I've owned quite a few directories over the past 5-7 years and have gained a great deal of knowledge on what it takes to set your directory apart from others. There are literally thousands of directories on the internet and you need to make a unique mark if you wish to be successful.

There is a lot more that goes into building a quality directory than just throwing a script on a website and adding links. First you must decide which script is most applicable for the directory you choose to create. Most scripts will come with a default template and have depositories where you can download pre-made templates from other users. While this is a great tool to get started, I highly recommend doing a lot of modifying to your directory so that the search engines don't just see your site as a duplicate of another. Change the colors around, change the size of various fonts, move tables around, change the wording and make your directory different than all of the others.

You might want to add a couple hundred links of your own to start. When you first start advertising your directory you don't want potential clients visiting your site and seeing it empty. Use quality sites for your starting point and write good write-ups for the descriptions.

I then highly recommend getting as many backlinks to your site. Submit your site to all the major search engines available. Then you'll want to also submit your site to as many other related directories as possible. I don't recommend most submission services. While some are great, most will use software to submit your site to hundreds of directories and few will actually accept you. They are known for having your information wrong and submitting your site to the wrong categories, and in turn the directory owners will deny your listing.

There are many places available for getting lists of the best directories. You want to concentrate on getting your site on the higher pagerank sites first. Try every last one of them as it can't hurt to submit your site for free. If you have the money available, there are some really great high ranking directories that will help your pagerank and bring you a lot of exposure as well.

You will want to keep your directory open to free submissions at first as nobody is going to pay to have their site listed on a new site, with little traffic and no pagerank. If you are able to build traffic and links, and achieve a decent pagerank (PR4+), in turn you will be able to charge for featured listings and a smaller amount for regular permanent listings.

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