My response to a recent MFA submission: "Sorry, piss poor design, too much adsense and not enough content."
you said it in email? I have an automated bot on innermobiles.com which will say"Your looking for more money" to MFA sites via a javascript!
I just said it in the PayPal rejection message, the guy should have better known better, he's got quality legit sites and he has used my directory a few times. Check out the site: usedcardealers.ltd.uk Like I'm going to approve that piece of crap, I always thought you had to be a Ltd company to get one of those names as well.
It happens trust me.... Im not one to reject many sites as i feel we all try our best BUT i had someone the other day submit a featured link for a shopping (clothing site) and had to refund.. trust me i hated doing it but i would have been laughed at ( if i approved ) as it was 1 picture and a bunch off banners so i sent the owner a message to please buy a website and then we will re-review. thx malcolm
You on about the orange one with an adsense banner at bottom and top? I just had a look at it and even though it does have adsense it still drills down pretty deep and has valid content on it http://usedcardealers.ltd.uk/wales/thecaremporiumabertillery.html is an example. What's the matter with utilizing adsense, its just the same as the crap on many sites that offer only it has adsense instead of 'sponsored by so and so directory'. It's always a toughy making the call on what's piss taking and genuine business sense. Empty shelves don't sell kind of thing, same with empty space. If we're being honest apart from the logo the design is as good as your own site except you've not got adsense. I would have taken his money to be honest as I've seen a heck of a lot worse. Respect to your own views though, nice to see high standards.
The design not better then my own? Biz-Dir is straight forward, but the colors go nicely and it is neat and tidy, I received many compliments about my SEOCO site even though it is made from a template.
With just links and AdSense - I too would have rejected the site. Some-times its very tricky to review sites. Today - I had to spend more than 30 mins to review a site who put adsense in such a way that it looks like MFA. But it also has big contents on pages in the form of articles. I was really confused --finally decided to approve it. brazilian-wax.net
I like the straight forward clean looking design, got to be one of my better investments. A great value directory! Thanks Brian
Alot of em are just ripped content, they will chop it up a bit, but it is still ripped content, I always look for original content. As soon as I see those little adsense blocks it raises a flag, I then look at what the site is doing, what is it's purpose and a lot of the time I come to the conclusion that it is only there for adsense, I would say I reject at least 20% of all paid submissions, I think it is the PR and the cheap prices that attracts them, I might have to put my prices up soon.
Speaking as a submitter rather than a directory owner (and one of the 20% you rejected) can I ask why you think a business model built around adsense or affiliates is necessarily worse than a business model built around selling links (like a directory). In a perfect world they are all flawed models, and we should all build sites for the general benefit of the public, not for our own pockets, but we don't (at least I don't) but I wouldn't say one business model is better or worse than the other. OK MFA sites should be excluded where the intention is to trick and deceive people into clicking but I'm thinking of information sites which also have adsense on. Not complaining - you've got a good directory and there should be more that are so selective, I'm just interested. Cheers
Was it BigTangle that I rejected? It looks O.K to me today. Valid point about the information sites, I will except them providing they don't go too mad with the adsesnse (1 block per page is O.K. maybe two if it is a big page), providing it is in a side bar not right at the top of the page above the content, providing the content is totally original and useful and providing the site looks good.
The site was www.gites.francethisway.com. It IS affiliate links and adsense, I can't deny it! But it makes people happy, they book a holiday, hire a car etc so I would think it's a valid site. And its part of francethisway.com which has lots of useful info (albeit spattered with adsense!) As I say, I'm not complaining, I'm just interested in where a directory owner thinks the lines should be drawn. Cheers
I agree with you Rasputin, but each directory owner is the king of his little domain and makes those decisions. Google is one of the most successful business in the world and they don't mind listing those type of sites. I think that site http://www.gites.francethisway.com/ is pretty nice, I would not have a problem with approving it. Feel free to submit them to my PR5 directories (2ListNow.com, Submit4Backlinks.com and WRdir.com). Dave E considering your high standards I was suprised to find this as one of your recently approved sites killerdirectory.com.
Killer Directory is my site and I am getting a custom design made at the moment, wanted to get some link juice pumped into it ready for when the new design gets put on, I wouldn't normally approve it but there will be content going on there in the next day or so, so that is O.K. I think you will find that all other sites are of a high standard.
All down to personal taste Dave, I like your neat site as I did the other one. But partial to Orange at the min as I'm one of the editors for the orange pages in my sig so got no choice. Really is a case of personal choice, adsense is a waste of frikkin time if you ask me but no on does.
The only reason I put adsense is because I want to offer at least something to visitors when there is no listing in a category. It makes my directory useful and create a positive impression than an "empty" directory. As long as you're for the long run and not trying to make a quick buck adsense is a great feature for your niche directory. Starting a new niche directory takes a lot more than I thought. Please don't put my niche directory in your MFA folder. I also want a piece of the pie, but it is not easy at the beginning. I'm afraid your including a lot of websites in your MFA category when in fact they have no intention to be one. This term is becoming too general for many - it only takes to see ADSENSE to press the rejection button.
When you see adsense on a general directory or on a website selling something it always makes me wonder why someone would send away potential customers to the competition for a few pennies. That said I do have adsense on my health directory right now to fill out the column and I guess if I see any health directories there I will probably filter them out. I think adsense is good for most if not all information sites. I have had it on many directories in the past for months and it really does not making very much, my guess is that if you have enough traffic to make anything off of adsense you are probably better off using that space for something else.
Consider what the average conversion rate is for an ecommerce site and it's easy to understand why people try to monetise their traffic. Not every visitor leaves as a customer.
Well what happens if the customer just didn't (or couldn't) buy right then, on the first visit. If you send them elsewhere you might have guaranteed you losing the sale. A good example is a directory: visitor sees $25 submission for review fee and thinks they will bookmark the site for when they can afford it. Sees adsense $14.95 for PR6 Link and clicks it and buys then never comes back to your site. Without adsense you might have made $25 tomorrow or next week from this customer but instead you lost them and got .11 in exchange. Don't get me wrong I do believe you have a valid point but surely the example I have given does happen and it would be prudent business advice for many sites to not bother with adsense or at least filter out the direct competition if possible.