Why Running a Web Directory is Not a Good Idea

A while ago I started and ran a web directory and the experience taught me a few valuable lessons. The most important lesson I’ve learned is that starting and running a web directory is not a good idea. If you already own a directory, I’m not saying, close it, but if you thinking about starting one; please read this post first before you go ahead with it.

The biggest issue I had with running the web directory is the amount of low quality traffic the directory got. It recieved hundreds and hundreds of low quality bot visits. Not just search engine bots, but also automatic submission bots.

The problem with automatic submission software is the users do not really visit your site. They never look at your ads or consider opening your emails.  With the advances in automatic submission software and services, the user do not even need to know your website exists. The bots handle everything; from creating and activating an account to submitting and confirming a website.

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A Web Directory is not Profitable

The most important reason why somebody would start a website is to make money. It is near impossible to make money with a directory, unless you are Bing or Google. Because of this, displaying ads to monitize your newly created directory is not one of the best ideas. For example; you could lose your Google AdSense account if the directory is not run properly. You should be careful about the websites you approve. None of the websites you approve can violate any AdSense terms.

Google Dislikes Directories

Google will not publicly announce it, but this internet controlling company are not fond of directories. I will not say that Google hates directories, but I will mention that the reason Google are skeptical about directories is because of the fast amount of low quality traffic going to and originating from most directories.

On one of my directories I had over 50 websites a day to review and this number was growing exponentially. It took me a good few hours to perform the everyday maintenance and administration tasks. If the Directory grew at the same pace, we would have been forced to employ more monkeys to handle maintaining the directory; this would mean more expenses and less income. This would have been extremely bad for business.

Conclusion

So, to recap; directories gets and sends low quality traffic, it is near impossible to monetize efficiently and it takes a lot of man hours and/or money to maintain. Now you should have an good idea why I advise against starting and running a web directory.