In a course of two weeks, I recieved a few emails asking me how to make money from a general web directory. Some asked is it even possible to make money with a General Web Directory? I don’t know why I was being asked so many questions like that until I realized I was getting a few hits from 2Blog.in where he called me a Guru of Directories. I saw this post a while back but that was the one that came in my mind when I wondered about that. Therefore, I decided to write my thoughts about this issue as well as some of the other well known directory owners in the industry.

I believe that it is possible to make money with a general web directory, but those QBC Directories (yes I know the term is overrated) doesn’t stand a chance in making good money as they used to. I would like to start out with the quotes and then present my own view in details.

I asked Mikey of Zorg-Directory the question which is stated in the title.

Mikey Replied:

Yes. It requires a lot of time and effort though. Money can help a lot but is not totally necessary.

I didn’t just want to rely on source therefore I also asked Bruce of Authority Directory

Bruce Replied:

Yes I think general directories can make money, but the directory owner needs to be patient. The directory has to be properly promoted, maintained and allowed to mature. It is not a way to get rich quick.

I also asked Brian of Seo Web Directory

Brian replied:

You can but it’s harder than it used to be. I noticed a drop in submissions since Google reduced PR, seems like people are losing confidents in general web directories. As you know there is more benefits to directory submission than PR. I feel that the way forward is niche directories.

Ok people we know what is going on with Google. Directories used to sell alot of links because people were abusing the resource and was trying to manipulate PR. Which made directory owners greedy and buy links to increase their Pagerank, so they can make ten fold of their investments. Which kinda didn’t work as we can see. Alot of people think it was not good for directories, but I think it was actually better for the industry. Now we will not have any more crappy directories.

How can you not make a crappy directory and still make money. Well first of all, You need to evaluate your options now. If you are into directories for money and quick money !! You are at a wrong place. You will not, let me repeat Will not make quick money from directories. So first thing is you can’t expect quick returns and you need to learn the idea of investment. You have to invest in your directories. Time (the most), skills, money (is good always). Google is banning sites because they are gaining links too quickly, and provide no content what so ever. If you work on a directory and have tons of quality listing then you should have no problem. Start with one listing in each category. Then go on from there.

Alright old owners like aviva and alive and dump don’t jump on me. I am not saying you guys weren’t doing that. I believe that these sites were manually penaltised because Aviva specially had tons of good content.

Let me get back to the point. The owner should have tons of resourceful listing in the directory. Do not start with a category structure of 11,000 if you can’t fill them all up. It is just a very stupid move. Start with little and go on as you go. Build your directory slowly and gradually and you should be fine. When I say slowly it doesn’t mean don’t advertise at all because that way you will loose business. I see alot of directory owners not advertise and then wonder why they are loosing business.

Now you need to make money as well. Let me begin with saying Adsense will not work with you unless you have something like Romow Directory. Basically what I mean is unless your directory is like a portal which have content, adsense won’t work.

Selling sitewide links is an option. Just use the rel tags. Just remeber that the more sitewide links you have the lesser your link value gets.

Keep your prices low. I don’t know what is wrong with these new paid directories that their prices talks to the sky when they launch. I don’t know what point the owners are trying to make. Maybe that they invested alot and their directory is quality. Well to tell you the truth, you won’t get a submission from me. Wait a year and then I might submit at your given price if you satisfy me. Just an example, when I started IDK the link price was $4.95 for regular, and 14.95 for featured. Once I got decent reputation and good ranking then I changed my price to $9.95 for regular listing and $34.95 for featured listing. Then once IDK grew more, I changed the prices to $14.95 for regular and $49.95 for featured. Eventhough I didn’t make money in the beginning, but I did gain alot of clients who returned and submitted even the prices were raised.

Always have a coupon mod. It will help you with SEO company submissions (I will come back to this point later). Every 2 - 3 months. Throw a special out. Don’t cut your prices down crazily, but give discounts. It will boost your sale for that month. Eventhough you will be selling for less price, but you will sell more and your profit will be higher!

Coming back to SEO Companies. As a directory owner, these companies are your friend. You need to offer them a discount. There will be some companies like Bob Mutch’s company, they will try to take advantage of you if you are new by offering you some ridiculous deals which won’t benefit you as much. Stay away from those. Example of those would be give us 100 free submissions as a trial then we will include you in our regular package where you will give us 50% discount. Don’t make insane deals like those that you will regret in the future. But as a directory owner it is your job to contact all the big seo companies and offer them your deals. Get some contracts. Don’t sound like spammy services who are like this is the best deal and blah blah. Sound professional. Get a decent written article that you can send to these companies, and most of them will reply to you. I got once 221 regular submissions on IDK from one SEO Company. Do your homework fellas. You would need a coupon mod for this because you can set coupons for separate seo companies.

Don’t set your featured link to be permanent. That is one thing that will kill you in the future. So make sure you keep your featured link to be yearly and regular to be permanent. Keep a balance in the directory so you don’t cut your sources of income. I believe Linkforever have a mod that take cares of feature links which renews and send email to the owner etc.

Alot of people think it is wrong to say that the review fee is non-refundable, but I believe it is not wrong to say that as long as you explain to the user why the site was rejected. You will get tons of crappy sites want a listing in your directory once you get big. You don’t want to let the quality of your site suffer and not waste your time. This way will help. If you refund the fees, it just proves Google’s point right. Paid directories are selling links not reviews because when you reject a site, you still have reviewed it, or atleast I hope no one rejects the sites that paid for submission without reviewing it. You are charging for a review which you have done, therefore you get paid for the review, and not for the link. If you choose to refund the money, it indirectly means you are selling a link because the submitter didn’t get a link thats why they got their money refunded. Alot of people are worried about Paypal disputes. If you have the latest version of phpLD. It already have the check box installed. By checking this box, user agrees that he has read and agreed with our terms of submission. If you have the sentence in your terms of service that your review is non-refundable. Then paypal will be on your side. I never lost a dispute case that deals with that issue.

Category sponsorship is another way that can increase your revenue. I have not tried this, but I know the sites I saw, this didn’t work so well.

Don’t try Daily Listing Mod. That just cheapens your site. I would rather list a random featured listing there rather than a daily listing which someone pays me for. That is pushing the limit.

A blog with a directory is a good combo only if you can keep up with it. Many people just add a blog, but their blog literally SUCK! Lack of content, or let me say lack of quality content. Alot of people do it for peer pressure, don’t do it if you can’t keep up with it.

Last advice I will give you all is that make a deal with yourself that you will add 10 quality listings in your categories every day, or 5. Set a number that doesn’t seem like alot, so It doesn’t become a pain. If you add 10 quality listing in your directory every day. You will be addin 300 listings every month, and that means 3600 listings every year aside from your paid one.

I wish you all good luck and thanks for all who think of me worthy enough to ask me for advices