20 replies to this topic

[SearchDoggy]

Lately I have been pretty obsessed with the idea of building a web directory related to my niche.

After all isn't this the way the guys at Yahoo got started?

Can anybody recommend any resources to study for this type of project?
Are there any out there? Any good ebooks to recommend on this?

It seems that the spiders love the directories and if the directories are done correctly they can be great traffic centers and generators.

I have been compiling a list of of some of my favorite directories and I often visit them and study their structure. Some are pretty amazing works of programming!

Anyway, I would appreciate any ideas that y'all might have.

Thought I'd ask some of the EXPERTS first before I start building and realize that I have completely overlooked something important.

[Scottie]

Hi Harald-

There's not much to it- just listing the sites by category in your directory.

What type of things are you thinking you might miss?

Are you requiring payments or reciprocal links? You can build simple HTML pages if you want or use a directory script- there are some good ones out there.

[SearchDoggy]

Thanks for the suggestion Scottie.

I'm not sure exactly what I think I might miss. It just seems that some directories really get down to the nitty gritty and drill down pretty deep in breaking down a larger category into numerous itty bitty sub-categories. It sounds prefectly rational with hindsight but as you are confronting it seems like it would be easy to overlook some of the numerous sub categories. Which leads me to try and figure out how deep do you dig down?

Yes, I would like to know what scripts are out there and any other suggestions you might have.

Are there any e-books or materials online on this topic?

[Scottie]

Are you looking at building an all-inclusive directory? Or an industry specific one?

For all inclusive, it's pretty easy to use one of the majors as a framework for your categories. For industry-specific, you probably know it better than anyone else!

Free PHP Directory script is turning up everywhere and powering some of the majors- it's free as long as you keep the link at the bottom.

[Marc]

You might want to try hotscripts.com or another script site for some pre-built directory applications if your site can host server-side code, if not, you can always create it in straight html...would be a royal pain to update something like that in flat html though.

I've thought about coding a directory application but never seem to get around to starting it!

let us know how your coming along with it!

[Randy]

I think this script is probably the one Scottie was referring to. I like it quite a lot myself.

The free version has a pretty unobtrusive line at the bottom of the page, and if you want to remove that it costs $20 for a year or $50 for life.

It was really easy to set up, which is the best part. And very scaleable.

[chrishirst]

A pretty good directory script is free from Biz Directory.

needs PHP and MySQL

[chrishirst]

repeat several times

must learn to type faster!

[Steve Sardell]

it would be easy to overlook some of the numerous sub categories.  Which leads me to try and figure out how deep do you dig down?

Hi SearchDoggy,

We are in the last stages of doing our first niche directory and it has been a RPITA, but we are finally seeing the light at the other end. It is database driven in PHP. We looked at the free scripts, etc. but we did not want to to include the link and frankly they were not all that good. We ended by hand coding, fortunately I have a good programmer. Believe me there were times I wished we had stayed with HTML, but as Marc has said in an HTML directory updating would be a great deal of work. If anyone tries to tell you it is easy then they have either never done one, or are a Mensa member I have not met. I looked for a tutorial, but was not able to find one.

Doing a directory turns into a labor of love, and like any web site is a constant project.

Amassing the info is your first step. Be organized and do it step by step, labeling everything. Start with you first general category name, title, description, and copy then add the first sub cat to it with title, description and copy. When you encounter topics that do not fit into this first category then start a second. To get a start, the bulky phone book yellow pages are a good reference as is ODP. The key I have found is organization, which at times for me was the most difficult. Just be consistent with your index formatting and you will be on the way to a good start.

Visit as many directories as you have time, and when you encounter one you like, drop a note to the owner. You may find one helpful, we did.

Good luck with it. The rewards are great, or so I have been told. I'll know better in July when it goes live.

[Marc]

I think this script is probably the one Scottie was referring to.  I like it quite a lot myself. 

The free version has a pretty unobtrusive line at the bottom of the page, and if you want to remove that it costs $20 for a year or $50 for life.

It was really easy to set up, which is the best part.  And very scaleable.

Randy...your right on the money with that directory script, I downloaded the app last night just to see if it was that easy to setup , had it installed and working in around 5-10 minutes.

Good reference.

Marc

[Randy]

My Pleasure Marc. Thanks go to Scottie for jogging my memory as to what it was called. I had a momentary brain lapse.

[bkernst]

I know of a nice tool that uses a database to generate HTML pages. It basically does the same as you would do with PHP, ubt it is more limited.
You just need to set up your templates, and let it generate the actual pages which either need to be generated on the server or uploaded to the server.
The advantage of that method is, that the server doesn't have to do additionaly processing every time somebody looks at a page, it just has to send out a flat HTML file.

Bernhard

[chrishirst]

saw this yesterday at IHY, downloaded and gave it a bit of playing time
WebResourceIndex

Looks pretty good, takes a bit more setting up than BizDirectory but it does deliver static pages, again PHP and MySQL needed.

[stoner3221]

I use the full version of the BizDirectory script. If you’re planning on developing an extremely large topic structure it becomes a resource hog and takes a high end server to run it without major speed problems. Aside from that it a great script to work with and never a problem.

[Scottie]

Thanks go to Scottie for jogging my memory as to what it was called.  I had a momentary brain lapse. 

And I was too lazy to pull up the link!

The WOW directory was the one I noticed using it- I think it's powering GoGuides these days too.