Directories:An easy way to make money or a waste of your money?

[Thanoz]

As i have on my plans to create a web directory, i have thought a lot about it and worried:The web is full of directories, what could make my one special?
After a lot of thinking,i figured out some things that i would like to share with you:)
First of all, an international directory is destined to fail...At least that period it is way to difficult to create a successfull directory, due to the fact that oled(and higher PR) directories are more "catchy" for new webmasters.
So..why not to try a directory for your country?e.g If you are Greek, create a directory only for hellenic sites or greek-talking ones.I have been searching for that alot time now and yes!that directories are the ones that can succeed!
What is more, you have to buy a professional script and not use the freeware ones.Remember, you want to make something successfull!Errors and "problems" may occur, and you will be in need of support which only paid products can offer at any time ;)
So investing 100$ on a great script is a must!
Now, how can you earn money from your directory?
CPM! Te first of all is to join a CPM affiliate program(even AdSense).You are building a directory=a place with lots of visitors!
After that, featured links,Top Links and other similar options the script wil definitely offer you, with the right pricing can bring you a nice bunch of extra money.
Supposingly you charge 3 Euros every featured links, if you manage to create a nice directory with lots of visitors you can earn 50 euros just for fun every month from these sites.!
NOTE: Do not ever overfill tyou main page with ads..try to keep it clean and on the meantime with extra ads(such as a PR Checker etc.).
So i have done all these,how will i make people come and submit their links?
As i mentioned above, you need a small budget to start and cover the script fees,domain and Advertising.
Spending 20-80 euros(or dollars) on AdWords for targeted traffic will bring visitors to your site!
Well, these are a few of my thoughts, thread is open for discussion:)
I will have my one directory soon though, with the criteria i mentioned above:)
(I didn;t share things from my imagination, but what i have found through hours of searching)
Best regards,
Thanoz

[Hurbel2k]

I've put my site onto 50 directories or so. Many have approved me. Traffic wise I get nothing. Also the backlinks seem to not show up at all.

[zerzis]

HI thanoz,

you have good plans, but all these are very difficult to execute- but you need to if you want to get success. ANd remember its a loong time activity.
What hurbel2k said makes a good point. You are directory onwer should make a point that your submitters should benefitt from your directory- if your current customers are satisfied they will automatically spread your name and this is a great advertisement!
Take all these things in to mind.

[Fergal]

There are some great ideas in your post Thanoz. As you suggest in your post finding a geographic niche can be a useful way to differentiate your site from the thousands of general website directories that are out there. (I own one myself http://www.seyq.com). You may even consider a smaller area than a country, eg some city or large town directories have been very successful.

Concentrating on a niche subject area can also be useful. There are lots of hosting directories out there but obviously there are many more niches that could prove successful.

Two tried and tested directory scripts that are worth looking at are http://www.phplinkdirectory.com/ and http://www.esyndicat.com/

[moratraffic]

Targeting a geographic location is a great way to go. Another great way to make money from directories is to break it down even further and do a city by city directory and feature certain businesses. Most small business have a crappy if any online presence, and if you sell it right, you can make it look as though your directory is hot and the place they need to advertise.

What I suggest doing is creating a directory for every state or province that is in the country. You can either have a general domain for the entire country or break it down into new domains for each state or province. If you can find a killer country domain, just use that and create the sub-domains for each state or province and expand on that. Run a mailing piece to local businesses that you want to target and highlight the points. Make sure you have a good sales page and email address so that they can contact you with questions. Even take it one step further and install a live chat option to handle sales questions immediately and it also gives you the chance to sell them on the spot. There is sooo much you can do with directories and business owners that the possibilities are almost endless!

[Loskas]

I have had a directory for blogs. So far it has been the most moneymaking site I have had. I am soon going to buy a better domain for it and make the script better.

[Fergal]

Hi Loskas (http://www.businessadviceforum.com/member.php?u=384) welcome to our business forum. Would you mind posting a link to your directory?

[abiji]

@Loskas please post the url of your niche blog directory.

@Thanoz i used to run 2 directories for 2 years and after that sold them for good amount. In 2 years i made more than 200$ easily without doing much from directories through ads, featured links, sponsored etc. So its a good idea but you have to work on it. PR is a must for directories if you want to earn $$$ from it.

[dpSubi1]

Instead of running several general directories we can run few niche directories with good quality.

[Loskas]

Hi Loskas (http://www.businessadviceforum.com/member.php?u=384) welcome to our business forum. Would you mind posting a link to your directory?

I just reseted the whole site and installed better script. When I have all the skins, settings and the blogs that already existed done, I will surely link it here. :)

[Hosting_Solutions]

Instead of running several general directories we can run few niche directories with good quality.

I agree on this, better yet spend more time on particular niches, than create a directory overnight.