Directories/Forums

[p.i.k.]

hi everybody!:hi:

i'm just starting out and would like to gain some info on how to create a directory/forum based website.

how do these sites make their money?

what automation tools are available to create a nationwide directory? (possibly internatonal)

what would be your best advice to get started?
(procrastination, frustration, overwhelment alert)

 

[HeatherWhite]

These sites can make money through advertising.

 

[p.i.k.]

thanks HeatherWhite!

does anyone have any advice on how to get started building them?

thanks!

 

[ForgottenMemorie]

With forums and directories you need traffic for it to be able to generate money from advertising. Build a quality resource, then the rest will follow. Remember with directories not to accept rubbish websites.

 

[nielsencl]

I have some advice:

- Plan your directory. Try to find a topic that is not overused and that has higher PPC bids. A lawyer directory can be good, but there are many out there. Once you know the topic of your directory try to find a good name that fits what your directory is about or that is easy to remember.

- Part of your planning needs to consider how you will make money. The two main ways are with paid listings or with ads like Google adsense. Some people use both. I never charge for listings and use PPC ads. They are easy and you don't have to take any listings you don't want. Having free listings means you should get lots of listings, but you will spend more time rejecting things you don't like. But since you will get more listings your directory should grow much faster. Plan on adding a few listings yourself everyday until your directory gets going. If you just wait for listings it may take a long time or never get very big. Start with free and add listings, then you can charge for listings later if you want, but it may slow your growth.

- Once you have your plan, you need to find a directory script. There are ones you can buy and ones for free. PHPLinks is super popular, but I started using "Index script" and I like it more and it's free.

- Now you need a hosting account. Once you have that you can install your script and start adding listings. If you ever reach 10,000 listings you can consider yourself to have "made it", you will have something that should be making money for you and that you can sell if you want to.

Good Luck! I think everyone should own at least one directory or search engine.

 

[dezinerite]

I have experience with both forums and directories. My personal experience:

Forums - Takes a lot of time to develop, effort needs to be 200% for it to profit. Made some good profit through adsense...but I also spent a lot of time and money on it (plus cost of vBulletin software). After a while it was automated, members were flocking in...after a lot of effort the forum got hacked (possibly my host's fault) and I haven't been bothered to put it back up. :D Developing it was like a full time job! If you don't have time to develop a forum properly + backup, just stay away from it or you will lose money.

Directories - Easy money. I don't remember what made me actually wanted to get into this but I only had one directory for fun. After several years, I was dropping and registering and developing all kinds of domains but my directories were going strong. They were pulling their own weight. I should have started a directory farm years ago when I started domaining. Requires some patience, but it's worth it.

 

[p.i.k.]

thank you for this in depth advice you have all offered!

with directories, would i be the one to sollicit people who own websites in the country of pertinance and ask them if they would like to be listed, if so, to write a max of 50 words about themselves for their listing?

i'm trying to figure out how this works....also for the keywords and meta tag cloud: would i need to do a separate page, like a blog page, to get the tag words in for the seo crawlers to give my directory a good pr?

all my directories will have to be in another language (of the country they pertain to, thier cctld), but would you advise making them in english, as well?

thank you so much for helping this newbie get started!