What do you think about a directory that does this?

I am in the works of creating a directory... ok big deal- who doesn't have a directory...

Anyway, I was thinking that I need to do something for the people who pay for featured listings. I thought of this idea and I would appreciate some feedback on it:

You click "Submit Link" to add your site. You are taken to a page that tells you that we appreciate our sponsors, please take a second to visit one of their sites. There are three random links of featured websites within your directory. You have to click any one of the three which opens the other site in a new window. Once you click one of the links, the continue button is activated and only then can you proceed to the form to insert your site as usual.

I know- sounds annoying, right? Well I thought that the people who pay a little bit for a featured link would appreciate it because they may get a little more traffic to their site and a little more attention- maybe the visitors will stay and maybe they won't. But at least I try my best to help them out. As for the people submitting basic links- they're free on my directory so what do they have to complain about?

I'm usually not a big fan of forcing visitors to do certian unnecessary things, but I just think this is a way to support those who help support me. What do you think?

 

I think its an okay thing to do.

Go for it....It may annoy some but if your willing to do so in order to give extra exposure for those who purchase featured listings, then thats fine. In the end its up to you.

 

If its a free directory, then the idea is perfect. I've done some homepage modding on Real Estate Directory for those who submit featured listings and so far its been working out very well.

 

Thank you for your opinions. Even though I do value every site submission- let's face it- its those who pay a few bucks that keeps food on my table.

Ive already developed the script that does this, and I think its a pretty neat idea and that it would actually motivate more people to want to pay for a featured listing- only $2 permanent to start. Basic links are free and basic links with recipricol are free and upgraded to featured as well.

I hope to be done with the directory by the end of the week- a directory for sites with user generated content only- forums, blogs, articles, etc. I havn't done a directory in a few years, so I'm eager to see how it does.

 

Suitable for Free regular listings..
Other paid listings feels annoying.

 

its really great that you are trying to think of innovative ideas to attract customers, thumbs up for the effort.

Regarding your idea, perhaps u can give them an option whether to see the other sites, which may reduce traffic, but will also increase targeted traffic. This will reduce the annoyance by submitters in being forced to open a new window and will also give them the choice to decide whether to see the other sites.

My 2 cents

 

It's an interesting concept, but you might want to think it through a bit more.

Rather than random websites, you have the opportunity to target them using the information about the submission category. Although that does have the downside that you may simply be sending your featured websites traffic from their direct competitors.

The other thing is, submitters aren't there to browse. They are likely to shut down the other websites as soon as they load, which could be simply a waste of bandwidth. No matter how well you target, the traffic you send to your featured sites from the submit page could just be of such low quality it isn't worth it to code such a thing.

As for the annoyance factor, with free submissions you always have to strike a balance between making a submit form too annoying to fill in, and having to put up with junk submissions or too little information because it's too easy. If you don't mind significantly reducing the numbers of free submits, then go for it.

 

If it is a free directory with decent PR, I won't mind visiting more than one site for a free link. It would be give-n-take deal .

Do that in a paid directory and I would find it annoying.

However, if the paid directory is good enough, I would still submit..I won't let go of a good link just because I had to visit some site for a little time.

 

Great comments! Making me think a lot about how Im going to do this. The way its setup now is that it displays 3 links, and you choose which one of the 3 you feel like clicking on- you dont have to click more than one. As soon as you click one of the links, the submit button is activated.

 

It sounds great for a free directory, it should help keep the autosubmiters away too.

 

I can't see a problem with this if it's for free submissions. If I was paying I'd probably terminate my submission at that point.