Well, after years of trying to figure out what’s the problem with web directories, I finally figured out the problem and the solution. Yes, I have finally solved the old age problem of web directories. However you think carefully, every web directory owner knows what the problem is and what the solution is. The thing is that most of the web directory owners don’t do anything about it. Let’s not be shy about it. You are right, it’s the content!

As a web directory owner myself, what I first started into web directories, I had this feeling that I don’t need to do much work at all. After all, it is supposed to be just a site for users to submit their websites and all I have to do is approve or reject the listings. Nothing to it. Just a few clicks and you are done. Not to mention, you are getting money for users to add content to your site. First of all, it was true when the web directory market was first setup. It was because it was rare and the web directories were of very high quality. Another importance of web directories is that it helps Search Engines to categorized websites. Let’s say for example, a site was is listed under automobiles in the web directory will most likely related to automobiles, as it is human edited. Definitely better than those algothrims used by Search Engines. I am not saying that Search Engines were completely relying on these web directories but let’s say they had some value.

Nowadays, all you have to do is to take a look at the huge number of web directories out there. Especially general web directories. I estimated there are probably more than 5000 or more general web directories on the Internet. Each of them offering the same categories and sadly the same content. That’s a major problem for web directories. What’s there to differentiate them from the rest? None whatsoever. Web directories owners look at this problem and they figure why not make my site more beautiful and stylish than the rest? Some thought they can differentiate their directories by adding some features like RSS feeds, news and what not. Sure those things do help. But let’s think for a moment, what’s the purpose of a web directory? Do the majority of your visitors come to your web directory for looks or for news? No, they visit your site for another reason, to get information on websites to complement Search Engines’ limitations. In fact, that’s the only reason why web directories exist in the first place. And the only way for you to differentiate yourself from the other web directories is more unique content!

Don’t wait for people to submit to your directories. Do it yourself. Add quality sites to your directory. Add more sites to your directory. Best of all, go niche. The Internet is too big for any one web directory to really categorize even a small percent of the websites. So, it’s better for the web directory owner to aim for a market where they are comfortable or have experience it instead of a general directory. It definitely makes it easier and most importantly, you enjoy your work. And you attract like-minded visitors. Don’t worry about making money first. It won’t happen so quickly anyways. Be patient. As your directory gets more traffic, you will find that others are even more eager to sign up to be listed on your site and you can even charge higher for listings.

I had some free time yesterday and so I decided to look a hard look at myself and what I have done FOR myself. I realize that I really didn’t do much in life. No seriously, I didn’t accomplish much and I don’t have anything to show for. I have just this blog and a few web directories. The worse thing is that they suck big time. I don’t get much visitors at all. This blog gets approximately 30-40 hits per day and most goes to the DNS Host list which I have created. Sure it is a constant stream of visitors but hardly anything to be proud of. Although my web directory do get a decent number of hits (maybe about 150-200 hits per day) but again it is nothing to be shout about since most are just spammers.

When I first started my web directories, I thought that I will soon be rich as thousands of webmasters will flock to my web directory and start submitting their sites. And paying me good money for it. Be alas, it never happened. I was just too naive to think that it would be so simple. Looking back, I am not surprised. I didn’t really do much to improve my web directory. The listings in the web directories are all submitted by webmasters whom are usually all SEOers. The reason why they are submitting to my directory is just to improve their site’s visibility and Search Engine rankings. However, since most of these sites have also been submitted to other web directories, my web directory has became useless as a resource for visitors.

A web directory main purpose is to categorized sites into different categories for easy reference. However, if all the content could be found in other directories, then it is just a replica. And most of the sites which was submitted aren’t exactly high quality stuff. Most high quality sites won’t waste time, effort or money to get listed in web directories, especially a small web directory like mine. If the site is high quality and useful, then the owner of the web directory should have added the listing himself. Well, this I never did. Thus, it never attracted the kind of visitors which I wanted. Most visitors come to submit their sites to the directory. Very few goes and browse through the various categories in the directory.

Well, first of all I was extremely naive to believe it was easy money. Start a web directory, wait till people start submitting and then money will flow in fast. I mean sure others have done it but they did put in a hell lot of effort and time to build up their own web directories. It’s not EASY money. If you were to browse through the Digitalpoint forums, you can see just how hardworking some of these directory owners are.

Anyway, this is a lesson learned. Pretty valuable lesson.

After like 9 months or so, the latest version of PhpLD (PhpLinkDirectory) has been released! Finally, those people at PhpLD are being forced to release some software which they have been promising for such a long time. And it looks like a big one. Mainly the biggest change is on the article submission. If you need the article submission features, this is a upgrade for you. You can take a look at the new features here.

Some of the new features include a submit article function. I guess this is the same as those article directory scripts which allow your users to submit articles to the directory. This used to be an afterthought by the designers of PhpLD. With this version, it’s a whole new ballgame! So now you can allow users not only to submit links, they can also submit articles as well. You can force users to register or submit articles annonymously. Article writers can also have their very own info page. Of course, users can also comment and rate the articles that was submitted. Wow, that’s good! Finally, PhpLD is throwing away it’s amaetur feel and starting to have very good features, especially when article submission is concerned. Another interesting feature is that the script now allows you to add business listings with their locations included. Yes, exactly like those professional business directories. Furthermore, it allows you to add Googlemaps into your detail listings. If only they have this feature when I first started my business directory. There are also some changes and additionals to the administration pages of the directory script.

As you can see, the main upgrade is the article submission portion of PhpLD. If you don’t need these features and I think a lot of us web directory owners don’t need, then I feel that this upgrade is not worth the effort. Remember, when you do an upgrade, it is very likely that you need to modify your template again. Not to mention all those mods you have already done as well.

Here are more links to information on upgrading PhpLD.

1. Templates changes for PhpLD v3.3

2. How to Upgrade

3. Downloads

Just hope that this version will be stable. I remembered when I started using PhpLD, the version I had had some really serious bugs in it. And after 2 years (I didn’t upgrade) I am still suffering from it. But at least it was usable and I had a very good time with it.

Have you guys wondered how’s the life of a typical web directory owner? I mean, those people eagerly who approves your sites when you submit to their web directory? What do they do all day? I am sure you don’t believe that they spend the entire day in front of their directory administration console and approves sites right? They do have a life and they are mostly human. And because I myself is an experienced web directory owner and have been doing it for over a year now, I have complied a list of things which web directory owners usually do so that you guys can understand what we are all about. You will then see how difficult it is to be a web directory owner.

1. Check PayPal account and see how much is earned. Laugh loudly if there is enough dough to buy over another web directory or that new action figure at Toys R’ Us.

2. Curse and swear at spammers in different languages, especially in French.

3. Curse and swear at spammers even more.

4. Surf Digitalpoint Forums and try to get own web directory links into the forum posts.

5. Surf Digitalpoint Forums and try to see what other directory owners are doing and steal their ideas. Or just go and beg for free mod scripts.

6. Surf Digitalpoint Forums and try to advertise/spam own web directories there.

7. Clean up the messy room before mom comes back and nag. Hate all those nagging. If not possible, switch on loud music and wear headphones if mom around.

8. Surf some porn sites to relieve stress.

9. Play computer games like the latest Crysis. Draw money from PayPal account if graphics card not powerful enough.

10. Hire some Eastern European kid to spam other directories. Value for money. Hundred of thousands of directories for just US$10.

11. Smoke some weed and get high. If no weed, take from parents. If still no weed, then smoke that ten dollar bill which is supposed to be for that poor Bulgarian kid.

12. Go to school and try to get there in time. School Internet access is faster than home. But beware of wedgies by school bullies.

13. Chat on MSN. If chatting with older generation ancients, use ICQ.

14. Find ways and means to get more adsense advertisements on web directory. Attempt to put adsense just next to the submit button.

15. Take long nap at around 2. Wake up just before dinner. Eat dinner in bed if still feeling sleepy….hmmmm….mummy’s roast beef.

So you guys now know that life is hard for web directory owners. It isn’t all a bed of roses. The list which I have complied isn’t complete, as we have a lot more mundane things to do like eat, bath, sleep and stuff. Plus we need to check our directories and ensure that we approve the sites which paid. Life is indeed hard for us.

Well, I am a owner of several web directories and I would like to share with you some of the tips which website submitters can use when they submit websites to directories. I have seen a lot of websites being submitted and to tell you the truth, a lot of people submit sites without thinking or even any consideration. A lot of these are SEOers and paid submitters, who spend hours and hours submitting websites to directories. The problem is that a lot of these “SEOers” are just kids without any knowledge of SEO. Hence, for a serious web directory, these sites are usually rejected immediately. And these directories are ones which you would want to be in. So, I would recommend everyone not to use such services. And if you don’t have the time to do the submissions yourself, I would recommend you to engage a professional instead of those “US$10 for 1000 submissions” kind.

Okay, here are some of the tips:

1. Submit to the correct category. That’s pretty important. Note that some directories get a lot of submissions and it’s frustrating for the editors to spend time to change categories for you. Don’t piss off the editors.

2. A proper description for your site. Ensure that you don’t try to “sell” your site or make it a marketing slogan. Just tell the readers what your site is about. And make sure your spelling is correct. It’s embarrassing to have spelling mistakes as it looks unprofessional. Seriously, would you approve a site with a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes?

3. Have a proper title. Yes, this is very important as the first thing the editor sees is the title. Do not have long winding titles or titles with too many repetitive words. It looks very spammy to the editors. In fact, the title should be the title of your website. Some directories allow you to have keywords in your title, but some don’t.

4. Avoid submitting your site’s subdirectories or inner pages. A lot of directories don’t allow this. This helps build some sort of trust between you and the editor. For me, I won’t be approving any website with long URLs, URLs with huge number of keywords and those with very deep URLs too.

5. Read the FAQs or any terms and conditions first. Some directories will allow certain criterias while others do not. Although it can be very tedious, but it can really help to get your site approved. If you get rejected once, perhaps you can read the terms and conditions again to see what went wrong.

 Hope these tips will improve your chances of getting approved. Do note that some directories are just not meant to be, so you shouldn’t waste a lot of time trying again and again to get approved. You will never know what the owners are thinking.

I am here to introduce to you again directory script - OpenLD. This open source directory script is a newly setup project. I believe that it has only been in development for less than a year or so, but it’s feature list is quite impressive. If you are looking for a free alternative to PhpLD or other paid directory script, you should take a good look at OpenLD.

Basically, it has all the important features for a web directory script - the ability to store, arrange and display links into categories, link validation, search function, a powerful administration console, numerous category options, template (theme) support, word censoring, IP banning, domain banning, paypal integration as well as support for different database backend. You can also create SEO friendly URLs, very useful for those looking to improve their Search Engine rankings. However, one of the most important feature is it’s ability to allow extensions (or plugins) without too much trouble or modification to your code. This would be a god sent for those webmasters who do a lot of modifications and are looking to upgrade their script. Usually this is a nightmare for upgraders, wondering whether their mod will break their script.

Although OpenLD is currently not that popular, I think it will gain popularity in time. From my brief trial of the script, it seems stable and relatively fast. I also didn’t face any issue with this script. Of course, the community support for this script is not huge, in fact, it’s pretty small. It’s support forum is rather bare. But everything starts small right? The latest version is now version 1.2. Go give it a try and join the community!

 

As you guys know, I have 2 directories and all of them are powered by Phplinkdirectory (PhpLD for short). I have done a lot of research before and found that it is the best in it’s price range. A lot of web directory owners on the Internet recommended it. Most importantly, it has all the features I needed for my directories. So I went ahead and got 4 copies of the directory script. That was in 2006. All was well during that time. The script was updated often and new features and functions added. I found that although it’s support isn’t as good as I like it to be, it was at least acceptable. Their support is forum-based. And seriously, the script is very stable, I didn’t need much in the way of support.

Then came the year 2007. For the entire year (till now), there were only 2 updates. One in January and the other in April. After that, no updates at all. Of course, they came up with yet another script called phpLD Photo which is sort of like phpLD, except it is for photos. First of all, I must say I don’t have any problem with creating new scripts, I mean if they want to release a new script, go ahead. Afterall, it’s a business right and it’s all about making money. But how about the old scripts and how about their customers who had purchased the old scripts? Why isn’t it updated for nearly 6 months now?

If you frequent the Internet as often as I have, you will see that a lot of new directory scripts being created. And old ones being updated very often. The directory script market is actually very competitive considering a lot of people are interested in setting up directories (mainly because they believe that it’s a simple job). And since PhpLD is a paid product, it’s going to be even tougher for them. Sure, they are the most popular script out there right now. But how long will that last? I hope that they start concentrating on their core products and helping their customers instead of just new scripts. I really hate to see such a good script being overtaken by others.

How many of you are worried about what the latest (Page Rank) PR Update has done to your site? Especially if your site is a web directory? For my directories, both have dropped 1 notch to PR 3 from PR 4, which I think is a pretty small drop cosidering what others have faced. And for me, the traffic has not dropped much at all even for my general directory. In fact, for my business directory, the traffic has slightly increased. This is mainly due to the year end traffic increase. But comes the holiday season, I will definitely see a big drop in traffic. I guess this is only natural.

For commercial directories which are very dependent on how high their PR is, I guess this update will effect them more. Paid directories (unlike free directories) attract listings because their customers would like a PR boost for their site. So if a paid directory has a lower PR, then it won’t be as attractive as before. I wonder how these directories are handling it? Do they plan to change marketing strategy and switch focus away from PR to something else? I believe that web directories in a sense cannot change much. Basically, it’s a site with links to other sites which are categorized for easy reference and access. So, how are these paid directories planning to weather the storm?

For me, I still think that a niche directory is the best. General directories are too wide and without the focus on a certain subject to topic, will not be able to attract the correct crowd. And now, without the appeal of PR, it will get worse with time. One good example is my business directory, if we take away the seasonal factors, it has weathered everything Google or other Search Engines has thrown at it and still come out virtually unscathed. Traffic remains constantly increasing.

As you guys should know, I am a web directory owner. I had been a web directory owner for over a year already and during this time, I have learned a lot and I have also gained some insight on the web directory industry. Currently, I have 3 directories, one a Singapore business directory, a general web directory and a niche directory. Although they are from different categories and segments, basically it’s all the same. Sure, I am not saying that my directories are a success like those big name directories you see on the Internet, but from what I see, they are successful because all of them have achieved what I wanted them to archive. The traffic to these directories are quite reasonable too. That, I am proud of.

Anyways, here are some tips and advice which I have for anyone thinking of setting up a web directory.

1. Patience. You will need a lot of patience to setup a web directory. Don’t expect like 15 minutes of work per day. Having a web directory requires you to sort out all the junk from the legitimate sites. You will also need to write proper descriptions for each submission. This would require you to visit the site in question and know what that site is all about. There is no other way about it.

2. Uniqueness. Get that brain working and think of something that no web directory has and implement it on your own directory. And get a unique design as well. Anything to stand out from the crowd. Don’t follow the crowd! Lead it! Everything is about being different here.

3. Advertisements. Yes, there are so many other web directories out there, you will need to do a lot of advertisement in order to stand out. Even if you have a unique site with some very interesting features, it still won’t stand out too because of the sheer number of web directories. Other than conventional methods, you should also look at directory forums and SEO forums as possible places for you to advertise your site. And if you are in a niche market, aim for related websites.

4. Niche. Having the correct niche will work wonders for your directory. If you know a particular niche which is not crowded or no one has thought about, you can quickly corner that market. And being first in the field, you will be able to gain a reputation which a lot of people will remember. Of course, you need to be at least knowledgeable in that field first. At the very least, you should read up and understand the particular subject or topic before entering the market.

5. Hardwork. I guess this is the same thing as patience. You will require a ton of effort to setup and maintain your web directory. Don’t expect submitters to do the work for you. It isn’t as easy as that. You need to check your submitters’ descriptions, your submitters’ spelling and so on. And you need to add your own useful websites to your directories in order for your directory to be of any use. For me, I try to add twice as many websites as those being submitted. Get ready to spend at least a few hours everyday on your directory, if you want it to be successful.

Hope these little tips help.

Got this again from our beloved Digitalpoint forums. Someone claiming that after they do directory submissions (around 1-5 per day), their biggest keywords fell off Google recently. Well, I am not sure whether directory submission is the cause of it. There are rumours that Google is supposedly “banning” directories and webmasters are worried that these “bans” on web directories will affect the listings in those directories. They are also worried that any penalty incurred in those directories will “flow” down to the listings on those directories. There are also people out there claiming that directory submission is dead and virtually useless for SERPs.

In my opinion, I doubt that Google will be trying to devalue directories. I mean, web directories are one of the most useful sites on the Internet. I mean, just look at blogs nowadays? Most blogs are about nothing and everything, making them a free-for-all kind of site. I have nothing against general blogs, but seriously, what value does these provide for their readers other than getting entertained? The main purpose of a directory is to help categorize other sites, and this in turn help Search Engines understand what those sites are all about. You know, it’s like a university library which arranges everything for you so that students and professors can find information much easier.

And as for bad links, I really don’t think Google will use this too much. First of all, webmasters don’t have control over what other webmasters link to. So if a webmaster with a bad site links to your site, you can’t do anything about it. It’s out of your hands, even if your site isn’t some crappy nonsense adsense gallery. We cannot stop people from linking to whoever they choose. And if Google did, then I am sure a lot of devious webmasters will be spending time submitting their competitors’ sites to these “bad” sites. It doesn’t make sense for Google to do it this way.

Well, I have to tell anyone who is worried about all these is that actually website submission is not as easy as it sounds. It’s requires tough work to get results. You need to create unique descriptions about 500-600 words (if the directory supports that much) in length for your sites. And you need to plan your title (aka anchor text) to get the maximum value from the link. Doing 1-5 submissions per day is good, but beware that those submissions may be rejected or the editors may take their time to approve your submission . So I would suggest more, about 10-20 submissions per day. And if possible, link to your internal URLs. You don’t want Search Engines to see only your main page. Deeplinking can also help push competition away from your main page to your inner pages.