Off the Top of My Head

Making Your Directory Stand Out

If you have visited any SEO forum which allows people to announce new directories, you may have noticed there is a new one created approximately every 1.3 seconds. This has been the case for a couple of years and I don’t anticipate it slowing down any time soon. As many directories as there are popping up each day, there are still forum posters asking if it’s worth it to start one. Usually if you have to ask, then the answer is no but for those of us that have decided to take the plunge, there are a few things you can do to distinguish yourself.

The following is my checklist. It has changed since the days I started Kwik Goblin which was really a toe in the water for me. I later sold that site on and the new owner has done a great job developing it. I started my Business Directory a few months ago using the following guidelines and it is doing quite well getting around 120 submissions a day.

Make your Directory SE Friendly
There is some disagreement on what aspects truly make it SE friendly but one of the biggest is to make sure submitters get a direct link to their site. Be careful not to use redirects, no follows, or other things which can sometimes come as standard in some directory scripts. I also use Mod Rewrite to create what appear to be static pages although I would agree with those that say they don’t make the directory SEO friendly, but as you will see in many of the tips in this post, perception is sometimes as important as reality.

Make Your Directory User Friendly
This was a huge mistake most directories made in the early days. They required users to jump through hoops in order to submit a site for consideration. This could include setting up an account, confusing image verification and double email confirmations. SPAM is the directory owners responsibility to stop and putting the burden on the visitor will only affect the quality of submissions you receive. There are plenty of methods for combating spammers and your visitors can be none the wiser. Also be sure that your navigation is intuitive. I see too many directory sites designed around AdSense rather then the user. If you are after the quick profit then there is probably no changing your mind but personally I believe AdSense is a waste of time if you have less then 1000 uniques a day on a directory site.

Submit Your Directory to Directories
The title says it all. With so many directories around you can’t expect people to find you. In addition to directory submissions, you should post announcing your directory in every forum you can find (and allows it). I would also contact those offering directory submission services and get them to add your directory to their submission list. It will take a while to gain momentum but once you do you could be seeing several hundred submissions a day

There are of course many more specific tips which I may decide to share over the next few weeks. In general, if you are deciding whether to add a new directory, I would suggest picking a specific niche. General directories are a dime a dozen and that means they are a lot harder to market. On the of the more successful ones recently has been Alive Directory but I know that the owner of that directory has a 5 figure budget which he has spent very wisely. If you don’t have the cash to spare, I would suggest carving out your own piece of the market by either offering some niche that hasn’t been catered to or pick an existing niche and do it better.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 5th, 2006 at 10:43 am and is filed under Online Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.