I came across this directory -ThomasNet. Search engines will never substitute quality niche directories.
Wow! One of the best niche sites I've seen. Gives me hope that one day one of my niche sites could become as respected by Google. That's the first PR7 I've seen on a niche directory.
These guys have been printing offline directories for decades ... very well know industrial registry. Hope it doesn't take me that long.
Such directories are not operated by a webmaster or a couple of editors. I think it's really about doing business. Unlike many directories owners like us, they are more "legitimate". No chance for us to get to that level while our attempt of doing business is rather mere quick-to-get-money scheme
I'll probably get there next year. My question is: Who is going to have the first phpld directory with a PR8?
but what do you define as 'that level'? I don't agree that we cannot get there and i don't think alot of the major directory owners will agree that theirs is a quick-to-get-money scheme. If anything, i think most will say that it is anything but quick.
The one to watch skillipedia dir . I am still looking how to link it to all the useful features in skillipedia : Q&A, Blog, Forums , Reviews, services request, press releases,etc. there will be more than listing web sites. As for those who are running and coding their web directory - everything is possible.
I thought it was rather obvious, but my attempt of defining "that level" would be; 1. A directory as a company rather than a website with more professional approach to advertise and market, excluding mere link submissions to free directories. 2. Owned and operated by professionals who have higher level of knowledge of a particular niche with degrees or certificates. I may be looking for wrong places, but, I don't mean to criticize any DP member or be disrespectful, I have never seen a directory owned by a directory owner who has a solid reputation for what the directory does and recognized by many, not just among DP members and webmasters but the general public Directory generates money without having an extensive education or training. Anyone who can spend time to read threads in DP could start one and making money pretty easily without much of preparation time (takes only few months to 6 months). Especially if you can invest money, you can even make a PR6 directory without much knowledge of SEO as many people think of only Google (or its PageRank) anyway If yahoo's owners kept it as a directory on their own, it would have never be like that big in the Internet. Many people had to join, share knowledge and experiences to create it as the biggest portal. Now, having said all that, there is a small chance for anyone under one condition and requirement; Condition : You need luck Requirement: Creativity Luck, in terms of unpredictable, uncontrollable thing, can change anything, and everybody can obtain it. Some special effort could trigger something to bring you luck, but that possibility is still a small scale, so it's a matter of luck. Creativity, on the other hand, can be presented by one's years of experiences or trainings or gained knowledge even though luck part still gets involved because it has to be something people like or pay attention to. So, how many directory owners out there thinking like this? If someone is thinking like that, maybe then his/her directory would reach to "that level". I think so many of them are in their comfort zone, creating "another directory" just like you have seen in the past. Well as long as it generates money, right?
$475 a year for an enhanced listing https://secure.thomasnet.com/promote-your-business/order_enhanced.html I wonder if thats a for a "review" or a listing.
No, I think none of us are illegitimate, or so I hope. I don't know how others would think, but if I am asked, I would probably say, "less legitimate". Here are reasons why I think so. 1. Google themselves don't encourage any link building SEO. 2. Many think of SEO = link building, and newer directories offer such services and people recognize it. 3. Some extreme webmasters think selling links is a part of BH techniques. I do disagree that selling links to be considered as a part of BH, so that's why I would not think directory businesses are illegitimate, and of course, it's not illegal either. I am sure old directories and directory owners that started their businesses way back didn't think of their businesses mere "link sellers". I would think their reasons why they started directories are very different from the reasons of today's directory owners'. So the bottom line is that if a directory is not presenting itself to be a link building service or link seller, I think it's more legitimate, easily considered as an online advertising business. But when a website does something like this; www.w3.org/Consortium/sup to make money, it's hard for me to say such practice is legitimate business. (I'm sure many webmasters would think the donation to them is actually a matter of "buying links". And even a rumor says G is not letting pass PR points from w3.org) Reference: According to an online dictionary I used, legitimate means; 1. Being in compliance with the law; lawful 2. Being in accordance with established or accepted patterns and standards 3. Based on logical reasoning; reasonable 4. Authentic; genuine
I might sound negative , but no directory in this forum could be, even, compared to ThomasNet. Listing web sites is something ; listing services is something else Directories having enough backlinks might be popular in Google but not as popular and useful in real life. That's my humble opinion,
They are popular because they got thousands of natural links, which make the directory very stable for a long time. I don't know how other directories do, but my directory is dependent on purchased backlinks (artificial) so even though it ranks top 10 in Google with many keywords, no wonder mine is not known to many. A site built by artificial backlinks can be very shaky as well. Well, I simply don't need to compare to those directory giants. I'm satisfied with what I do but humbly admit my directory is a mere link-selling mediocre one.