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Obviously there's advertising revenues, but it seems like the real money is charging listing fees once you are able to do so. If you selected a large enough niche I guess it's not out of the question that over time you could have 20,000 sites paying you $50 a year which is a cool million.
Also, I guess once your directory got to a certain point it could be pretty valuable and you'd be able to sell it for a pretty penny if you wanted to.
Anyone out there aggresively building a directory for profit? Any idea what kind of numbers might be possible?
And realistically speaking, what does it take in order to be able to charge a small yearly fee for inclusion? Just PR?
But don't you think everybody would be doing it if you could take a mostly automated business, work 20% of the time (or even full time) and make a million dollars a year?
It doesn't pass the smell test.
But don't you think everybody would be doing it if you could take a mostly automated business, work 20% of the time (or even full time) and make a million dollars a year?
No, because "everybody" doesn't have the skills and resources it would take to pull it off.
I could have 5 people working for me on this project, and spend 20% of my time strategizing and doing the important things. What's not realistic about that?
As far as the money goes, a million was just a number I threw out there. I'm just starting to research directories and what the potential might be.
Perhaps 1 million a year is not realistic from a directory. I know plenty of small and even 1 man operations that make 1 mil+ a year with a single site though ...
Back to directories ... if it was high-quality, had decent traffic levels, and had good PR, I don't see why you couldn't have 20,000 sites paying $50 a year for a listing. It may be even easier to get 50,000 sites to pay $20 a year. This doesn't take expenses into account but they would be relatively low unless you were spending a ton on advertising on an ongoing basis, which shouldn't be necessary.
But if you feel you can do it, go for it. Just don't expect to get those numbers anytime soon.
Over the long term, the site has to be a Yahoo of the niche you choose, rising above the PRs. Should give original information/utility that ensures there is always enough audience, which is the incentive for people to renew their annual subscription.
Now speaking of Yahoo, Yahoo has set the trend and others followed. It was unique until others copied it. The structure that Yahoo invented has been copied to an extent that it has now become generic and makes one to ask "What has Yahoo got that is unique". Boy they have started it, and thankfully Google appreciates the fact and treats them differently. If better SERPs in Yahoo has any value, Yahoo directory listing is a gem.
I am sure you won't enjoy these advantages, if you simply follow Yahoo's now popular directory structure, and do just that. So you have to think of something different. A difference that people find worth paying for.
