deejay - 8:27 am on Mar 15, 2004 (gmt 0)

Happy to help, MusicClub :)

Hi RobinPonty

Do you say that "deemed directory" is a good idea? I was thinking that we should link with related subject sites, if we have to link because of some reason. But if this is a directory, then it can be any topic site that we can link exchange.

Yes and No. :) I do like directory style, but I think you can still keep it related.

Have you ever heard the old joke about the logic professor and the redneck?

A redneck is thinking about enrolling in a college course or two, but can't figure out the course descriptions, so goes to speak to a professor. "What's 'Logic'?", he asks. The professor answers by saying: "Let me give you an example. Do you own a weedeater"? "Yup. Sure do". "Then I can assume, using logic, that you have a yard", replied the professor. "That's real good!" says the redneck. The professor continues: "Logic will also tell me that since you have a yard, you also own a house." Impressed, the redneck says: "Amazin'!" "And, since you own a house, logic dictates that you probably have a wife". "That's Betty-Mae! This is incredible!" The redneck is obviously catching on. "Finally, since you have a wife, I can logically conclude that you are heterosexual", said the professor. "You're absolutely right! Why, that's the most fascinatin' thing I ever did hear! I can't wait to take that there logic class!" …. And from there it gets a bit rough, so I’ll leave out the punchline. J

The point is that you can use the same method to come up with your directory topics. Face it, you’re not trying to build another DMOZ – you don’t want 100 categories seven levels deep. You are trying to get links from sites whose visitors might have an interest in your site. Your site’s niche will dictate the topics you want to include in your directory.

So put on your logic professor hat. (Hard to widget-ise – mods forgive me). If your site is about floor rugs, then you can assume your customers might have a home and want to decorate the walls with some wall art, or light fittings. If their home has an inside, perhaps it has an outside too – maybe a garden section.

If your site is travel related, perhaps your customers would be interested in a camera to record their holiday – there’s a topic. If they can afford a nice holiday, they might have a reasonable disposable income and a jewelry section could be appropriate. Or perhaps they don’t and a credit section would fit.

Blah blah blah ad infinitum. Think about your visitors and try to get creative, but try to stay realistic at the same time.

What you are after is a targeted ‘broad niche’ directory. You’ll send your partners valuable customers. They’ll send you valuable customers. Everyone wins.

I’ll tell you the truth – it makes link hunting more of a challenge. But at the end of the day I believe you end up with something of much greater value than an ‘everything under the sun’ links page.

What do you say, if i have 6 sites. Putting the same link directory on all my sites is a good idea? Because then one does not have to do the link exchange separately for all of his site.

Again, yes and no. I have seen this done nicely… once. In that case the webmaster had a list of ten sites or so, on more or less related themes, and an option for you to tick the sites you wanted to exchange links with. It was well presented, the links were well organised and visitor-centric. If you can do it that way, then sure, yes.

I wouldn’t do it if the result were that you ended up with six sites with identical link directories though. The idea is to draw new visitors, and assuming you have some interlinking of your sites then this system seems like a lot of space taken up to attract the same visitors six times. Unless your sites are very closely related, then your topics should vary according to your ‘logic assumptions’, and an ‘apply for all’ form is likely to get you a lot of ill-considered link requests (not that you won’t get those anyway).

Of course, there’s also the risk of creating a closed system that Google or other SE’s will identify and penalise, duplicate penalties, etc.

So in the end… I guess I would tend to say no.