My new directory is doing very well,over 1100 links in 2 months (no spam),its getting indexed fast too and my pr prediction is 3. It's taking up quite a bit of my time and quite a few major companies are putting in free listings.Should I go paid only..leaving the links that are already there in place of course.......or should I go strictly paid. There is an option for featured links for $10/year but hardly any takers. Any advice would be appreciated.Thanks.
I would lock it down for paid entries if you plan to in the future. No sense filling it up with links that gain you no revenue.
Keep it free as those visitors are coming to you is making your alex rating high. Many submitters check alexa rating first
Who does pay for links? I don't mean that sacastically. Can some of the people here that run directories shed light on this?
Well, there are certainly plenty of people out there buying and selling links. Just check out the Link Sales forum on Digital Point. Of course, those links being sold are temporary links, usually for a month. Most pay directories sell lifetime links, a few (Yahoo, Site Sift) sell by the year. And why buy a link in a PR 3 site? Because chances are that PR of that directory will go higher, definitely not likely to go down unless the owner is doing something very bad in Google's eyes. Also, people will gladly pay for a link in PR0 directory if the directory looks well-run because they assume that that directory will do well in terms of PR in the future (I recently bought a couple PR0 directory listings). Plus, when a directory is new the links are cheap. Are you going to wait until the directory has a PR of 6 or 7 to purchase a listing? All of a sudden that 5 or 10 dollar link you had a chance to buy now costs 50 or 60 bucks.
You are right there!I haven't had a single submission since I went paid a few days ago.Hopefull that will change when I get some PR.
With the sudden boom in directory numbers in recent times, submitters are spoilt for choice ! The key to survival for a new dierctory will be providing targetted visitors to listed sites IMO. I myself have started a new business directory just one month ago. Initially i kept it free for first 10 days or so, then added a paid listing option. I understand that expecting people to go for paid submission when the directory is new is asking a lot. So i donot expect people to come and pay in droves initially. I am developing the directory with more features and content. I am also using some marketing tactics and expect to deliver targetted visitors to listed sites in another 3 months or so.
Yes, pagerank will help. Traffic would be a great bonus and I think directories have to try to deliver traffic, however it seems to me that most webmasters do not expect much traffic from directory listings. To many webmasters, a listing is another link, and some directories provide better quality links than others. With my directory, submissions often come in clumps. I may go a day or two without getting any and then get 5 or 10 in one day. I suppose counting submissions/month is the way to keep track at first. If things get bust than submissions/week would be the way to keep track of things.
I think paid directories are doomed to be very small. shift your revenue model to go after some other kinds of revenue and keep the directory free.
Isn't a small but profitable directory much better than a large unprofitable one? I suppose it's true that some free directories make money selling homepage links and everypage links. That's the only alternative I see and it's more work thanks to the large number of submissions.