Why did you start a Directory?

Why did you start a directory?

I expect members to be truthful in answering this question

 

Because ive got no friends or girlfriend and i needed something to make the lonely hours pass.

Basically to make money.

 

To gain traffic.

 

I started from curiosity, and became addicted...

 

i started few directory to make money online.

 

to get some experience and ranking

 

More honest than this?

To make money and promote my other sites, so... to make more money.

 

I never start.
I bought a PR5 directory for $199. I was making $275/month average for 4-5 months and then I sold it for $525.
All for profit...

 

To now/see all kind of sites, enjoy my free time reviewing them and remove bad sites.

and making money

 

I started my own directory merely for something to do, and as a thank you to the community who also offer good quality free directory links, which I have always offered.

The next directory I stepped up onto, while still managing my old directory, was one for the company I work for. It seemed a logical step after seeing the - limited - success I had with my own directory, that it's a good way to show your 'authority' on the web. And it worked. Sort of

Funny that, I got the exact same about an hour ago. This place seems to be full of cowards that don't leave their name in negatives, only in positives. If you're going to disapprove of a comment, at least make it be known who it is that disapproves (or approves) a comment made on the forums.

 

because i working around seo and directories is a great tool for seoers

 

because it was easy
and it paid for itself the first 2 months

 

Interesting question.

I had never heard of the term directory when I was envisioning my site Crafty Tips. I am a member of one of the largest crafting forums on the Internet. After borrowing an idea from the Knitters, I created a thread inviting folks to share their favorite crochet tips. It's been about 3 years and that same thread is still constantly appearing in my Read Posts with Unread Replies queue (it's gotta be one of the biggest threads on that forum).

One of the other most popular threads was about trading links with each other's sites.

Folks were having a ball sharing their ideas and tips and the link trading threads were always well-visited.

I thought why not create a site that matched the two. It would be fun and maybe I could even make a little money from it.

With no web database programming skills, I starting looking around for a way to make my idea into a site. On a small webmaster forum I mentioned my idea in vague terms (didn't want anyone stealing my grand idea!) and finally heard the word directory. And was quickly told do not try to do this without some sort of program or script. Wow, they make software to do this?! I was stoked!

Then I found what is probably the oldest directory for Arts and Crafts on the net. I recognized it as a site that I had been to before and used to find sites. I knew it as great place to find other crafting sites and it's categorization made it better than Google or Yahoo! for finding crafting sites. I didn't know it as a "directory". It had thousands of great links (way too many dead ones), little to no information about each site and no tips. Aha, I thought, I could surely keep my list better maintained as well as add the additional fun of the idea exchange part.

Then I found DP. A whole forum just about directories??? My heart sunk - so much for being onto something new. But, hardly anyone was really talking about niche directories. Most of the "niche" sites were geography-based, shopping directories or 'business directories' - at least those were the main niches folks were talking about. OK, so my idea was still unique at that point and viable. But, I needed a place to put the tips. It took a series of emails to the two popular scripts at the time and I thought one seemed more interested in getting my business and it was quite easy to add fields to the database.

So, here I am, almost 2 years later. My directory is a hit among crafters. I frequently get emails letting me know how much folks love my site. I am so glad that I didn't listen to the advice of experienced directory owners venting that submitters are never willing to provide extra content. At the time, I knew my audience loved sharing tips and were quite willing to do so. The sometimes desperate nature of the link exchange threads among the crafters also told me that I could meet their needs but would have to first explain to them what a directory is - sometimes I still do. Some crafters took the tip idea a step further and have even submitted actual projects for their tip.

I've had a blast being able to help many of these smallest of business owners build their own business. I suppose at the time I started my blog that I had visions of being able to offer them add-on writing and promotional services as well as free directory listings. That was a slight miscalculation and I should have known that crafters do not typically have the budget or desire to hire a writer or business consultant. So, the blog has turned into a discussion about business and promoting and a giant writing sample for my prospective writing customers.

I have sent thousands of visitors to my friends (many have written to me after submitting and I have met some wonderful crafters from all over the world) and been able to make a little money too. It is still the only crafting directory to include tips and I can always say that mine was the first regardless of who may come along and try to copy my ideas.

My second directory has not been the success I had with the first. I am working on a totally new design and changing my marketing and promotion strategy. I hope to become as passionate about that directory as I was when I was building my first. I know the mistakes I have made with that site and plan to correct them.

So, while like the others here I had hoped to make some money from my directories, I also saw them both as an extension of two areas of my life that bring me much pleasure - crafts and pets.

You asked for an honest answer, that's mine - take it for what it's worth. I would love to hear if anyone else traveled a similar journey or if I am somewhat alone on the idea of creating an informational resource site before even knowing about these things we call directories.

 

I only want to make some money to buy beer.

 

Hi,

From directories, I want to make money and help others get quality backlinks.

Cheers!

 

Started my first directory about 5 years ago. I was a real Internet noob and was just learning HTML/PHP/MySQL and such...and thought installing a directory script would be a good way to learn these things. And the idea of reviewing many, many user-submitted websites sounded appealing to me. So I downloaded the most popular (and very crappy) directory script at the time (the old biz-directory script) and started a free web directory.

 

Learning experience, it was never about money in the first place. In fact I am still learning and although I am getting something for the effort, it is still not the goal. I really value the experience I get from developing a directory and will continue to do so for months to come.

 

to make a few bucks and a few friends. I've accomplished both, so no complaints...

 

I started my first directory just because I wanna know how to setup one directory. after set everything done. I stop using itand leave it like that, no promotion at all. so you would say it's for experiment reason.