You say it's not even 25% done. What's the final plan.
We're going to add reviews, image imbeds, logo uploads. Key Employee data, more outbound links to related resources (like say, stock ticker) and RSS embedding (hello Ecomm, we want your new products feed).
I have a list about a mile long of that sort of stuff. That's why what you see now, while better than any other web directory (again, because we built this CMS from scratch) is only a drop in the bucket.
Then of course, we have to keep developing our authority and traffic. We have to find better ways to categorize sites based on relevant kw and topic.
There is a lot of work to be done there.
That said, I try not to talk before I walk. I am posting about the momentum of development so that people understand, this isn't something I cooked up to sell on forum BSTs or doesn't have ambition. On the contrary, this is one of the last places I was going to list it, but Grindstone twisted my arm for 3 months to get me to do it.
It's also why you haven't seen me chatting this up the last 3 or 4 months. When I have something to show you, I will talk about it. Talking about what you're going to do
someday is a lousy sales tactic IMO.
The $97 seems a lot less like an acceptance fee and a lot more like an initial investment.
Any business with a long term horizon puts revenue back into development. With this, 80% of the revenue goes back to development and 20% towards costs.
By getting a lifetime profile NOW, you are making an investment in how we're going to improve the site and the value of your profile going forward.
I don't want to sell you on my rep, and I don't want to sell you on some future dream which may or may not happen.
What we have today is a great directory, which is getting substantively better each week. That's what this thread is about.
I'd be curious to know what we're investing in other than a strict web directory. Where is this thing going in your mind?
Every directory which aspires to be good, has to aspire to at the least, be a vertical search engine, like business.com or BBB, or Manta.
My ambitions are similar to this.
Thank you very much. Really nice site.
hi guerilla. i have a question about the directory name. Why do you have the word SEO in it?
It's not a criticism it's just that I tend to work on real world business sites and lately most of the business owners run a mile from anything with the word SEO in it. Lately I find SEO is becoming a "bad" word amongst business owners due to erratic results etc
would be interested to know why you picked that name as i was thinking that something with a more generic name might have wider appeal
It's an aged domain I bought from a friend here on WF. It used to be a site for an IPB (forum) plugin.
I didn't think it would be possible to build this with a brand new domain, and get submissions without authority or traffic on day 1.
If we were VC funded, we could get tons of tweets, and coverage on Techcrunch etc, and we could have picked any name, like domain.ly or site.me or whatever. but that's not the world I am living in right now.
That said, phase 2 of this project (we're only at the beginnning of phase 1) is a rebrand. I haven't done a rebrand yet because to do it right is expensive, and I am putting all of the resources into development right now.
The truth is, 99.9% of the population has no idea what SEO is. I am guessing less than 10% of business owners at large do, and of those doing business online, it's probably only as high as maybe 25%.
SEOs like to be paranoid about everything. If you got a link from SeoMoz or Seobook to your site, would you ask them to remove it?
Also, any site can link to you, from any name. I could add your sites to my directory even if you don't submit them.
Worrying about three characters in a domain name seems to me at least, to be a small concern. We're doing everything we can by the book (Google's General Guidelines manual) as best as possible. We're not selling links, we're selling the opportunity to brand your business on our website, just like any other high end authority directory.
Does getting a link from us help you? I think enough people have commented on a ranking bump to me publicly and privately that I can say yes. But again, we're not a link directory. If that's the only reason you're listing with us, I can't stop you, but all of my focus is continuing to add value to your overall online presence, which in turn is going to lead to more and better business opportunities for you.
by the way the site looks very nice and I will most likely try to sign up some sites. hope i will be accepted.
Thanks for the kind words. I will be happy to look at your sites.
Have used this for one site so far, and i think to call it a directory submission in the traditional Wickedfire buy and sell forum sense, is selling it a bit short.
This is true. I am not here to appeal to people who buy 1000 directory submits for $9.
Im a proud owner of a spot within this directory and find it to be extremely valuable. Ranks above the fold for my brand and I can tell that Grills has put a lot of time and energy into this project.
You were the first!
