There are thousands of directories out there on the internet, set up to help guide users around the net and find sites in specific interest categories. These range from massive directories such as Dmoz, to the ultra niche which focus on a very specific segment.
The idea of directories is that you find the directory ‘category’ which best fits your website, and then apply to be listed in that category. Some sites are free to list, and some you have to pay for.
The downside of ‘free’ directories are two-fold; firstly, (and this is the case with Dmoz), it can take an age to get listed (sometimes over a year, if at all). The directory owners tend to be so swamped by requests to list that they simply cannot cope with the volume of editorial checking. Secondly, if the directory owner has a low editorial checking quality, or worse automates the process, the directory can quickly fill up with irrelevant spam content and your site can end up surrounded by adult adverts in the listings.
Many directories now adopt a two-tier charging structure. they offer to list your site within 24 hours for a fee, or will ‘try’ to list you within a couple of months for free, hence making clear that the paying sites will get preference. I believe they may do this to avoid being perceived by search engines as a pure-play ‘paid listings’ directory, which as per my previous articles on paid directories will affect their ability to assign page rank to sites in their directories. Read my article on that if you’re interested.
In my view, a much better method of charging customers would be for the link. You get to list your site for free in the directory for free, but if you want a link back to your site, you have to pay for it.
So what should you look for in a paid directory?
To understand which factors are important in chosing which directories to go in, we need to recap on the reasons for listing in a directory in the first place. As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, there are 2 main reasons to get listed in a directory. The first is exposure for your business to large volumes of customers (both on their site and in driving traffic to yours). Secondly, is the page rank benefit of the link back to your web site.
With these reasons in mind, here are questions you should ask yourself (or the directory) when considering whether to pay to list:
1. How relevant is the directory to my business (industry type, geography, types of properties, type of rentals etc)
2. How much web traffic does the directory get each month
3. How does the directory rank for search terms you would hope YOUR WEBSITE to be found against
4. How many properties are listed on the website
5. What is the visual appeal of the website (does it look professional?)
6. How appealing do the property listings look (can you add photos etc?)
7. What is the directory’s pagerank (use the page rank tool here to check)
8. Does the directory allow you to link to your website?
9. Is the link a follow or a nofollow link? (see article on this here)
10. Can you specify the anchor text of the link to your website
11. Does the directory insist on a reciprocal link (paid directories shouldn’t)?
12. How many page views does each gite page get on average?
13. How many visits does each gite website get from listing in the directory?
Obviously, the main question is going to then be “how much does it cost?”, and you’ll need to weigh up the above factors against that cost. You may decide that a great directory will give you lots of bookings without giving you any pagerank benefit and that is worthwhile, or viceversa. It seems to me from research that a lot of gite owners tend to list with a couple of major gite directories for a hefty fee, and then spread the net wider with smaller, cheaper directories for a bit of page rank benefit.
Measure, measure, measure!
The first year you list with a directory, you can make an informed choice, but to a certain extent you’re going to have to take a bit of a gamble as there are no ‘guaranteed results’ from listing. However, you can make sure that next year’s decision is much more informed by carefully monitoring where your website traffic comes from during the course of the year using a website traffic analytics programme. There are hundreds out there, but by far the easiest to use (install and understand) is the wonderfully free Google Analytics. You need to be able to cut and paste a bit of code into each page of your website to install so if you need help, ask your web developer, but once done, with the correct configuration the programme emails you a weekly report of where your website traffic is coming from. Armed with this information, you’ll be able to weed out the weak performing directories next year.
Also, make sure you ask your guests how they found your website (do it at the enquiry stage, they will have forgotten by the time they arrive) and use this information to inform your directory decisions next year.
How do I find directories to list in?
I’ve deliberately avoided mentioning any specific directory names in this article as I plan to interview a few of the key directory owners and don’t want to pass judgement or advice without being in full control of the facts, so more on that shortly.
However, there are several ways to find directories right for you. The first method is just to search on Google for the search terms you want to be found against. If that’s ‘cottages in the dordogne’, consider the directories which come out top for that search query.
Secondly, see where other gites are listing. Search for gites in your area, and then do a ‘link’ command in google to see who links to that gite (a link command looks like this: link:gitedomainname.com, obviously replacing the domain name with your competitors). This will show the directories where your competitor is listed and which provide a link.
Alternatively, the following Google search queries should prove useful:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=list+your+gite+for+free&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=list+your+gite+website+for+free&btnG=Search
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=list+your+gite+&btnG=Search
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=list+your+gite+website+&btnG=Search
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=gite+directory+listing&btnG=Search
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=free+gite+directory+listing&btnG=Search
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=free+gite+directories&btnG=Search
In summary, directory listings are one of the critical elements of your gite marketing success, and picking the right ones can generate huge business and really improve your search engine ranking. It’s worth investing effort in deciding which ones to pay for and which ones to avoid. Directory quality can change from year to year, so it’s worth reviewing each year whether your directory choice is still as good as the previous year.
A bientot!
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One Comment
Hi Dave,
You offer a nice and simple explanation to listing but obviously its putting all this info together thats the differcult part, but you have given us some good tips and can’t wait to read your findings from directory owners.