But do you not think its a better idea to add something else to directory aside from listings?...From experience, I've noticed that its impossible to create a good directory if you're relying solely on submitters to come to you (no matter your advertising strategy). You HAVE to go look for quality sites and that's the concept of "value-add" Matt Cutts mentioned several times in his speeches.
Agreed, and hence my second point (b), above. You need to create your own listings otherwise the best sites on the internet wont be in your directory. I'm not sure if you missed that or if you just misunderstood me.
No I didn't miss your point and I totally agree with you. The quality of sites listed in a directory represent the quality of the directory itself. By "something else" I meant articles, forum, blog, gallery, webmaster tools etc...Dont you think these things add to overall visitor experience and usually have a positive impact on the number of "revisitors"?
It's surely doesn't harm our directory. When you offer 2,000 free MP3 files you better believe you will have thousands of returns. Plus other stuff people may find helpful will make not only directory but any site stand up head above the rest. fastreplies
My website is mainly a directory and I have adsense on it.. I blend it in with the pages.. I offer other content to keep the site fresh and to make people come back though.
@alistair: I thought that was what you meant, but the second sentence put me off: Maybe it was me that misunderstood you Other content as fastreplies put it certainly can't hurt, but personally I think it should be relevant in some way to your directory. I mean, you don't see many websites about 'cupcakes & fast cars'. The directory should have directory related content if you're going to look into forums, blogs, tools etc IMO. But, if you're looking at it solely from a search engine perspective, as long as it's unique it probably doesn't matter.
I'm tired of getting a ton of crappy submissions. Right now I'm kicking myself because I haven't gone through my submissions in months and probably have over 10,000 pending links. Out of that, probably only 10% will be accepted.. maybe not even that much.
I'm not a fan of using other content just for the sake of having other content. I've lost count of how many directories are showing RSS news feeds that simply do not relate to the category. For example, "101 Pet Peeves About Car Dealers" ends up in both the pets and car categories. To me, forced extra content is like bad Adsense placements; it just trashes up the place.
Man, it sound like you haven't look in your local White and Yellow Pages books lately. I can promise you the one on my desk sure has all kind of stuff that on first look makes it look as if it doesn't belong in there but I can't remember how many times I went back to check on some stuff and was glad I could find it in there without going to different sources. Plain and simple, if your directory has nothing to offer but submission form, then forget about public traffic and be ready to deal with endless spam submissions. fastreplies
Agreed. Your phone books sound quite different to ours here in New Zealand. What sort of other content do you have? I'm not saying that extra content is bad, I'm just saying that it should somehow be related to your directory. But I don't think you disagree with that.
In addition to quick access to Phone numbers of Hospitals, Police, City Services, etc. all kind of discount coupons, directions to movie theaters, Hotels, Car dealerships and repair shops... you name it, it's there, in front... and if you need more, there is of course regular pages. fastreplies
Directory is the Dead Box, just give me 5% traffic to My site every month. Conclusion:For me natural Traffic is the Best....!!!
I think adsense can be a good thing in directories. Now, as most of the above posters have already said, it all depends on where you place them and if it really is useful to your visitors. For example, if you have a category a person is visiting because they truly are interested in that category, but you currently have no sites within that category but do have adsense displaying related ads, then those ads can be useful to your visitor and you. You can either place the ads in great spots that can be useful and non-annoying (is that a word) to your visitors or go the other way. If you do go the other way, then all your thinking about is getting a click and not your visitors and your directory is probably crap anyways. Using in a good way is a site like blogcatalog.com They have adsense on every page including detail pages and the adsense doesn't make their site look cheap or crappy in any way... Anyways, just my two cents
I always said no to adsense, assuming no one really clicks those text adverts, but was convinced to try it as a pilot. I was gobsmacked, overnight a wholenew revenue stream appeared and has grown steadily ever since. I'm not sure if there is an industry standard click through rate, but we average 4.5%. It still amazes me. If your directory is well presented, you have plenty of content which = decent indexing then you will generate large volumes of organic traffic. Monetize this traffic with discreet adsense and/or affiliate adverts and watch the money flow in. A side effect for us was us lowering our submission prices way below our competition, which in turn you can exploit through marketing. cheers Steve
and if PS3 Slim Deals is generating large amounts of traffic, you'd turn down the opportunity of another revenue stream....
I agree with you and with Swedal too. AdSense works best on content rich pages such as in blogs, forums etc. I recently put AdSense on one of my blogs and it seems to work well because it actually "adds to" the content! From an aesthetic point of view, I prefer AdSense images to texts though. However, I was seriously reluctant to use it in the beginning(...)