1000 Web Links

January 22nd, 2009 | Author: Chip

Last night I reached 1000 links with my first web link directory. It’s not much but it’s a great step for me. I’ve managed to gather only quality links, and regulalry, 15 web sites join the directory every day. I intend to upgrade it to more than a mere directory. It could be a business portal, with advanced search functions, advanced statistics reporting for sites, and advanced functionality in general.

It is not a niche directory, probably this is one of the reasons it succeeded in such a short time – 6 to 8 months – with little to no promotion and marketing. I’m trying my hand at a niche directory, restaurants, cafes, bar, taverns (hey, I don’t have “Taverns” category listed, I should go and add it), pizza houses, casinos and more. This one could use some local SEO, promotion and marketing. And this time I should do some thorough analysis of keywords. The first 100 links are hard to get, after that, it’s just a snowball rolling down the hill.

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23 comments

Business Logos says:

January 24, 2009 at 1:55 pm

How do you assess the value of the links? Or do you distinguish between spam and non-spammy links. Can you seed it with the first 100 links?

Reply
Chip says:

January 24, 2009 at 10:15 pm

I can distinguish between spam and non spam by the name of site, description, and the site itself. A nice site with little to no ads is clean.

I’ve learned them by heart

“Can you seed it with the first 100 links?” – What do you mean?

Reply
tiherp says:

January 24, 2009 at 10:28 pm

Thanks for your sharing……but my question is the same……how could you know which are spammy and which are not……..I am also waiting for the solutions.

Thank you.

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Chip says:

January 25, 2009 at 9:15 pm

OK, a spam site is easily recognizable by the use of a template, excessive use of ads, come on, anyone can spot a spammy site.

Also, they use excessive keywords in description field, an ugly title and more. I visit each site I approve.

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show displays says:

January 27, 2009 at 2:38 am

hi Chip,
Congrats on getting to 1,000. That said, what is your directory? I don’t see a link to it. I’d be very interested to see it.
~ Steve (show displays)

Reply
show displays says:

January 30, 2009 at 1:07 am

Hey Chip,
Nice and clean looking directory, though I don’t know what it says since I don’t know Romanian.
I like your video. Did you make that yourself? Nice!
~ Steve (show displays)

Reply
Steve | show displays says:

February 1, 2009 at 3:17 am

hi Chip,
Sounds like you have a cool job. Do you always work “behind the camera” or do you ever get any on-air time?
Anyway, just for giggles I submitted my website to your directory. I couldn’t read the directions but it seemed pretty intuitive (I think). Anyway, I submitted it but then couldn’t read what happened. I guess I’ll have to learn Romanian. Until then, I’ll just cross my fingers! ~ Steve, aka show displays

Reply
Current account says:

February 6, 2009 at 12:36 pm

It’s really a very clean directory. My fear with such directories is the issue with spammy sites de-valuing the trust and reputation of other sites. Do you manually check sites before you get them approved?

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Sneak Directory says:

February 9, 2009 at 8:22 pm

Thats good to know that you don’t approve all the links and take time to check links and approve them. I myself run web directories and i want to keep the directory clean and green with no spammy and dead links.

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Sneak Directory says:

February 10, 2009 at 4:42 pm

@chip, you’re right, i was thinking to get some PR first and offer free links in my favorite forum. I have someone that creates great content for (articles) different categories and the main category all have links but i have no website listings wich is indeed not very good for a directory…

I’m going to follow your advise, i need quality listings, and people need quality links. And at the stage my directory is right now, i should offer free links.

I’ll just put a condition to it, the website description must be minimum 200 caracters out of the 500 allowed, and must be 100% unique.

Please feel free to submit your blog.

Thanks.

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Nicolas says:

February 10, 2009 at 10:19 pm

I got it and approved it: http://www.sneakdirectory.com/Internet/Weblogs/. I have tried to set it ip free but the way i did things, it’s not possible… But i get the submissions that i can then approve or decline.

I won’t offer free links for long, i’m investing a lot in this directory and will only offer free links in forums as special offer.

Reply
Goran Web Design says:

April 14, 2009 at 4:44 pm

Congratulations on a noteworthy milestone in the growth of your directory. I paid it a visit, but the language barrier is a factor. If your target is Romanian language sites I feel that this makes your achievement even more noteworthy, so here is to your continued success!

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LinkDirectory says:

April 16, 2009 at 9:44 am

Agree with Goran. I have visited your link, Chip. Because I’m so curious. But too bad I understand almost nothing. If you have many languages on you website (at least English), it will invite more worldwide visitors. So, let me read it!

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miky fish says:

July 14, 2009 at 11:33 pm

Where do you get the software to set one up.

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generic says:

August 22, 2009 at 8:18 pm

It really Sounds like you have a cool job. Do you always work “behind the camera” or do you ever get any on-air time?

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Web Design Warwick says:

September 24, 2009 at 12:30 pm

Good work I have always seen web directories too much work.

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Jessie says:

October 8, 2009 at 1:12 pm

It’s great feeling to reach the 1000 mark and an excellent achievement. Well done and keep up the good work.

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Chip says:

January 27, 2009 at 10:07 am

Yes, it is my directory, here is a link to it: http://www.afacerionline.net/

It’s in Romanian, so you might just check out the graphics and the little promo movie from the about page: http://www.afacerionline.net/about.php

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Chip says:

January 30, 2009 at 10:16 am

Yeah, I made the video myself, I work for a local TV station. The name of the site would translate as “online business”. I will update it today with a magic button, and some clients’ ads.

Reply
Chip says:

February 1, 2009 at 9:28 am

I don’t get air time. I just do video editing, graphics, and broadcast directing.

I saw your link and approved it. You should have capitalized your title (I did it for you). I try to keep some simple rules, that’s why I have some big corporate Romanian web sites added.

It grew rather quick and it turned out to be more professional than I expected.

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Chip says:

February 7, 2009 at 8:17 pm

Of course I manually check them, and they are approved after a thorough consideration based on design, graphics, contents, amount of ads and overall impression.

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Chip says:

February 10, 2009 at 1:29 pm

@Sneak Directory: I tried to add my blog to your directory. I was greeted with 4 payment options. Why don’t you provide a free option? How many sites do you have listed? I only saw 4. You should also place a statistics section on the home page with “X sites”.

However, you should implement paying only when you pass a certain threshold, such as 100, 500, 1000, depending on your niche or other considerations.

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Chip says:

February 10, 2009 at 6:39 pm

I’ll add my link tomorrow. I tried it right now, I saw the FREE option instead of the 8,95 one, but after submission it shows me the PayPal button. I guess you’re still working on it.

About what you said, the limit is good, but you should not enforce it automatically, you should only recommend it. Try my submission page and write some words in the description field (hope you understand it, it’s pretty intuitive). You’ll notice a counter. It’s something like “400 characters allowed, but only 200 recommended”.

The reason for this is that you’ll have more content for search engines. Plain and simple. More content means more results. You should however check the descriptions to see if they’re interesting, correct and unique.

Reply

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