incrediBILL - 5:58 am on Mar 18, 2008 (gmt 0)

While there might be plenty of exceptions, overall, I think the perceived value of directories is going down as search 'reach' increases.

Unless your directory ranks in the top 10 for it's terms across the board, then search sends visitors to the neatly organized site that has exactly what people are looking for in a (hopefully) simple to navigate site.

What would be a respectable means of monetizing a directory to compensate for the time spent?

Site is totally free but I let people advertise in the top 5 spots on a page and use AdSense and YPN because technically the context sensitive ads, assuming you have your site optimized properly, offer valuable directory content in the form of the ads for other sites you might not have in your index.