I've been reading this forum for about 10 months. I've also been through the "Typical questions from directory owners" thread. But neither have helped me. I'm seeking advise from other high PR directory owners. What is the smartest monetization strategy? To this point, we've only done the very obvious. Adsense, and a few other affiliate links. Our major focus has been on raising the membership and PR of the site by strictly enforcing our submission policy and human-review of everything. We get a ton of spam and junk, which we have to wade through and toss out to keep the site clean. We're happy to see that this part is working well in terms of Google page rank, even though the occassional crap slips through. We now need to turn our attention toward revenue. Where to now? Here is the list of ideas we're considering: 1) Charge for submissions? 2) Charge for links / advertising? 3) Some type of social networking function? 4) Sell products directly? 5) Forum? 6) Charge for blogging on the site? 7) Build a formal ad network? Many thanks for your thoughts...
Hi Champ, hope your doing well. not sure if there is any real answer in stone for all, each person will find ways dependand on thier directory and its use. Where to now? Here is the list of ideas we're considering: yes you could if this is the approach your directory takes but to keep quality some $ help. as above can help if suits the directory you could but do you need the hassle ? might help but do you need the hassle you could, we are looking at this but i am not sure if i can bother with it as all of the above. I think there are few things you left out, 1. always keep your directory standards high, do not let it turn to crap with new additions / to much work to control it. 2. promotion, you need to promote your directory, it may be the best but if no one knows about it , its no good. 3. with all of the above, only make small measured changes in test mode, monitor the outcome and if working roll it out, if not scrap it.
Many thanks.. You've given me a few things to think about I hadn't had on the list. I think we're short on promotion. Any great ideas there?
I'd say "medium well." From what I've read from other Directory web masters, it's not too bad. I've heard some don't even break-even... We do much better than that. But it's not a "business".