I operate numerous websites; I’m an affiliate marketer and also run a freelance web design and SEO business.

I have been working for myself at home for the last 7 10 years. In that time I have amassed a wealth of information about making money online and have been able to live a comfortable life without having to deal with the 9-5 rat race.

The techniques you are about to learn have helped me to generate thousands of extra dollars in income and they are quite simple to learn.

I am happy to get this opportunity to share with you the techniques I used to generate over $90,000 working part time (actually less) in the last 4 years with the majority of the profits (roughly 75%) occuring in the last 24 months soley from web directories.

Of course I have to give you some info on why building directories is even more important today than it ever was and why every website owner should have at least one web directory.

The goal of this report is to show you how to build, monetize and sell web directories for large profits.

Thank you for purchasing Web Directory Profits. I hope the information you are about to learn helps you earn a lot more money online.

Sincerely,

Jeff

One of the toughest things about making money online is not having a big enough net to pull in traffic from search engines.

I’m sure you’ve heard the term “Virtual Real Estate”, well VRE is the amount of websites or indexed web pages you have online.

To amass a large amount of VRE you need to build many websites but quality is important. There is no point building up a large network of websites to only have them booted from the SERPS within days.

If you’ve ever built a “Made for Adsense Website” then you know how easily they can be de-indexed (banned) by the major search engines.

There’s nothing worse than seeing one or many of your sites drop from the SERPS. Trust me, I know the feeling. You’re right back at square one when that happens.

By building website directories though I’ve figured out that you can build large scale websites in little time that have unique content and have staying power ie. You can earn money from them much longer than any “Made for Adsense” scraper site.

And you can build website directories around any niche and you can grow them to any size you want.

That’s one of the beauties of website directories… you can build them around any topic you can possibly think of. You can build a directory of blogs, of hosting providers, shopping malls, car dealers, sports clubs, campsites, mortgage lenders… you name it.

And it’s a lot easier then you think.

The hardest part is getting all the content and I will show you how to get unlimited amounts of content for free and in seconds. But I will also show you where to get tons of other paid content as well.

And don’t worry if you don’t know how to install a script because I will show you how to install any script fast.

Even with millions of links they are not definitive… meaning they don’t contain every website that belongs in them. It takes webmasters submitting their website to be included. And inclusion is not always guaranteed. Have you ever tried getting listed on Dmoz? It can be quite a waiting process and you never know if you’ll ever hear back from them.

Web directories run by individuals like you or I are important because we categorize the web on a macro level. Most small niche directories are run by passionate webmasters who help categorize the web, just like the giants do. We help other webmasters by creating new hubs for them to receive traffic from and also by giving them that all important backlink.

Links are the basis for the internet. They are fundamental. Google bases its Pagerank system on links. It’s no wonder webmasters have caught on and have started creating their own portals, directories, lists for the sole purpose of connecting websites together and gathering a bit of power for themselves. A democratic web is a beautiful thing.

Can’t get into Dmoz? Create your own directory and profit from it in the process.

Have you noticed the explosion of directory submission services that have popped up in the last year or so online? The reason this has happened is because more and more webmasters are realizing that backlinks are crucial to their websites ranking in search engines. Webmasters are starving for backlinks and directory owners provide a way to get a link easily.

So you can see, directories are important to the web. Not only are they hubs for site owners to get traffic and links, they are also business models you can profit from.

Luckily scripts make it easy to run dynamic websites that require databases without having to know any programming languages. If you are already familiar with installing scripts and setting up MySQL databases then starting your own directory will be a breeze. And if you’ve never installed a script or set up a database in your life you’ll learn how in this guide.

Once you finish this eBook you should be able to dive right in and have your first directory set up in little time. If you already have a directory then what you learn here will help you profit more from it.

I truly wish someone had written this eBook when I was getting started. It would have saved me literally hundreds of hours of pain and heartache learning all this stuff by research and trial and error.

A lot of people think that all the good domains have been taken but that’s not true. You just have to be more creative then you did a few years ago. You can still get dotcoms with your main keyword in them by being original and adding prefixes or suffixes to them that are adjectives, colors, etc. Check out Dotomator to do this easily. You can put a list of
prefixes or suffixes in along with your main keyword and it will generate a complete list of domains for you. It even checks to see if they are available or not.

What you can do is visit the resource section and view a listing of occupations, countries, states and top cities by population and use those in either the prefixes or suffixes fields of the Dotomator to generate domain names to use. See example below.

Pesky Hyphens

You don’t need hyphens in your domain anymore! For those that think you still need to separate the keywords in your domain with hyphens such as wedding-photographer-directory to get ranked for those keywords are wrong. It’s a tired old myth that needs to be put to rest. Google and other search engines can separate words in a domain and altogether it doesn’t matter what your domain is. You can rank for keywords without having them in your domain. So get creative!

I use Godaddy to register all my domains because they are by far the best in the industry and offer a nice admin section to administer your domains. When you own hundreds of domains it’s good to have a registrar that offers tools to easily navigate through them and administer them. It’s also super easy to push domains into someone else’s account when you go to sell your sites. And doing that is free.

I run a dual xeon 3.2Ghz server with 3gb of ram and 2 hard drives, one for backup. That is more robust then what you’ll need so you can go with a smaller dedicated server if you like or you can buy shared hosting which is what most people use. There are many great web hosts out there and hosting seems to be getting cheaper by the day.

If you don’t already have a host then you’ll have to check with our current provider or ask your potential web host if they meet the requirements of the directory script you’ll be using. To save you some time I’ve listed some web hosting companies below that will work with the majority of directory scripts out there.

Most directory scripts require the use of php/mysql/mod-rewrite and I suggest using a host that offers Cpanel as the control panel. Most web hosting companies will work though. You just have to make sure they offer linux hosting with MySQL. I’ve always used Cpanel hosting because Cpanel allows you to easily create MySQL databases, email, subdirectories etc. It’s always what I recommend because it’s easy to use.

These web hosting companies offer PHP/MySQL/Mod-rewrite. They are listed in no particular order. (My recommendations are highlighted.)

Many of these companies offer multiple domain hosting so you can host more than one website on the same account. So for literally less the $10 a month you can host a large number of directories.

A General directory is one that has no focus and covers a wide variety of topics.  They contain categories for everything… from art dealers to online Casinos.  General directories like this include dmoz.org, google.com/dirhp, botw.org as well as dir.yahoo.com.

A Niche directory is one that is focused on one topic.  Instead of having a bunch of general categories they include categories under one main niche.  So for example a directory for photographers would have categories for different styles of photography, locations photographers are in, specialized photographic services etc.  The directory is focused solely on photographers and that is it, nothing more.

Both types of directories have their advantages and disadvantages but in my experience Niche directories outperform and outlast General directories.  There are several reasons for this.

Other advantages of Niche directories

Running a niche directory allows you to stay focused on specific content and if you are truly passionate about your subject then it makes working on your site a lot more pleasurable.  There is nothing worse than working on something you are not interested in at all.

That is why I advocate starting a directory on something you are very passionate about.  A niche that is on or related to your hobbies or business is where you should start to look for ideas.

There is still room for niche and super niche directories.  General type directories have been overdone and the web really doesn’t need anymore of them.  The only place to go and thrive now is into small niches.  And you can get as focused as you want.  Instead of doing a directory on photographers you could go one step deeper and focus on California photographers.  And further still to California digital photographers.  The niches that can be covered are virtually limitless.

Building a niche directory not only allows you to create a useful resource online but it conveys you as an authority in your niche.  It’s almost like creating an Association.  An Association is an organization of people with a common purpose and having a formal structure.  If you are the first person to start an Association you are saying to the world that you have the authority, that you also take responsibility for creating and governing it.

Of course many factors play a role in determining which niches are money makers and ones that aren’t.

If you haven’t started a directory yet and are looking for a good niche then this is what you need to do.

1. Make A List Of Your Passions

It’s easier to work on and stick with something if you enjoy it. If you pick a niche that you love then you will be more willing to put effort into it and will most likely be more successful in it.

2. Make A List Of Things You Do Well

Again things that you do well are things that you love to do. If you have an interest in say fly fishing and you can fly fish well then starting a directory for Fly Fishing enthusiasts might be the direction to take.

3. Merge The First Two Lists

Add up the things you are passionate about and the things you do well and combine them onto one sheet of paper.

4. Choose Your Favorite 3-5 Niches

Hopefully you have a fairly decent sized list for this. But what you want to do is narrow your favorites down. Basically choose the things you are most interested in.

5. Determine Traffic Potential

For each of your favorite niches you will want to find out keywords people use to find your niche and also how many people are searching per month for them.

So you would use a keyword tool like Wordtracker or Keyworddiscovery.com to find related keywords people might use to search for your niche. Try searching for free at

http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/search.html

Then you would make a list of keywords for each niche then write down how many people per month are searching for those keywords. Of course the more people searching the better.

6. Determine The Money Making Potential

To determine the money making potential for this you will want to determine how much advertisers are paying for keywords using Adwords. How much does it cost to be in the top 3 spots? To get an estimation of how much people are paying visit the below link and type in your keywords.

https://adwords.google.com/select/TrafficEstimatorSandbox

Also check the number of ads that are alongside the search results when you do a search for the given keywords. The more ads you see the more popular the niche.

Make sure to check if there are other people selling products geared toward your niche. If you can find affiliate programs for products related to your niche then that will allow you to make money from promoting those products via your directory.

7. Make Sure You Have Time For The Niche

Everything that grows requires attention. If you don’t think you have time to properly attend to the directory then don’t even start the project. Directories can be fairly easy to maintain but it takes marketing and doing SEO to bring your site to the top of Google. Of course if you start a directory and then find later you don’t have time for it anymore you can always sell it.

Getting Ideas:

If you are in need of ideas about what kind of niches you can build directories around I’ve included in the resource section a listing of occupations, countries, states and top cities by population.

]]> http://www.webdirectoryprofits.com/how-to-pick-a-profitable-niche/feed/ 0 http://www.webdirectoryprofits.com/choosing-a-directory-script/ http://www.webdirectoryprofits.com/choosing-a-directory-script/#comments Mon, 08 Aug 2011 23:04:05 +0000 admin http://www.webdirectoryprofits.com/?p=148 There are many different web directory scripts out there, both free and paid.  Both have advantages and I will go over some of the most popular scripts that are out there, first free than paid.

Free Directory Scripts

Free directory scripts have one main advantage… they’re free!  If you are on a limited budget then these are the way to go.  You can get your feet wet before diving in and purchasing a paid directory script.  There are disadvantages though to using free scripts.  Usually free scripts aren’t that robust, are not supported, require you to link back to the script owner’s site and a lot of the time have bugs in them.   Another thing you want to be aware of is that when you do use a free directory script you run the risk of having to stick with it even after your site makes money.  It can be hard to migrate data later on if you decide you want to upgrade to something more robust.  So be warned.

I started out using paid scripts but have tested a few free ones.  I can say that I prefer to use paid scripts because they are supported, have more templates and for the most part have a large user base that create mods and are more helpful on forums if you need it.

If you are on a tight budget and want to start with a free script then I recommend the scripts highlighted below. The first three are free and offer an easy way to upgrade to their paid versions later on.

List of Free Directory Scripts (My recommendations are highlighted.)

List of Paid Directory Scripts

Multiple Domain License Costs

If you are new to working with scripts I’d suggest starting with one directory and working your way up.  Multiple domain licenses only need to be purchased if you really plan on building up a network of directories.