. Much like credit bureau.

 

It's not as simple as just launching come hell or high water, if its going to be done it would have to be done right and without ego's, bias, or greed getting in the way. The problem on forums like this demonstrates the problems that lie ahead, all the happens is childish bitching if person A posts about script A, or person B doesn't like person B's attitude and so on.

To have an association you'd have to have a committee or governing body, who's going to put thier hands up for positions? My bet is we'd all say our favourite person regardless of whether they have any real business accumen.

A lot more thought has to go into it before anything can happen and if, and only if ALL directory owners and more importantly the influencial in each field get to hold hands and sing from the same song sheet will it happen. If not you'll have it exactly like here, either phpld fan club as it has more directory owners at present than most, esyndicat is pretty close though. Or another up and coming script wanting to have thier say.

It also cost money to set something up, who's going to do the paying on that? Who's going to be the banker kind of thing? As I said, a whole lot more thought is needed before we all dive into this and at all costs if we are going to succeed there can never be a bias toward ANY one script including the one I support.

 

Time to show my hand on this thread. I emailed Chris (mytikmedia) with this concept at the end of July to gauge his feedback. Here's the original email...

THE BACKGROUND:
The web directory industry has been born out of the desire for search engine optimisation companies to generate additional back links to their own/client's sites. Directories have long been recognised as playing an integral part in the SEO process and significant revenues are generated by authority sites, such as Yahoo and Business.com. Over the past few years, many players have entered (and continue to enter) the market and whilst there are many web directories that are managed on a professional or semi- professional basis, there are also a myriad of other sites that provide a back link service, either on a free-to-list or paid review basis.

THE PROBLEM:
Despite the best efforts of others, (e.g. directorycritic.com, info.vilesilencer.com) to collate a useable list of web directories, there is still no common standard that gives SEO specialists a measure of reassurance. New 'directory of directories' concepts often fail to address the underlying problem of benchmarking. Technical benchmarking has had varying degrees of success (e.g. SEOmoz, Alexa) however, the issue of whether or not to submit to a particular directory still demands a level of trust and technical expertise from the submitter.

THE SOLUTION:
Establish an Association of Web Directories (AWD). The association would be a legal entity that has a clearly stated membership policy and a set of governance rules that applied to all members. Applicants to the scheme would need to;

- agree to certain criteria before joining.
- meet a set of defined standards.

Acting as a pressure group for the web directory business sector, the AWD would provide a collective voice and focal point for all those in the SEO industry, helping to raise standards within its membership and develop a closer working relationship with relevant industry partners.

-----------------

In my mind, this raises plenty of questions.. To the best of your knowledge, has an initiative like this been tried before? Look forward to hearing your comments.

I'll let Chris give you his response as the email correspondence was sent in confidence.

To do this properly (& it would have to be done properly for industry credibility) would require an enormous amount of work and a determination to make it succeed.

Anyone want to step up to the plate?

 

an association ... ouch ..

thts another gang entering ???

you stay in an association than you are hundred percent bound to do what the head said to do. Boycott those sites ... you have to do that. ... Not a good idea...


Life After PR << isn't this repeated about 100th time on dp now ?? Search button man its called Search button once again.

 

Not a question of a gang at all, more an industry pressure group and benchmark. Common practice in many industry sectors, so conceptually, not new.

 

This thread is very much interesting than others.

I would say only one thing

United We stand Divided We fall.

 

Agreed! Unity among the directory owners is vital.

 

Unity is one thing - and association is another.


We can stay united and support things which we like, but with an association the voice of one will die off and it will be the voice of the head which will be talking !!!

thts all

 

the real giants of directory sector are, aviva, aliva and v7n!
so, if the owners of these three directory sit together, and make an alternative for PR! a measurement for quality of directory or website! the scale can be 1 to 10 or may be on a ranking basis!!

there are plenty of directory owners arround, we can all help-promote the tool and make it a popular one!!

also set up a donation box for the tool so that everyone can have there contrubutions!

 

The trick is to keep it simple. We dont have to and should avoid creating another forum. Secondly if we agree to only address those points we can agree on we are going to cut the list of sticking points to the bone.

I see it another way. In my experience these sort of things are left to be run by the few who are suckers for punishment and that it ends up becoming a thankless and unrewarding task. Forget it . Lets turn the tables and structure it so members have an incentive to form a quality circle and that the more they do the more recognition and credibility they earn.

Membership should be open to all and should not cost a dime. Members would then build a reputation by becoming involved and by being seen to contribute to the industry. Besides setting Generally Accepted Guidelines we should also actively encourage skills development and mentoring programs for emerging directory owners.

 

This is exactly why an association would be doomed to fail, where do you get this 'Giants of the Industry' from? you got to be kidding right? I mean this with the greatest of respect to the three you mention but I could think of a lot better qualified people than the three examples you gave. All these directories owners have done is show you can get high PR and a the kudos of this 'authority status for a diectory with hardly any content by paying a small fortune in advertising to get high PR for the privalage.

I don't say for a second they shouldn't be condidered for a representative seat on any board of directors but that's about it, to put just three people with such little experience would be way off the mark. Paying out so much money for PR when it now looks sure to backfire shows that inexperience, look at the people who have always said PR is bullshit, they are the ones' we need to be considering.

To run an association you need at least a group of 'knowlegable' directors that represents the industry fairly, certainly with more knowledge than a couple of years. They would need to come from all corners of the planet to give proportional representation and then some, the list would go on and on.

There's no easy way to set this kind of thing up, there's so much logistical planning to do, so instead of jumping in and throwing in unelected leaders let's consider just exactly what the purpose of an association would be, how this could be achieved and how much money it would cost.

@The Owners of the three directories, please don't take this as an afront at your hard work, I fully respect you for it, I'm just saying what many others are thinking but are afraid to say. But in all honesty it needs to be said.

 

You're right about the logistical planning (I'll leave it for others reply to your other comments) but it's not an impossibility; just takes a lot of hard work. The purpose I can see is the common voice and the fact that any association is always taken more seriously than a lone voice, irrespective of who the lone voice belongs.

 

I agree with you Phoenix, we can't just nominate leaders based on financial status or such. It have to be the most knowledgeable of each field.

The ones which have proved to master in the field ....

I believe if we have an association it needs to be divided into many sections... and they can be in the finances section as i know all 3 are very good with money and managing it.

but as the head directories ... i think it needs to be somebody who is good with programming / designing / SEO / any and all aspect you can think off...

tht should be the leader.

than underneath should be different boards like advertising control / law / etc etc

a purpose of this association should be maintaining and showing a quality standard for directories not just putting out orders to say do this and do that.

If your site is qualified than you should get a check like CERTIFIED something ... which should be tested and all by one group.


everyone can be a member .... its a member who talks not the electoral colleges << or the board members only.


but this is a very complex thing as phoenix said ... much much much more planning so it just doesn't fall apart.


and the status shall be done by the most contribution ...activeness and such

 

Why do we need leaders? Particularly to start with? Why cant we just debate the issues involved without killing it off beore we start? We dont have to address all the horny toads in the lilly pond in one go. Most things start off small and then grow if there is a purpose.

Why should it cost anything more than a domain and the cost a couple of tatty logo's members can place on their sites. We could then use this forum and as many of the other forums that want to participate to discuss issues. If we agree to only address those we can agree on we are not going to find it difficult to execute them or find someone who is both qualified and prepared to execute them.

In the process besides the debates we start we will have taken that first step we need to start growing this into what it could be and what each of us would like it to be.

 

You are so right, I think its a case of we're all wanting to run before we can walk kind of thing. Debating is good, it will give us good ideas without committing ourselves to arguing over who should or shouldn't be in charge kind of thing.

I'll put my thinking cap on for sure and see if I can at least give some ideas even if they aren't taken on board.