General Do's and Don'ts of Building a Directory

I have chosen to list a few items that I often repeat over and over to directory builders, people building a directory for the first time, and those that wonder why their directory never does very well or gets "hit" when Google changes their algorithm with an update.  Many may read the below and find it conflicts with their own plans - hey, it's just my opinion..hehe
Some of the info is very general and applies to all sites, not just directories.

Use "Good" Hosting Services
If you cannot afford $15-30 a month to invest in something that can return that amount of money 10-100 times and more per month in the coming years, then you really need to rethink your business model.  Directories are not "get rich quick" sites and to succeed you need to offer something different, execute it well, and stick with it for the long term to be really successful.  Finding a really good host is one of the first steps to being successful.

Plan, plan, plan..
Think of how your directory can grow.  Niche subject/topic directories are the easiest to build and work on.  There are enough general directories out there and 99.9% of them are worthless to the user.  Look at the topic, look at the competition, do something different!

Don't launch prematurely.
There is nothing worse than an empty directory to both the search engines and the users.
Also, if you are going to seed it using dmoz etc.
1. do not use every listing in a category as seed - choose a small sample
2. change all titles and descriptions (actually review the site)
3. decide on a link, anchor, or title format and stick with it (don't give anchor text just because someone requests it if it doesn't fit your titling format)

Don't Generate a Directory Based on Your Entire Taxonomy
Meaning, don't generate a bunch of empty categories.  It is quite simple to have an add URL link on the upper level category. For instance if you have a regional directory of the United States and you have each state but not every locality you simply state that localities will be created as necessary and simply allow them to submit to the State and then create localities as needed.  I can't stand the empty categories that so many directories have.  Most of the major search engines including Google may rank you for empty category pages, but within a short period your site will most likely be penalized and it could take years if ever for the site to recuperate fully.

Don't Run AdSense Right Away
Once a directory becomes established, advertising of this nature may be an option, but not at launch or anytime shortly thereafter until you gain traffic.  The same goes for any other type of advertising - wait until you are contacted about it before placing the advertising options on the site.

Don't List Email Addresses
Never list email addresses of the listings, no matter what.  Your site will only become a spam magnet for email harvesting robots/users.  Yes, you can block these robots using .htaccess, but don't subject your submitters to getting spammed from this.

Stick to your principles
Don't be afraid to reject submissions and refund money. Don't accept mirrors or any other trash you don't feel good about. Again, stick with a format for titles/descriptions whatever that may be - don't let the submitter spam out their title/description. I've turned down quite a few advertising opportunities that would bring in $100's monthly each because I refused to have keyword, keyword, keyword, keyword, keyword, keyword, keyword, keyword, repeated throughout the advertisement.

Add Subject Related Content
Listings are in a way content, but write, have written, or accept submissions of articles. If you are accepting articles, don't let them (submitter) spam those out either. Create a format and stick with it. Don't accept 700 word advertisements is what I'm trying to say with anchor text to the submitters network of sites sprinkled throughout.

Have Patience
Last but not least, don't let "them" get you down. Building a "useful/successful" directory that will be around for years and survive search engine algo changes etc. takes knowledge of the subject, knowledge of taxonomy, interest in the subject, and time…lot's and lot's of time. That is why I always suggest building on a topic in which you are familiar with and interested in, not based on the cost of keywords in the PPC market.  Plan it well and don't rush it.

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© 2006 Dave Stanovic