An Entrepreneur’s Trilogy

Monetizing a Web Directory Business

I’ve been very busy lately. I have other projects besides web directories which I’m currently pertaining. Two weeks ago I rented a dedicated server for a rather large website of mine. I’ve spent these two weeks mainly uploading files. Recently I’ve been receiving requests to prolong my web directory tips and discussions. Seeing as it’s been a few weeks since my last update, I thought it would be a good idea to do so today.

The most recent request was to dwell on some of the ways to make money with a web directory. The most common way to monetize a web directory is to sell web site reviews. When a webmaster submits his website for review, you can charge a fee for your time and effort to review his or her site. It’s very important that you charge for a review, not instant acceptance into your directory. Otherwise, you can hurt the integrity of your directory, and maybe even upset a few search engines. Make it known that you charge for a review only, and don’t guarantee inclusion. Another way of monetization, if you get a constant stream of traffic, is using a pay per click program such as Google’s Adsense.

How do you get your directory known and populated with a constant stream of traffic? You can market your directory in certain webmaster forums. Most webmaster forums even have sections specifically for web directories. SEO Optimization is another good way to get relevant traffic and spark interest to your web directory. I’ve promoted my directories by both methods, and experienced extremely positive results.

If you look at ctrldir.com - recently added sites you’ll notice I’ve approved only a few links. I’ve decided not to populate this directory with thousands of links just yet. I want ctrldir.com to be more of an exclusive general web directory. I have both free and a paid option to get listed in the database. I’m receiving over 300 new submissions per day via the free option. I hardly ever check the free submissions. If I add sites, they are usually sites that I myself find and think are useful. Don’t get me wrong. Sometimes I dip into the free submissions, and review a site possibly two; so eventually these submissions will be reviewed, however the paid review option is a quicker way to grasp my attention. Basically, it’s like buying a ticket to the front of the line. With my previous web directory projects it usually took one year to start receiving constant paid review requests.

With that said… what other ways are there to monetize a web directory? Now, I’m thinking outside the box. I’m getting hundreds of unique visitors per day to ctrldir.com. Most of these visitors are browsing my categories looking for relevant websites. Others are submitting their websites hoping for a quick review. If you visit ctrldir.com you’ll notice on the right side, I have a column for “recent articles”. I’ve taken the liberty of adding the recent posts from Mike Saf (dot) Com to this column. I find this a clever way to get some constant exposure to my blog. Also, I’ve signed up with an ad campaign manager, and put up a banner of a medical web directory which is also an ongoing project of mine. The ad campaign manager’s purpose is to send me updated statistics of clicks and impressions. I get around 1400 impressions to my banner ad per week. This is when someone sees the banner, but doesn’t necessarily click on it. Out of the 1400 weekly impressions I manage to get 7-10 clicks per week. This isn’t a very high number, but it can depend on how targeted your banner ad is. Impressions are good too as they pertain to brand recognition. I haven’t set up “recent articles” to send me reports yet, but I imagine they naturally get more clicks than the banner ad. Either way, with one directory you get some benefit using these methods, but imagine owning a network of web directories. I’ve seen networks of hundred directories or more. Imagine all the traffic constantly coming through which is ultimately subject to my banner ads and blog posts. If I go this route, eventually I’ll be able to establish an ad network, and charge for advertising.

I’ll go ahead and break here for now. Later we will discuss other approaches to monetize a web directory. For now, remember that running a web directory is the same as running any other business. Think outside the box, and don’t be afraid to experiment.

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Tags: How to, Making Money Online, Monetizing a Business, Traffic and SEO Optimization, Web Directory