Ten tips for startup directories
I have compiled a list of just ten pointers that I personally feel helps build a “quality”
web directory resource. There are more people that I can name that are creating a directory every day, often forgetting the essentials to get the respect you need to create a quality resource for both webmasters & users benefits.
I will write a short description of each point, for those who may not understand my points.
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HTACCESS REWRITE (301 redirects)
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I am taking a wild guess and saying that almost all reading will have heard of this. Many things
are possible with this smart solution. But one thing many website owners and definately directory owners forget to do is select ONE option for URL rewriting. E.g. Your website is accessible via both http://domain.com and http://www.domain.com.
Now why is this important? Having both URLs working without a rewrite can cause confusion, and often lower your chances of getting higher in SERPs as Search Engines will see two different versions of your site, and eventually you’ll have duplicate content issues..
You can find a detailed htaccess rewrite tutorial at webconfs here.
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Unique Content
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Thousands of directories with the same category structures and often the same links in the similar locations! Unique content is important for any website, so why should it be any different for a web directory?
There are a couple of good ways in which you can boost your directories uniqueness;
- Creating a blog; Don’t bother scraping others content, go ahead and write your own or get some else to write it for you!
- Writing unique website descriptions; Maybe takes an extra five minutes per review?
- Writing category descriptions; Be precise and on topic 
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Reviewing websites
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Don’t be afraid to decline websites!
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Your domain
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Some quick do’s and dont’s;
- Say NO NO to dropped/expired domains; You can spot them from a mile away
- Say YES YES to brandable one word domains; Great for branding and building a reputable business
- Say NO NO to 301 redirecting domains to your index
- Say YES YES to keyword domains, as long as they are on-topic; e.g. healthdirectory.com, not thisisonehealthdirectory.com 
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Empty categories / Filler sites
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Add links throughout your categories to ensure there are none empty. Find authoritive websites that will help the general user when/if they visit that category!
Not being able to find what your looking for is quite annoying!
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Designing and structure
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Even though the search engines will not really know any different to the default template or to a template that cost you $2000. The user will! Easy to use navigation menus and links will help the user more than you think, even telling the user how to submit
in a tutorial was proved very effective with Wow Directory.
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Backlinks
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It’s all very well getting links to your homepages to boost PR but what about the inner category pages? I think it’s essential to build inner links to your category pages. Google and other SE’s don’t just look at the advertisers backlinks to determine link weight,
but they look at your DIRECTORIES backlinks from where your directory is linking to the advertisers website. Therefore, without on-topic relevant links to your inner category pages where your advertisers submit to.
Quick three ways how you can do this;
- Article Submission
- Deep link directories
- Reciprocal / Three-way link exchanges
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Planning
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This ones a quick one… but like any other business, planning is essential. Plan your budgets, overheads and start-up costs.
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Advertising on sites OTHER than directories
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When advertising your directory, try to think out of the box with the marketing. Let’s step back a minute, and think of the ‘usual process’ for the average directory owners startup-marketing plan;
- Launch the directory
- Create a thread on some webmaster/SEO forums
- Submit to some big-named directories
- Purchase a few banners at the usual ‘directory spots’
- Repeat the process
When looking at the usual five step marketing plan, it doesn’t look so great. To brand and really market your directory you need to reach advertisers and business outside of the directory market.
How do you do this? Think out of the box, and put your directories name infront of startup businesses and get in touch with established businesses with unique opertunities.
Branding your directory is essential! Because what happens when the start-up buzz dies down and you’ve ran out of budget.
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Dress to impress
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Get the mods to pimp your directory out, whether it’s an “off the shelf” solution, or bespoke. Go for it! Impress your advertisers and users with extra features to make their experience of your directory enjoyable or even loveable. The last thought always must be a good one!
And that’s it!
There are many many more pointers which could have been included, but I feel these are quite important to building a proper and well organised directory.
