How to promote new link directory sites?

[ms4u]

Hi,

I am new to this forum, just joined 5 minutes ago. I have just completed my new first directory. I have two questions in my mind, there are:

1) How do you promote other sites to submit their website in my directory?

2) How do you attract/promote online visitors (non website owner) to visit the directory? Do you use ppc or purely seo?

First of all welcome to UK WW. There are various ways you can promote your link directory, i'll list few of them here :

1) First important thing is to start free, you want to build up some good content and visitor base before starting to charge listing fee. Most of the people like submitting to free directories.
2) Only allow quality sites to be listed, make sure that submitter uses unique description for each site. The higher the quality of your directory the more people would want to have their site listed in your directory and more pople will use your directory as a resource.
3) Announce your new directory on various webmaster forums, we also have a subsection for new directory annoucement
4) Join and participate in various webmaster forums and display link to your directory in your signature
5) Advertise on other quality directories
6) Sponsor wordpress themes and other similar resources.

I wouldn't put too much money using ppc to drive traffic to a directory, when you can easily use that money in better ways.

[temi]

msn4u,
welcome to UK WW, all the advice dman gave are excellent. Regarding attracting non website owners, a good ideal would be to have something unique which they cannot find anywhere else online but only at your directory.. that will be an excellent incentive to get people coming to your directory.
Its very very difficult to get people to use a new directory if it does not have something quite different from the other hundreds of thousand other directories out there before yours.

[ms4u]

Thanks temi / dman,

thanks for your valuable advice. yes free submission definitely will attract a lot of submission. when you mentioned free submission. What type of free do you meant? I am currently offer four options for link submission:
1) free link submission with nofollow tag
2) free link submission with reciprocal
3) paid link submission with no link back
4) paid featured link submission

does the above option (1) and (2) will attract site owner? With regards to my directory, I am mostly focused on uk finance directory, my site is moneysearch4u(dot)co(dot)uk

Do you think focused on UK only site, is a good idea to go? or I should focused on international. I submitted my directory last thurs to directory critic. I received a lot of submissions, but MOST of them are either non-uk or non-finance related site. That why I decided to come over here to get some proper advice before I continue further.

[temi]

Link submission with nofollow tag will not be popular, smaller directories do not generate traffic, the main reason people use them is to get a link. I will suggest that for now, offer free submission with followtag, but when you site starts becoming popular, then, switch to link win nofollow tag to those who do not link back to you, so something like this for now will be good:

1) Paid featured links
2) Paid regular link (make is very cheap)
3) Link with reciprocal link (offer something that will make this option very attractive, say 24 hours approval for example
4) free link (you could say approval within 1 week - 6 months

Its and excellent idea to exclude non UK sites, if you make is a UK focused site, the quality will be better, it will be easy to monitise in the future. UK and niche directories can command more inclusion fees than a directory with sites from allover the world all lumped together.
You can have a regional section for other countries but only allow UK sites in the main categories.

Good luck

[ms4u]

Thanks temi,

Great advice....

[scoobby]

Hi,great advices Temi!
sorry t somehow hijack this thread but i have launched a new directory also and i had for now free links with no follow and sudenly before 2 days it starts to have 150 links per day submit.This where all ok from poin of descriptions right category and also there where nice sites but i am afraid all came from the same persons somewhere in India.So i inactivate the free links options because reviewing 150 sites per day will make me crazy.So the person use automated script to submit websites?How i can prevent it to happen?
url is Directories.gr-Web directory of Greece-Καταλογος ιστοσελιδων.
thanks in dvance for replies.

[ms4u]

Hi scooby,

Yes I agreed, when you set FREE submission. All sort of submission and sites appears. I think you will have to declined them if they are not too relevant to your theme or content. I am currently facing some submissions daily but mostly all of them are not relevant to my directory. I just have to reject all of them.

I have a query which of the following promoting approach is better:

1) Individual link exchange with site owner. That is go to their respective "link to us section" and put/exchange their link in my directory first (myself), then wait for the site owner to review.

or...

2) Send individual email to site owners to invite them to submit link. I currently trying to build a list of uk companies which their business are relevant to my directory, and then send them email to invite them.

Which of the two options above is better?

[Escorter]

I think what is important when you set free submission is that you ask people to actually think of a unique description of their services or products. Thus the category gets unique, indexed and may be PRed

[sums123]

One of the best way to market your directory is announce your directory in directory forum such as directory critic forum,directory owner forum or vn7 forum then you may get unique visitors towards your site.