You will have a frequent visitor in me The fact that most would find it difficult is what the moving on to the next level would mean. The directory market can now only focus on moving further into development, real end user content and functionability Mhamdi is cool in what he is going to do in his dir and i can see it becoming hot, Aviva is the only one that stikes me in the head as this is one directory with beautiful value add content where i frequent much not as a webmaster but as a casual browser..
Thanks for the kind words kiviniar I will definitely try to make both my directories among the best...
My directories offer Free links in retun for Green Rep No link back needed - One is Appreicated. http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=326942 Thanks
Nice features but not what a 'user' would be looking for if I was being honest, people, all business people want is a link and description, and perhaps a higher listing. Currency converter is great but only if its a reliable one linked up to an accurate conversion engine as the fluxation is up and down like a rabbits bum on heat. Jabber, hmm I dont know if I'd go there, why would people want to IM each other on a directory script? Don't get me wrong, I think this kind of idea does have its place but maybe if your creating more of a community then it would. I just looked at that code it would take me seconds to integrate that into any script, nice stuff. Me, I'm more of the mind that less is more for a directory, link and description is good, if you offer more that's cool but only if it doesn't detract from what a directory is about, SALES.
Isn't a higher listing what webmasters want not a user? Building a community was part of the plan but with the current levels of spam and general junk we're holding off that step. People are just so desperate for another link they spam whatever we give them, just the mention of the word directory seems to cause people to loose all common sense and stuff anything in any field. For me a directory is about cataloguing information and making it easily available to the searcher, if it does that and the listed sites are of good quality then that should be enough. Everything else is done to get you noticed and if you like act as link bait.
My photoblog directory is fun for photographers so that they have a chance to browse other photo blogs and get ideas.
As a directory owner, I am keeping it really simple right now 1, Offer a list of relevant websites, reviewed to verify that they offer someting valuable to my users 2, Keep the facia of the directory really clear an easy to navigate, 3, Attempt to seo the directories as much as possible, so that as many non web masters as possible can find them. 4, include descriptions in the categories to give browsers info about the subject matter basically be a really good library at this time, if one then gets a regular stream of first time users, then i'll be thinking of ways to bring them back
I have something unique on my directory for the "users"... I am displaying RSS news feeds on the homepage and also relevant news feeds for each category. The unique part is the option to discuss any of the news on the homepage. Each new feed automatically creates a thread in the forum for discussion. A link is dynamically created under each news article for users to engage in conversation... However, I have taken the forum down temporarily due to spam.
What my directories will be offering as soon as I convert my articles to phpld will be information that is useful and hopefully help them