Help me in building a directory

[stoner3221]

Brian,
I do it this way with mine for each topic page.
<TITLE> Topic Name
<META NAME="description"
<META NAME="keywords"
You have the h1 tag with the topic title and the 3 optional lines to place the title, description and keywords. It works very well in search results.

Most scripts only allow the h1 tag.

[nandini]

Originally Posted by I, Brian

Your directory idea sounds well thought out.

One particular sugegstion that needs making - that almost every other directory fails to do - is provide keyworded URLs.

If you were able to provide a directory that would actually create spider friendly keyword URLs for categories then you would be a cut above the rest.

For example, the category "printing supplies" within "business", would have an URL like:

directory.com/business/printing-supplies/

2c.

That kind of scheming I call yahoo or dmoz style..
They will be an highlight of this directory script. This can be easily accomplished by URL rewriting.
So I will be having
directory.com/business/printing-supplies/
Kind of URLs.

And not only keyword rich URLs, H1, Title tages and meta tags with description.

[John Scott]

I'd like to give you advice, but my advice would change depending on the purpose of the directory. Is it to be the best general web directory under the sun, or to make masses of money?

[JayM]

Can we here your advice for both scinarios? i think it could be very insightful.

[awall19]

Originally Posted by JohnScott

I'd like to give you advice, but my advice would change depending on the purpose of the directory. Is it to be the best general web directory under the sun, or to make masses of money?

any time you offer multiple types of advice people are prone to want to hear both sides of it.

[qcguide]

Hello nandini.
>And not only keyword rich URLs, H1, Title tages and meta tags with description.
All the directories that I've seen hide the category descriptions on a separate page. They are full of relevant keywords and, IMO, should be near the top of the page, above the site listings. Good for people searching for the right category and good for the search engines.

[nandini]

Originally Posted by qcguide

Hello nandini.
>And not only keyword rich URLs, H1, Title tages and meta tags with description.
All the directories that I've seen hide the category descriptions on a separate page. They are full of relevant keywords and, IMO, should be near the top of the page, above the site listings. Good for people searching for the right category and good for the search engines.

Hi QcGuide,
I am also going to hide Category Description.

Will just put in meta description tag. I know they are full of keywords, but I think people registring in a particular category, will get enough keywords for me themselves in the page.

You made a good point, but it doesn`t look that professional to have description on top of Page.

[Brian911]

Originally Posted by Zain Jaffer

Very true - Even $0.01 would reduce spam submissions.

even a simple credit card validation without charging anything will reduce spam actually.

[bruced1]

Hi Nandini,

I have several suggestions for you. Maybe you already covered them. One is a confirmation email upon url submission so we know that the submission was accepted, maybe with an estimate of when submission will be reviewed. When your editors make a decision to accept/reject, another email saying it was accepted or rejected and why. Can be very simple form letters, but it is nice to get feedback (unlike some of the major directories that keep this so secret).

Another suggestion is a way for submitters to see your directory tree, both when you drill down and after a search for your keywords, so that we know which directory to submit into. E.g. search for accounting software may show up in b2b/software/payroll/accounting or computers/software/payroll. If you dont want them seen by users, maybe only show as part of the submit process?

Good luck.

[Pimpen 2010]

Originally Posted by Brian911

even a simple credit card validation without charging anything will reduce spam actually.

I dont think people will feel safe giving away CC info to someone they dont, especially a brand new site...

[bruced1]

Another suggestion. Some of the directories have hard links when you drill down the directory, but in the search results view, they are not hard links, but redirects. It would be nice if all the links were hard/seo friendly.

[nandini]

Hi Bruced! welcome to the forums...

You have got some nice suggestions.. We will gurrantee to add the site in 24-48 hours. Then there will be a forum for any help.

Yes directory tree will be there..

All links will be Search engine friendls, even the URLs will be SE friendly long and descriptive, just like you see in DMOZ.

And No redirects.


Thanks for all your suggestions. I really appreciate your help.

[bruced1]

Thanks Nandini. Look forward to seeing your new directory. It sounds like you've got a lot of features and improvements over the competition.

[nandini]

Actually I am getting more and more nervous by so much expectations.

The directory is in final stages of dvelopment. Now I am thinking in terms of its marketing and promotion.

[awall19]

a couple good ideas...

1.) only accept decent high quality sites.
2.) do not refund the money for poor submissions. simply donate that money to charity. this way you discourage bad submissions and help out charities.

[nandini]

Thank for all your support guys!.........
And so many valuable suggestions.

The directory is ready to launch.. I have scheduled the date 15th October.

[stoner3221]

Originally Posted by nandini

Thank for all your support guys!.........
And so many valuable suggestions.

The directory is ready to launch.. I have scheduled the date 15th October.

Looking forward to seeing all your hard work. I should have the new WoW going around that time as well.

[thebassman]

Looking forward to it

[templateteacher]

I would recommend accepting payments via PayPal. I know they had a hiccup this week, but when I have a PayPal balance, I am more likely to spend that money than whip out my credit card. Key takeaway: I will spend more PayPal cash than "real money" (although it is the same thing, if I can't feel it, it doesn't seem real).

How are you going to validate links 3, 6, 12 months after they are included? I hate it when I go to a directory and click on a link whos description meets my needs only to find a 404 error on the other side of the link. Key takeaway: keep the listing up to date.

[nandini]

Originally Posted by templateteacher

I would recommend accepting payments via PayPal. I know they had a hiccup this week, but when I have a PayPal balance, I am more likely to spend that money than whip out my credit card. Key takeaway: I will spend more PayPal cash than "real money" (although it is the same thing, if I can't feel it, it doesn't seem real).

How are you going to validate links 3, 6, 12 months after they are included? I hate it when I go to a directory and click on a link whos description meets my needs only to find a 404 error on the other side of the link. Key takeaway: keep the listing up to date.

Hi templateteacher,
I am keeping up the paypal thing, but would integrate 2checkout as well in coming weeks.

Thats a really good thought of validating links, I have given it a lot of thoughts, even thought of a process which would automate check links for each category once a month.
But then as the site grows up, it will add burden to the server.

I think report a broken link is all we can do to implement it. Nevertheless, since I am making a human edited directory, chances of non serious websites getting in is very less, and I think this is the best way to maintain the list of quality sites.