I am about to launch a paid sports niche directory. I plan to very heavily promote it and have a few original ideas up my sleve to produce massive traffic. What are the best ways to promote a niche directory, I have a budget of mid $xxx
I think a good place to start is to try to locate where a lot of sports webmasters hang out. Is there such a place? You might also try locating some sports sites and use the Google Adwords Advertise on this Site if they are using Adsense.
Advertising to other webmasters will bring you plenty of submissions, but advertising to sports fans will bring much better value to those webmasters who decide to pay you for inclusion. Ideally you want a mix of both audiences. Webmaster forums like this are probably the best place to find the former, and buying signatures seems to have worked well for Alive directory's visibility.