-
INCEPTION THEME
Clean, contrasting WordPress theme built on the foundation of Whiskey Air. -
WHISKEY AIR THEME
Clean developer theme, suited for heavy modifications. -
X5 TURBO THEME
3 columns Turbo theme, now reloaded! -
CLEAR APPLE THEME
Almost magazine theme, without the hassle of administration.
Last night I reached 1000 links with my first web link directory. It’s not much but it’s a great step for me. I’ve managed to gather only quality links, and regulalry, 15 web sites join the directory every day. I intend to upgrade it to more than a mere directory. It could be a business portal, with advanced search functions, advanced statistics reporting for sites, and advanced functionality in general.
It is not a niche directory, probably this is one of the reasons it succeeded in such a short time – 6 to 8 months – with little to no promotion and marketing. I’m trying my hand at a niche directory, restaurants, cafes, bar, taverns (hey, I don’t have “Taverns” category listed, I should go and add it), pizza houses, casinos and more. This one could use some local SEO, promotion and marketing. And this time I should do some thorough analysis of keywords. The first 100 links are hard to get, after that, it’s just a snowball rolling down the hill.
How do you assess the value of the links? Or do you distinguish between spam and non-spammy links. Can you seed it with the first 100 links?
I can distinguish between spam and non spam by the name of site, description, and the site itself. A nice site with little to no ads is clean.
I’ve learned them by heart
“Can you seed it with the first 100 links?” – What do you mean?
Thanks for your sharing……but my question is the same……how could you know which are spammy and which are not……..I am also waiting for the solutions.
Thank you.
OK, a spam site is easily recognizable by the use of a template, excessive use of ads, come on, anyone can spot a spammy site.
Also, they use excessive keywords in description field, an ugly title and more. I visit each site I approve.
hi Chip,
Congrats on getting to 1,000. That said, what is your directory? I don’t see a link to it. I’d be very interested to see it.
~ Steve (show displays)
Hey Chip,
Nice and clean looking directory, though I don’t know what it says since I don’t know Romanian.
I like your video. Did you make that yourself? Nice!
~ Steve (show displays)
hi Chip,
~ Steve, aka show displays
Sounds like you have a cool job. Do you always work “behind the camera” or do you ever get any on-air time?
Anyway, just for giggles I submitted my website to your directory. I couldn’t read the directions but it seemed pretty intuitive (I think). Anyway, I submitted it but then couldn’t read what happened. I guess I’ll have to learn Romanian. Until then, I’ll just cross my fingers!
It’s really a very clean directory. My fear with such directories is the issue with spammy sites de-valuing the trust and reputation of other sites. Do you manually check sites before you get them approved?
Thats good to know that you don’t approve all the links and take time to check links and approve them. I myself run web directories and i want to keep the directory clean and green with no spammy and dead links.
@chip, you’re right, i was thinking to get some PR first and offer free links in my favorite forum. I have someone that creates great content for (articles) different categories and the main category all have links but i have no website listings wich is indeed not very good for a directory…
I’m going to follow your advise, i need quality listings, and people need quality links. And at the stage my directory is right now, i should offer free links.
I’ll just put a condition to it, the website description must be minimum 200 caracters out of the 500 allowed, and must be 100% unique.
Please feel free to submit your blog.
Thanks.
I got it and approved it: http://www.sneakdirectory.com/Internet/Weblogs/. I have tried to set it ip free but the way i did things, it’s not possible… But i get the submissions that i can then approve or decline.
I won’t offer free links for long, i’m investing a lot in this directory and will only offer free links in forums as special offer.
Congratulations on a noteworthy milestone in the growth of your directory. I paid it a visit, but the language barrier is a factor. If your target is Romanian language sites I feel that this makes your achievement even more noteworthy, so here is to your continued success!
Agree with Goran. I have visited your link, Chip. Because I’m so curious. But too bad I understand almost nothing. If you have many languages on you website (at least English), it will invite more worldwide visitors. So, let me read it!
Where do you get the software to set one up.
It really Sounds like you have a cool job. Do you always work “behind the camera” or do you ever get any on-air time?
Good work
I have always seen web directories too much work.
It’s great feeling to reach the 1000 mark and an excellent achievement. Well done and keep up the good work.
Yes, it is my directory, here is a link to it: http://www.afacerionline.net/
It’s in Romanian, so you might just check out the graphics and the little promo movie from the about page: http://www.afacerionline.net/about.php
Yeah, I made the video myself, I work for a local TV station. The name of the site would translate as “online business”. I will update it today with a magic button, and some clients’ ads.
I don’t get air time. I just do video editing, graphics, and broadcast directing.
I saw your link and approved it. You should have capitalized your title (I did it for you). I try to keep some simple rules, that’s why I have some big corporate Romanian web sites added.
It grew rather quick and it turned out to be more professional than I expected.
Of course I manually check them, and they are approved after a thorough consideration based on design, graphics, contents, amount of ads and overall impression.
@Sneak Directory: I tried to add my blog to your directory. I was greeted with 4 payment options. Why don’t you provide a free option? How many sites do you have listed? I only saw 4. You should also place a statistics section on the home page with “X sites”.
However, you should implement paying only when you pass a certain threshold, such as 100, 500, 1000, depending on your niche or other considerations.
I’ll add my link tomorrow. I tried it right now, I saw the FREE option instead of the 8,95 one, but after submission it shows me the PayPal button. I guess you’re still working on it.
About what you said, the limit is good, but you should not enforce it automatically, you should only recommend it. Try my submission page and write some words in the description field (hope you understand it, it’s pretty intuitive). You’ll notice a counter. It’s something like “400 characters allowed, but only 200 recommended”.
The reason for this is that you’ll have more content for search engines. Plain and simple. More content means more results. You should however check the descriptions to see if they’re interesting, correct and unique.