Welcome to another Full Guide on the MiloFi Blog. This guide is all about Directories. This guide will explain to you what a directory is, how you can start one, how to build up traffic to a directory and also how to make money from them.

First of all, you should definately know what a directory is if you’ve been building links to your website. MiloFi runs a directory too, you can see the link in the sidebar. A directory is basically a big list of websites, people can submit their URL to the directory so their website is listed in it, meaning these sites get backlinks. That is why people submit.

Now if you run a directory or want to run a directory, then you’ll need to know some important points. First of all, don’t expect many paid listings if you don’t have a high PageRank. People want as best backlinks as they can get, so if you have PageRank 0 or PageRank 1, then you may struggle to get submissions. Keep link building and the paid links will come over time. Second of all, make the directory structure very clear. Make as many categories and sub-categories as you can to keep your directory organised, and try to keep as little advertisements on the page as possible. If the website is clean and easy to submit to, you will get submissions.

Now starting a directory is very simple. All you need is a directory and a script. One of the most popular scripts used is phpLD. There are many templates and edits you can do to this script to improve your directory and customize it as you want. Version 2 of the script is free, but Version 3 currently costs $30. Version 2 is very good at what it does despite being free, but if you do have some money lying around, you should get Version 3 because of its advanced features. Download the script and then upload it, follow the installation instructions and install. You can then start to edit settings like the Paypal Account and add E-Mail templates, and then start to create categories. This may take a while, but it is important that you get everything right. When you’ve done everything, you’re ready to advertise.

Advertising a directory isn’t the easiest of tasks, but it isn’t the most difficult either. There are several methods you could use to get traffic. First of all, you should submit your directory to a website called DirectoryCritic.com. This will get you a high amount of submissions everyday, it will give your directory the initial boost it needs. You have to give a linkback to them, but that isn’t so bad considering what they’re providing. It takes them only a few days to review your directory too. After you’ve been accepted, you should start seeing more and more submissions everyday.

Second of all, you should search around Webmaster Forums that have specific sections for Directories. For example, DigitalPoint.com Forums. If you post your directory there for people to submit to, you’ll find a lot of people who will submit to your directory. Keep posting to these kinds of forums regularly, get as many submissions as you can from them.

One of the ways that directories get most of their traffic from - Search Engines. This means that you need to build as many backlinks as you possibly can, and do as much SEO work on your directory too. If you can rank high for decent directory terms like “Free Directory” or “General Directory”, this will help your directory massively. If your website has a high PageRank, a good way to achieve this is to have a regular and featured link as paid, but have reciprocal links as free. This way people will want a link in your directory and if they don’t have money to spend, you’ll get more and more backlinks from it, making your job a whole lot easier.

Link exchanges with other directories could also bring some more traffic too.

Now, how to make money from directories. There are several ways of doing so. First of all, there is the obvious ways - the paid links. The amount you can charge for paid links is totally dependant on your traffic and your PageRank. You might only be able to charge a few dollars per paid link if you have a low PageRank, and even at that amount, you might get little paid submissions. When you get PageRank 3+, then you can start making money from them. If you have a low PageRank, don’t bother with paid links that much to start with.

Another way that isn’t as effective for directories (But still may get you some extra revenue) is advertisements. You could place a Google Adsense advertisement that goes on every page. The good thing about Google Adsense on directories is that normally if you go into some categories, you’ll find that the advertisements shown will change to match the category, meaning it may get you more clicks because the advertisements are related to the content. However, don’t expect too much revenue from advertisements because the majority of visitors you will get will be Webmasters, and they don’t click advertisements often.

You could also sell links on your Directory too. This revolves around your traffic and your PageRank too - You may struggle to get these if you don’t have much of either. If you do however, you could sell links on your homepage, or a link that goes on every page (Sitewide link). These can generate a bit of extra revenue, but not much unless you have a really high PageRank.

In conclusion, if you run a directory, you really need to concentrate on building backlinks so you can rank high on the Search Engines and you also need to get as high of a PageRank as possible, because a directory depends on your PageRank a lot, and make sure that you can avoid the Google Punishments as well, because you will really suffer if you get dropped down.

Related Posts:

1. Google Cracks Down on Directories...
2. The Guide to Blogs...
3. The Full Guide to Adsense...
4. The Guide to Forums...
5. The Quick Guide to Getting Indexed by Google!...

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