Setting up a link directory

Is it a worthwhile tool to gain SE dominance?

[jick]

We run a commercial site for software. I am considering setting up a link directory of links to all manner of **related** articles, organisations, software, and so on.
The whole purpose of the directory is to sell more of our software. The directory will be sponsored by our site, but will be fairly impartial. There are some similar, smaller, .edu efforts at these kind of directories, but nothing major in our area of expertise. I am hoping the directory will gain high rankings in the SEs, since all the resources & links will be very topic specific. Maybe we will even get some good links on Yahoo and LookSmart, since this will be a free non-commerical guide.

I will use a Link directory script that generates static pages so these can be easily spidered by the engines. Initially I think I will play down any advertising or sponsorship until the site is listed well in Yahoo and DMOZ etc.. I will also host the site on a different IP so the theme of the site does not mess-up our commercial site theme.

I figure if this works, it will work very very well in getting top SE positions, which we can then pull to our main site through "sponsoring" the link directory.

Has anyone set-up similar link directories? Can anyone offer any advice? I'm thinking of using Links SQL (from Gossamer Threads) as it does everything we need and is fairly low cost. For a total cost in the 1st year of probably under $1k, this could be a big traffic generator.

Any thoughts? Once concern is it might draw attention to alternative products which currently do not have good SE positions. But if that turns out to be the case, we can always discontinue the directory or change the rules get choosy about whose products are listed at a later date.

A discussion of the relative merits of doing this, recommended links software, etc.. would be very helpful

[rcjordan]

It works great just as you've laid it out. You have the right directory software, IMO. Gossamer-Threads does fine work (though I used the old Links 2).

The only additional advice I can give is to plan your category titles with a sharp eye for keywords.

>get choosy about whose products are listed at a later date.
>
I broke into the sorting algo and establish admin control of the ordering of the listings for just that reason. Keep them, but bury them. No one will see them but the spiders.

[rcjordan]

<added>
jick, Welcome to WebmasterWorld, BTW. Take a look at this thread, it's old, but still relates

[webmasterworld.com...]

[jick]

Thanks for your quick replies rcjordan, and for the friendly welcome.

Has your link directory proved to be worth the investment in time? I notice the posts you referred me to were back in 2000, so I guess the directory is now well established?

Do you have any metrics as to the increase in traffic this technique has brought you? Or stats for the kind of traffic you are receiving to the link directory?

[paynt]

As rc gets back to you, I would like to add a comment. I have now created three of these in the last two years. What hasn't been mentioned but has worked well be me is content. Add a brief, 3-5 paragraphs with 5-6 sentences, article for each section. About.com is a great example of this. Done correctly this will add benefit to the directories picking it up, and perhaps more than one section will be picked up if the content is unique and informative. You'll find people offering their articles to you in exchange for a link with bio. Works well for both. Also, search engines pick up on these content pages and you'll find yourself moving up in rankings and you can get some great traffic.

Also, optimize the page. Clean code, good tags including alt tags, nice keyword rich headings. I found the best place to put the 'ad' to my sister site was in the right hand corner. The click through rate I've seen is tremendous and well worth the efforts of creating a directory for the purpose of marketing a product.