After reading discussions about unpaid submissions and the frustrations of directory owners regarding this, I thought we should all look at this from a different perspective in an attempt to reduce the occurances of non-paid submissions. After making some changes in our primary web directory, I noticed a nice improvement, and the number of unpaid submissions has dropped significantly. 1.Not all unpaid submissions are spam. Assume so and it could be your loss. 2. The biggest tip: the easier it is for a submitter to complete the process, the greater the chance of a successful submission. Smaller directories could benefit by not requiring a user to register prior to submitting a site, and also by removing the captcha. 3. Clearly define the pricing/term on the submission form. Nobody likes finding out it's an annual fee after the fact. I think this accounts for a large number of abandoned submissions. You fill out the submission form thinking it's a one time fee only to find out otherwise on the payment page. Look at it from the submitter's perspective. We've also modified our payment pages and PayPal receipts to clearly define the submission fee as well as the term. 4. If your directory was initially a free directory you could be receiving submissions from someone providing a service to others. Rather than ban the domain or penalize the site owner in some way, take a moment to contact the submission company and advise them that your directory now charges a submission fee. If it's an automated process for them, they're likely unaware that you've made any changes. 5. Consider the fact that errors are inevitable. Internet connections fail, payment processors have glitches, our own hosting can fail us sometimes. Again, take a moment to prepare a standardized email template and send the submitter a link to the payment page. They might have experienced an error during the submission process and gave up (remember about making the submission process easy?). Sending them a link to the payment page and a courteous email allows them an opportunity to easily complete the submission and payment. I've had one submitter immediately follow up with multiple submissions - they had the impression that there was a problem with the directory after encountering an error. 6. Allow a few days before you decide to delete unpaid submissions - we've received emails a day or two later from submitters that are interested in their listing, but had a problem during the submission process. 7. Yes, there is a large number of submissions that can be considered as spam or intentional, but let's not lump all unpaid submissions together. Any other suggestions? I think we can all contribute and add to our overall success as a group; something I'd like to see.
Yaa just one, why not just hire some coder as a group , cause david doesnt seem to be interesting in coming up with the fix for the above issue? thus having our own mod, which puts payments in a pending payment queue. Instead of mixing it with other links. That would be the best solution, or better just bug david daily till he decides to finally fix it or decides to ban you from his forums for raising a valid support request. Cause there is no other way to prevent spam unpaid submissions, whatever rules or whatever emails and notifications you set. When the core system is bad, how can you patch it up with applying water bandages ?
there is a mod coming out in a few days that uses paypal ipn any submissions where payment is not completed will NOT be placed in the pending cue (surprisingly its not by david surprise surprise)
wow i wonder were it will come from hehhehe when you make it i definatley try it out whether paid or free. @ Creed Excellent advice as always... thx malcolm
yah you guys are right. we need a mod about this, i also get ton of spam submission, man its really pain.
CReed, Great post, positive and constructive. My favorite kind I agree with everything you stated, and it reminds me that I really need to rethink the captcha. One of the things I do, is for unpaid submissions (ones that aren't obvious spam or repeat offenders), I go to the logs and follow their page views. I do this for 2 reasons, the first, is I want to make sure there isn't an error on the site. If the page views are a normal track, I too, drop an email to them to see if there were any problems, and offer my assistance. Sometimes, the poster submitted the wrong URL title and can't change it, so they give up rather than pay. It has helped many times and is worth the effort. I think most people are shocked that there is a person on the other end dedicated to helping them. Plus with our directory network, more times than not, customers end up submitting to several of our directories, not just one. Because they now know we provide good customer service and that there is someone there if they have any questions or changes. Morty
if only there was no Free directories AT ALL, this industry will be doing much better without those so called "free directories" and we wont have to deal with those SPAM and Unpaid submissions at all.
Let me know for sure for this mod choice. Eagerly waiting for it as getting few submissions on few of my directories without payment
i mean, with no Free directories at all, spammers will not even waste their time writing those auto submission Scripts and softwares, and it will be very good for the industry and directories owners, MORE CASH for us because there is no Free option.
Creed, thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts and ideas. Your suggestion are very helpful and I am sure it will turn those un-paid submissions to paid. Thanks once again Creed.
Very good advice Creed, Rep Added. As Creed said in the Op the submitter sometimes has a problem that prevents payment being made, what will happen to the listing if using the new Mod? Thanks Brian
As always great Advice CReed. Thanks for all the tips. I'll try to implement all of them though I already do some.
I've been looking into this lately. Virtually none of the most prominent paid directories use captcha, and I think that's significant. When you have a paid option, the more bonuses you offer, the more complex the add-url form tends to become. Removing captcha is one way to simplify it, because every extra step you add is going to make a certain extra % of people think "what a hassle, I'll submit somewhere less confusing".
I agree 100% Especially with the bonuses you mentioned. The submit forms are getting quite complex. I really need to get off my rump and remove them. Morty
unexpected annual fees are the only reason ive not finished many submissions. i cancel even if i would submit it coz prize is low and beside that, i dont even enqueue those directories in my directory lists because i feel kinda cheated and if they r not honest with that who says they r honest by not removing my sites or not placing a nofollow later.