True. But as a rule of thumb if you go through them with a fine tooth comb nine out of ten sites will provide you with a very very long list of sites which should never see the light of day. This is what has got to change.

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Whats Google Friendly? Whats not?

Keep a happy thought!

Sorry to burst your bubble but the industry growing in sites in NOT a good thing for you or me.

All this means is that you have more competition.

The numbers cited are fictional there are likely hundreds of thousand of directories.

Opposing points of view welcome...

Competition is no problem. Whereas getting tarred with the same brush is.

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Whats Google Friendly? Whats not?

Does anyone have a niche directory success story they would like to share?

My niche is probate attorneys... I charge $997 (one payment) per year and it is going great.

Before I even opened my directory I created over 200 pages of content.

Has anyone else used rich content to drive traffic and listings?

or I am I a freak of nature?

I assume you rank for the appropriate key words and can pass quality traffic. This is not the norm by any stretch of the imagination. It takes years to secure a competitive niche, to be accepted and to start running the dream machine you are talking about. The rest of us have to make do with offering back links and reviews and this comes down to ones ability to spot the site which should not get air time.

Do you have a url for this directory?

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Whats Google Friendly? Whats not?

Sure

htttp://www.EstateSettlement.com

over the last 30 days Google (organic) search has provided traffic on over 500 separate keywords.

Linkvana has boosted my page rank big time. My site went public in Jan. of 2008.

I don't even know if my results are special... (I live in a bubble) ... what I am trying to emphasize is the power of the niche and providing great content.

Why does it take years to secure a competitive niche? (not trying to be smart... I really am a newbie... and don't know anything about the norms of the directory business...such is "my life in the bubble")

I did a couple of searches, found no listings and closed down. Internet traffic is fickle, the clients you expect to pay you $1k a year for a listing are fickle and I think you have a lot more work ahead of you. But then again I am not a probate lawyer.

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Whats Google Friendly? Whats not?

(response to Rainchild)

As we all know, there are millions of potential keywords combinations for any topic search.

I would agree there are thousands of phrases that I do not appear in search engines. But the same goes for my competitors.

For the sake of my DO reputaton (that you have kinda questioned)

Please review the following keywords: That I appear on the first page ranking of Google. my url is EstateSettlement.com (my site is Probate and Estate Settlement | Find a Probate Attorney | Probate questions)

Keyword Rank
estate settlement 1
find a probate attorney 4
estate tax schedule 9
estate settlement questions #2 & #3
estate settlement process 6 & 7
Florida estate settlement 4, 5 and 6

Look closely at the results of "Florida estate Settlement" the #4 position is my clients directory listing. (michael tucker) this is huge for this client (he out ranks 300,000 other google pages). Do any of your clients directory listings get first page results?

IF this doesn't float your boat type in "florida estate settlement attorney" I get the win, place and show money. Frankly I think I should be charging $997 a month for these kinds of results.

Would you do me the honor of confirming these rankings as you have challenged my integrity.

Also if you would like to see the google report that shows 500 different keyword hits I will email it to you.

PM me your e-mail address.

But after that you have act a little nicer.

I typed in "link directories" and didn't find your website... don't you think you have more work to do then me?

Brian
I have had my site for 6 month... how long have you been at it?

Does it anger you that some newbie could have more success than you?

I wasn't questioning your key words. I checked for a probate attorney in California, I think it was, found nothing. I then tried one other State and closed the window. If it was that easy to sell listings at $1k a year there would be a lot more people doing it and your niche would be a lot more competitive. That's not to say that you are not onto a good thing nor am I saying that its not going to work out for you. What I am saying is that internet traffic is fickle, the clients you expect to pay you $1k a year for a listing are fickle and I think you have a lot more work ahead of you.Keep trucking. Its an interesting ride.

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Whats Google Friendly? Whats not?