Yes but advertising goes hand in hand with circulation ( as in a newspaper example ) if your rag is popular with many readers then your ok, on the other hand if your rag is used at the bottom of the bird cage then it will be hard to entice advertisers.
What are some things that I can add to a web directory to add to be different or stand out. I wont use your example I just want ideas.
I am not worried about any one using what i have in public domain. Perhaps try just grabbing a peice of paper and jotting down all of the good things you see and impliment test samples, then over time you will form your own style. Look at your intended market and try and find something that they would find useful.
Check out what mods are available to benefit both the submitter and the visitor. For example, I added deep links mod and paying submitters seem to like that. I added url friendly link detail pages which helped with ranking detail pages. Most submitters want to be listed in categories with pr. For well establsihed directories, that is an easy sale. Newer directories have to build backlinks to those category pages to get pr or wait forever for it to flow from the main page. Building backlinks for hundreds/thousands of categories is a lot of work and can cost some money. Submitters also like good Alexa rankings. Work on building traffic to your site to appeal to submitters. This way they get more then a link on a page with pr - they may actually get some traffic from your directory. Just keep in mind what submitters and visitors want. Work to please them and not your wallet and the money will eventually start coming in. Good luck
Research what others have said about the recent google slap. Paid directories and blogs with paid links recently lost pagerank. If you have another way to monetize you might want to consider that as well. Just my 2 cents.
Prorant, I read all the opinions and here are my suggestions: 1.Work hard on making your web directory relevant for others. How to do this? Your directory will need high quality external links. How to gain them? - here are a few options: .......a. social networking* - information on social networking sites about your directory means that certain people/a certain community is talking about it. .......b. article writing and distribution* - a good idea written in a good way will lead to good results. .......c. web/bid directory submissions - submit your site in quality [free and paid] web and bid directories. Where from can you know if a web directory is a quality one? A few suggestions: .......I. verify the number of indexed Google and Yahoo backlinks through smartpagerank.com .......II. verify the page strenght through seomoz.org/page-strength** .......III. you can verify the PR of the directories [including the PR of the internal pages], even if many will say that it has no importance [in a certain context, it has...] *it has SEO value and it can help building a solid reputation, too **even if this service is controversial... 2. Make your directory unique I presume that you're reaction will be: "How to do that?... What to do?..." Let's see a few ideas: .......a. design [or hire a designer to do it] an outstanding layout for your web directory. Make it conservative, make it revolutionary... make it just as you think that would work better, but DON'T live it poor and mediocre, .......b. build in it NEW features, something you never saw in web directories BUT which would bring a valuable plus for your users and for your [future] buyers, .......c. make your web directory S.E.O. friendly. Your shocked by this idea? Please, don't be, as there are only a few web directories which are developed and S.E.O.-optimized according to the latest web standards. I hope that all these will help. Of course, there's more to tell, just as always...
I have a web ad pixel system where users can purchase ad blocks and I have an article submission script. Is this something that I can use to make my directory more unique ?
I would like to add here that, adding more content on the website to the relevant categories, would also add strength to your webpages. This would no doubt interest people to have there link featured on such a page having some content. The content could generally share the relevant news updates, researched information on the topics.. I would say that you should have Sponsored listings. Also put the options of highlighted Titles, texts, or some selective colored texts, at some cost,, for the general links. I have observed this trend in several directories.
The first month of my two month old directory is free and then later I decided to have an all paid listing to have quality. submissions. Promotion is the key to make your directory known. I have my own directory (the one in my signature) listed with other directories. The more the better. Now, i have an increasing traffic, 200 uniques a day, gained PR2 and a good alexa rank.