The Directory Industry is Unique so Let's use that to our Advantage

There is something unique about the directory industry that we have not used to our advantage and it really got me thinking.

If someone plans on buying a pair of shoes or a new suit they will usually shop around or go to a well-know store and make a purchase. The keyword here is 'a' purchase. So there is lots of competition from all the shoes and clothing stores to get you to come to their shop and make the purchase.

With the directory industry it is a little different; folks usually put together a budget with the intention of submitting to 10's or even 100's of directories. And that is where we have been shooting ourselves in the foot. We have spent so much time trying to 'cut each others throats' that we have missed the 'big picture'. There is plenty of business to go around and nobody has to waste time and energy being jealous of the next guy and inadvertently hurting the entire directory industry and their own business.

Instead of posting negative comments and arguing (bumping) useless threads from the trolls and the haters we need to focus on positive constructive exchange of ideas.

If you are a directory owner that wants to make the industry better for everyone then be aware of the following:

1. Don't argue in pointless threads with folks that are known trolls and haters.
2. Don't bump negative threads with off-topic chit-chat. If you have something relevant to post just do it in one-shot because they haters are sneaky and they try and get you to participate in idle chit-chat to raise their post counts and the visibility of negative threads. That is what 'General Chat' is for anyways.
3. Don't support directory owners that are hurting the industry. As mentioned in another thread about dropped domains, maybe there is no way to completely stop this practice but please make sure you are part of the solution by not submitting to these directories and giving red rep out generously if you think it is deserved.
4. Do post positive, constructive threads about ideas and thoughts you have that can make the directory industry a better place.
5. Do support fellow directory owners with constructive criticism and help with problems and other challenges.
6. Don't condemn a directory owner just because their ideas don't match your own about quality or some other completely arbitrary matter. Share your opinions in a friendly way.

Many long-time members have left this section of the forums recently because it has become a bit of a circus and only directory owners are paying the price. I know our industry is not perfect and has many flaws but allowing the hateful few that have crawled out of the woodwork to further pummel us is counter-productive.

 

very good post.
and i agree with this 100%

 

Excellent post and many on here should heed those wise words
Thanks

 

Jay:

I think those are very fair comments. And a useful code to live by, not only in this forum but in life.

 

With this can we stop discussing directory penalisation by Mr. G!
i hate that topic! depressingly its got loads of threads to it!

 

The topic itself is interesting but the way haters and dooms-day prophets have latched on to it has become very annoying. If nobody responds to all these duplicate threads then they would get burried quickly. This topic has been used as an excuse to harrass directory owners and taunt them into arguments that can't be won (because there are so few current facts).

Thanks eveyone.

Most of it is common sense but that seems to be lacking lately, folks have been getting carried away with abuse and negativety. It really is time for 'level-heads' to prevail.

 

Nice to see some constructive posts coming back to DP. Be nice to "squash" all the negativeness that has been dominating around here the past couple of weeks. I live your suggestions.

Lance

 

Great post, and I agree wholeheartedly. Now get on over to this this thread and tell me what you think. Is this the sort of constructive exchange of ideas you are looking for?

 

Top post jg123, im taking it all on board.

 

Cool post, this forum has a lot of good advice for new directory owners like myself

 

Excellent posts jg123. This forum has been getting boring and useless lately with all the fighting and trolling based on poorly thought out speculation.

Too many threads are going off topic and degrading into all out bashing fests. Before any of us post something in a thread like that I think it would benefit all of us if we took a moment to see if our post is going to be on topic, and if it isn't maybe we could either try to guide the thread back to the topic or say something productive.

If we can't do that, then we shouldn't make the post. If we post an off topic negative reply anyway that should be considered trolling. In that case we should ignore the troll(s) and give them lots of red rep.

 

One of the additional problems I have been noticing lately is the trolls have banded together so there are 4 or 5 of them that seem to continually rep each other and bump each others posts. I guess they will get bored eventually if we stop encouraging them and hopefully they will move on.

 

Fantastic post !! People should apply this across all sectors not just the directory sector!!!

 

One correction

Directories on dropped domains means the directories that have no inner pages Page Rank.As this helps to differentiate between a good and bad directory.

 

Agree with all the points mentioned above. Been practicing those for some time already.

 

Directories aren't unique, they lack content, and have no use on the internet, than to webmasters who need links. Think outside of the box, and away from the traditional directory, because without Google most directories are worthless.

I do think that it's a shame that directories like Aviva have been affected because that was one of my favourites.

 

I think it is like any other business... if you rely on one source for all of your value you are very vulnerable.

DarrenC is correct. I think Aviva and Alive were well done and spent a lot money on their directories. And they will survive and do well in the future no matter what Google does... as long as they provide value to the end users and in turn, their advertisers.

 

I think you are taking an overly aggressive position. I would have preferred to see your statement read more like:

Many of the directories being marketed on DP aren't unique, they lack content, and have no use on the internet, than to webmasters who need links

... I think that would have been a little more appropriate and painting all directory owners with the same brush is probably not the best thing to do.

cheers

 

They are unique because they feed the serp's that Google is so concerned about and we could make a real and meaningful contribution. That is if we are prepared to pause long enough to listen and discount the clap trap trotted out by the QBC.

Its dead simple really. Put together a list of the sites you would like to see in the serp's and if anyone does ask you to review their site recognise that you have a responsibility to accept and more importantly reject sites that don't meet your editorial criteria.

Had to take a deep breath here. Cant understand your position on this one. Most of their content was filler and used to justify charging rates which had no underpinning value.

Good advice but even you find it difficult to heed

DP has aways had a rep for robust debate and correct me if am wrong but many of the members that have left are the same members that Google decided to pick a fight with. Whatever the answers to that question are, we know thats its time to come up with solutions and the only question we really need to ask is whether here have been any fundemental changes to attitdes within the industry over the past six weeks. Or is it all lip service and more of the same?

 

Not only aggressive, also inconsistent
He writes:
"Directories aren't unique, they lack content, and have no use on the internet"
and then:
"...Aviva .... was one of my favourites..."

So was it enough not unique that became his favourite?
Or his favourite are those not unique, lacking content...