ultimatehandymanLTD started this topic @ 18:50 on 12/12/2006
I started my main website almost two years ago (
http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/ ) and in that time it has moved from being a hobby to becoming a Business, my website is placed well in all of the major search engines and is receiving between 10,000-20,000 hits per day.
In order to grow the website I thought that a directory would be useful so that all businesses related to diy and home improvement could list in the directory, as can tradesmen.
http://www.directory.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/
The directory is not quite finished as there are about 5 categories to add, these will be done in the next few days and then the Majority of categories for England will be finished.
I now need to get people to list in the directory, I have made it so that people with a reciprocal link can list for free, but I will be changing this next year so that people can list as follows-
Featured listing £15 per year
Regular listing £10 per year ( no website required )
Listing with reciprocal link £5 per year
From what I can gather this is much cheaper than Yell.com or any of the other online telephone directories.
The directory should get plenty of hits once I link to it properly from my main site, but I need help and advice on how to market it and how to get people to list in it.
I have tried to e-mail a couple of people that have websites, but I have not had much sucess 
Any advice or suggestions are welcome?
Thanks in advance
chez
------------------------
http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk
http://www.directory.ultimatehandyman.co.uk
RE: Promoting a directory
Serendipity | 12/12/2006 07:05 PM
Having had a look at the two sites I'd suggest you put the directory on the same domain as your main site at http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk
Up until now your information has been why people are coming to your site... the directory is an extra feature - make it a part of your site. From a Google and serach engine point of view that would be the best thing to do.
"I have tried to e-mail a couple of people that have websites, but I have not had much sucess." You need to keep at it it... many people will not respond straight away. I suggest you knock up a quick Excel spreadsheet with bits of information like website name, URL, email address, etc and a column for the date you last emailed them.
After four or six weeks has passed you can then go back to those people and email them again... but with new copy this time - something that reminds them that you've been in touch, news on how well the directory is doing and how many queries it's getting a day. Remember to sell them the 'benefit' of being in the directory - they'll be asking themselves "what's in it for me?".
RE: RE: Promoting a directory
ultimatehandymanLTD | 12/12/2006 07:47 PM
Originally posted by: Serendipity
Having had a look at the two sites I'd suggest you put the directory on the same domain as your main site at http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.ukUp until now your information has been why people are coming to your site... the directory is an extra feature - make it a part of your site. From a Google and serach engine point of view that would be the best thing to do.
"I have tried to e-mail a couple of people that have websites, but I have not had much sucess." You need to keep at it it... many people will not respond straight away. I suggest you knock up a quick Excel spreadsheet with bits of information like website name, URL, email address, etc and a column for the date you last emailed them.
After four or six weeks has passed you can then go back to those people and email them again... but with new copy this time - something that reminds them that you've been in touch, news on how well the directory is doing and how many queries it's getting a day. Remember to sell them the 'benefit' of being in the directory - they'll be asking themselves "what's in it for me?".
I can't do that with the directory as it needs to be in a folder, for example I have a forum, which is http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/forum1/
I could of put the directory in a folder on the site, which would of meant it would be ultimatehandyman.co.uk/directory
I doubt if people will even notice that it is a sub directory once I have linked to it from each page of my site. I am going to put a footer at the bottom of each page and the bottom of the forum that will be like this one at the bottom of this page- http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/links_2.htm
Thanks for the advice I will keep at it like you say and I'll throw up a spreadsheet 
------------------------
http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk
http://www.directory.ultimatehandyman.co.uk
RE: RE: Promoting a directory
AlivewithTechnology | 13/12/2006 11:29 AM
you could create a subdomain so the URL would be directory.ultimatehandyman.co.uk, then place a link to it on the navigation of you main site.If your having a search form, you could place the search form on a page of your main site, but have the form submit it's data to the page in the sub directory.
------------------------
Professional website design (visit our new site)
RE: Promoting a directory
iceman9080 | 27/12/2006 05:40 AM
Hi
Just a couple of thoughts. Due to the low yearly fee you will be charging, it doesn't seem financially worth the effort for you to put the time and effort into getting companies to list.
Why not just, list relevant links and companies on there anyway without asking, then send out an email explaining what your company does with a URLso they can check you out and if they wish to be taken off the list to send an email back to you.
If you can track how many visitors use each link, you can then call people back in six months with a view to paying to stay on the directory. I'd be happy to pay 500 per year if I was receiving a lot of enquiries from a site, but I'd need to be convinced it would work first.
Alternatively, you could also charge on a per sale level. For example, lets say a skip company linked to your site, they could pay you 25 pounds for each sale they gained from the link on your directory
I hope this helps
Jonathan
------------------------
Telemax, leaders in lead generation
info@tele-max.co.uk
[url=http://www.tele-max.co.uk]Telemarketing by Telemax[/url]
020 8181 5250
079 7658 5522
