Something that I've always struggled with with many directories, my own and others, is who they are talking to. One the one hand, I try to promote a directory as a resource for users, on the other hand I'm trying to pull in advertisers. And here's the dilemma, because I can never find the good middle ground that presents to both sides in a good way! Can you post a directory to this thread that you think has got the balance right.
That is a very easy answer, you would not look for a balance, your directory needs to focus on the user, these are the people who use the directory ( hey in theory ), the advertiser also wants you to do this, it is why they will advertise with you. A newspaper does one thing it sells the product and or service to the reader, by doing this well and with a large ciculation it draws the advertisers. Your directory is the same
There are few directories with no empty categories and useful listings, so its hard to say. Make your site awesome for end users and the advertisers will come themselves
I think the middle ground might be a new type of directory, one that has a lot more than just listings. My goal with my new network is to build portals that cover many different faucets of a niche so that visitors have lots of choices and pages to dig into and advertisers will get a chance to target their niche more accurately. Take a look at my Music Directory Portal, to see what I have in mind. I want to also add in a forum once I build up a bit of traffic.
You got my immediate attention with the Zeppelin blog post! Good luck with that project and keep us informed.
The more you try to appease "advertisers" the further away you move from your users. Forget trying to find a middle or common ground. Build it for the users, advertisers will follow.
And if Google is the only real user besides the folk who frequent these forums? Sorry if you see this is a wild throw but its also a question I asked and I came up with an answer no one really likes.
Workshop, I am confused, are you telling us that no one in real life reads / or will read a directory and that we should all forget about appearance and wasting money on layout and desings, then simply use our directories as link farms ?
don't understand what the conflict is. Can't you achieve both at the same time? When you build a site that attracts visitors, advertisers will be attracted too. Guess the main conflict is when the advertisers want to put stuff that will drive traffic away, then it is clear, go with visitors....
What I am saying is that very few people outside the users of these forums ever visit and read directories, yes. This might change given time and a change of direction but right now that's the way I see it working. Like everyone else, the look and feel we have elected to use on our directories is nothing more than window dressing. We are trying to brand our work and drive a message home. But graphics or the lack of graphics are not the issue. To answer the question asked in the OP we first need to establish who we are talking about. We need to identify who the users are, whats drawing them and even more importantly who the Advertisers are.
It's a valid point, but not applicable to one of my directories. 8 out of the top 10 search phrases so far this month are related to 'silk' - pyjamas, bedding etc. An advertiser who took advantage of the deep linking with descriptions loaded the keywords and now I'm pushing traffic through to their site. Here's a recent keyword search to give you an example. It's a .com search and the directory result appears on the first page. Some good points on this thread. I need to re-work some of the copy on Jooomla to aim for more visitors and, all being well, more advertisers will follow.
the reason why most directories are not used for finding sites is because it takes a huge amount of time to build up a resource as huge as Yahoo. It will take several years at least and in the meantime, i see that directories serve more towards the internet marketing customers. Don't see anything wrong with that. As directories are given time to mature and build up its list of links and resource, i'm sure they will become more popular for searches. It just takes time, lots of time......
I agree with that. Most if not all users of any directory are involved one way or another because Google recognises our listings as back links. Advertisers used to be looking for PR but they will now be looking for business from other industry related users and this "advertising" content should, strictly speaking, carry no follow tags IMHO. Is anyone doing this? Is this what the orginal question was about? Sorry but I am not sure which was your site in the example you gave. Is it a niche site? If it is, thats the sort of market we are trying to open up whilst building up a general directory at the same time.
Well put your seat belt on sailer and tuck up tight for the ride, i am planing on not listing in any directories etc and the only way my site will grow will be through people power ( i will submit to directories later ) and dont worry about it might happen later or it changing in time, that time is NOW ( or least when i get this darn thing up and running in a few weeks ) Simply do not agree presentation is a vital aspect of any business, it does not need be expensive but it needs to be neat and tidy. well the OP can only answer that but will stand behind my first reply to the OP.
Missed it but I take your point. Are you specialising in silk or trying to cover anything and everything? Niche markets are difficult to crack. Its also difficult to decide which one to target. What was your orginal question? Were you looking at the "no follow" issue or thinking more about design and lay out?