Part 4 – How to build a successful web directory?

Building a freaking directory is not a hard part, as you can just hire a good coder and designer who can setup everything very perfectly for you. But after everything’s set, you will be in a big doubt of how to promote your directory well and create a buzz of it, so that you can get other websites submitted in it for review.

Promoting a free web directory is not a hard part, as you get submissions easily, being free. But anyways this doesn’t say that you should not promote a free directory very much. Here are various ways of promoting a web directory(paid, free or bid for position) –

• Although i don’t presently suggest to submit to a bulk of free directories(as most of them have become a big spam box and link farms.), you can just hire a submitter to submit to any big list of free directories, of which a few can get you good number of backlinks. Traffic from free directories is almost nothing.
• Buying links – This was a great trend seen in the past, where people used to spend hundreds of dollars a month to build quality backlinks, but the big Google is always a step ahead of everyone, and has downgraded backlinks and pagerank of most of the big directories which were being promoted much through paid links. Anyways you can still build links but i suggest you to be slow and steady. My term Acute Linkplasia would explain more on this.
• Through forums – There are many webmaster forums where a directory can be announced and promote for long-term through signature links in those forums. But as this is not a regular website, here is a list of directory related forums where you can be active and create enough buzz for your directory to be talked about.
• Social Bookmarking – This is going to be a good way for you to get backlinks as well as some sort of traffic. Social bookmarking websites like Digg, Stumbleupon, Reddit, Del.icio.us etc. are the best one’s out there.
• Article marketing – There are many good article directories where you can submit articles with your links in the resource box, and this can bring you some good backlinks.
• Content, content and content – This is the best way to make your directory a quality resource. Directory always can’t be a big list of websites, but can become a good guide if loads of quality content is added in. There are still a very few quality established directories which have good unique content along with the listed websites, so directory world if improved with content, will be having a great future.
• Be unique in design – Its better to invest some money in a unique template for your directory, which would be appreciated and liked, and also submitter’s trust builds if you are having something different from others.

These are the main steps that you have to follow when trying to build a good and successful directory. It doesn’t really matter if you are making a free or a paid directory, as anything worked well can make you good money.