I want to add a directory which with the following features: Search engine friendly Site submit forms with title, description, url, category fields, page you link back on Thumbshots Doesn't need search but would be nice Any idea where I can get something like this free or cheap (no advertising as want to put our own) PS - This is for a charity.
You could probably adapt Open Realty to do this - I know that sounds weird, using a real-estate site engine, but It is SE friendly-ish It has multiple entry forms that you can alter easily It does thumbnails It does searches You may have to think a little laterally! http://www.open-realty.org/
Good product- not sure I would want to do that much alteration though. (however- ive yet to find anything as useful thats free.)
I recommend WSN Links. Very reasonable price, and has good support. You can find it here: http://scripts.webmastersite.net/wsnlinks/
PCarlow- The only problem i see with this is that it exits with a ref tag- so the person in the directory doesn't get a BL or PR.
I enquired about the linking method and Paul (I think) was able to give some examples of where backlinks were appearing from a WSN directory. He has a forum and I'm sure the question has been posed before.
Thanks - thats a good start. If anyone has built or adapted a directory they would like to show off, please post the url here I'd love have a look at some other quality work.
I listed a bunch of the current scripts frequently used here http://www.directoryarchives.com/index.php?c=309 I do not think many scripts have incorporated thumbshots yet though.
www.bosdev.com has a good directory script I've used a few times in the past - SE friendly URLs and pages. aeDirectory is one I tried to use, but the people who develop it just don't have a clue how to make it user friendly to install, let aloneadmin. Basically, in terms of SEO, I'd rate it as a toss up between Bosdev and Directory Search (now BizDirectory). However, the latter is a little overused, IMO - and BosDev probably offers a lot more functionality in terms of user features - voting, reviews, populer links, etc.
BlueFind is built on the Pro version of BizDirectory, but they have a free version that has many of the same features.
I’m using the pro version of BizDirectory. It’s a nice script but the cross-referencing function can be a resource hog if your topic structure is comprehensive.