Owning a directory = owning a free infinite marketing channel
Alexander Isora ๐ฆ
12 replies
What is a Directory and Why You Need One
Owning a directory = owning a free infinite marketing channel. I build at least 1 new directory per month. It is my investment in the future ๐
In this inspiring article, let me explain what is a directory and why you need one too.
What is a Directory?
A directory is a website with a list of useful links.
An owner of a directory has experience in the niche, so the items' set is better than you would find on Google.
Let's take a look at one of mine's as an example: https://stripealternatives.com/
I gathered all alternatives to Stripe in one place.
Why my directory is better than any of the top pages from Google? Because in the SERP, you will only see articles written by SEO experts. They have no idea about billing systems. They never managed a SaaS.
Their set of links is 15 random items from Crunchbase or Product Hunt. Their article has near 0 value for the reader, because the only purpose of the article is to bring traffic to the company's blog.
What about mine? I tried a bunch of Stripe alternatives myself. Not just signed up, but earned thousands of real cash through them. I also read 100s of tweets about experiences of others. I'm an expert now. I can even recognize good ones without trying them.
The set of items I published is WAY better than any of the SEO optimized articles you will ever find on Google. That is the value of a directory.
Fun fact: Do you know what is the most popular product ever launched on Product Hunt? A directory! ๐
Why Should You Care as a Maker?
A directory brings free traffic!!!! ๐ You can use it to boost your main projects' sales.
Imagine you have 10 directories, each brings you 2k visitors per month. That is 20k/m.
Assume 5% will click the banner and 5% of those will buy your SaaS. That is 50 sales every month with zero effort. If your SaaS is $50/m that is +$2,500 MRR per month.
The sweetest part that if you start a new SaaS you will already have that marketing machine ready to be used ๐
Not only that. The swarm of directories gives you flexibility:
- You can boost DR of your projects by linking them from your directories.
- You can sell ads on directories and get passive income.
- You can sell a directory and get quick cash.
- You can turn a directory into a SaaS if you see it is getting good traction.
My Directory Portfolio
I've created 10 directories in 2024:
- https://launching.pro/ - all Product Hunt clones in one place.
- https://stripealternatives.com/ - all Stripe alternatives in one place (for the folks who do not have access to Stripe).
- https://acquire.website/ - marketplace of small projects (you can sell your directory here btw!).
- https://isora.me/tools/ - the list of tools I use to build startups.
- https://cmscrawler.com/ - a directory of all CMS and website builders.
- http://aivideo.tools/ - AI video tools, self-explanatory ๐
- https://seoai.tools/ - AI tools for SEO (not only text generators!).
- https://screencapturetools.com/ - WIP, the tools are picked by AI for now. This one is gonna go well with my video-related SaaS (paracast.io)
- https://startupideaspodcast.com/show/the-indie-startup-podcast/ - i needed a site for my podcast. So I did not miss the chance to make yet another directory of all startup podcasts ๐
- https://opensourceai.software/ - open source AI projects (not only LLMs)
The Plan
My next step will be SEO optimizing the directories. That'd include cross-linking, keyword research+optimization and writing blog posts. Then I plan to create 25 more! ๐
My directories saga started in 2017 (https://isora.me/my-secret-weapon/) but back then I could not realize the entire potential of this kind of side-project. Kudos to my friend John Rush (@johnrushx on ๐) for opening my eyes! You should check his directories course if you want to learn how to build and grow those.
Fun fact: Do you know what is the most popular product ever launched on Product Hunt? A directory! ๐
Why Should You Care as a Maker?
A directory brings free traffic!!!! ๐ You can use it to boost your main projects' sales.
Imagine you have 10 directories, each brings you 2k visitors per month. That is 20k/m.
Assume 5% will click the banner and 5% of those will buy your SaaS. That is 50 sales every month with zero effort. If your SaaS is $50/m that is +$2,500 MRR per month.
The sweetest part that if you start a new SaaS you will already have that marketing machine ready to be used ๐
Not only that. The swarm of directories gives you flexibility:
- You can boost DR of your projects by linking them from your directories.
- You can sell ads on directories and get passive income.
- You can sell a directory and get quick cash.
- You can turn a directory into a SaaS if you see it is getting good traction.
My Directory Portfolio
I've created 10 directories in 2024:
- https://launching.pro/ - all Product Hunt clones in one place.
- https://stripealternatives.com/ - all Stripe alternatives in one place (for the folks who do not have access to Stripe).
- https://acquire.website/ - marketplace of small projects (you can sell your directory here btw!).
- https://isora.me/tools/ - the list of tools I use to build startups.
- https://cmscrawler.com/ - a directory of all CMS and website builders.
- http://aivideo.tools/ - AI video tools, self-explanatory ๐
- https://seoai.tools/ - AI tools for SEO (not only text generators!).
- https://screencapturetools.com/ - WIP, the tools are picked by AI for now. This one is gonna go well with my video-related SaaS (paracast.io)
- https://startupideaspodcast.com/show/the-indie-startup-podcast/ - i needed a site for my podcast. So I did not miss the chance to make yet another directory of all startup podcasts ๐
- https://opensourceai.software/ - open source AI projects (not only LLMs)
The Plan
My next step will be SEO optimizing the directories. That'd include cross-linking, keyword research+optimization and writing blog posts. Then I plan to create 25 more! ๐
My directories saga started in 2017 (https://isora.me/my-secret-weapon/) but back then I could not realize the entire potential of this kind of side-project. Kudos to my friend John Rush (@johnrushx on ๐) for opening my eyes! You should check his directories course if you want to learn how to build and grow those.Replies
Robin Good@robingood
Great stuff Alexander.
Always sharing valuable info.
One point that I see hardly raised when it comes to directories is the equation *maintenance*/*updating* = TRUST/credibility
In simple words: Most directories I see are great when they are brand new.
After one year, many of the entries are outdated, have changed characteristics and other key elements (like features or price) - especially when dealing with digital tools.
The consequence of this is that the perceived authority and trust of such directories is generally quite low.
There are very few directories that have a qualified and credible subject matter expert behind that puts his name and face upfront.
So, for traffic generation, lead generation and even monetization opportunities directories are truly powerful and underrated.
But what makes me curious and that nobody is bringing forward is that unless you are able to fully maintain and reliably update your directories, these are going to dent right into your own credibility.
Great at building stuff, maybe even at monetizing it, but would I trust an author of a directory that is not properly vetted and periodically updated as a personal trusted source?
What do you think Alex?
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Unicorn Platform
@robingood that is a great point you are coming up with, Robin.
I myself saw hundreds of directories which eventually die because the owners do not update them. This is why I personally do not like the idea of creating content-based side-proejcts (directories/communities). I'm more into small tools (such as these one I made: https://uigenerator.org/, https://makeimagetransparent.com/, https://uploadfile.click/).
But I decided to give directories another try because I saw they can be easier to manage.
There are some hacks for that such as niching down.
E.g. https://stripealternatives.com/ is very niched down. It does not need hundreds of tools. Just a dozen is enough to solve the problem. It also does not contain fees or prices because I know I will not be able to re-check and update them every month. It also has the submssion form and people already submitted over 20 awesome tools there which I will add soon.
So these 3 factors make curation easier:
1) niching down, so you do not need many items to be useful. it is not about having EVERY tool. it is about giving the solution (the end user needs only one tool after all).
2) no numbers to update
3) submission form to make it crowd-sourced.
@alexanderisora - Excellent answer Alexander. That's a good strategy indeed to limit the consequences of not being able to update easily and frequently all the items in the directory.
But the great news is, that now this is not an issue anymore. If you have directories that make a little money and you want to maintain them always impeccable and with up-to-date data, there's a way to do so, with tools like Ottogrid.
You have to try out and see for yourself how revolutionary that can be. Not only Ottogrid can help you in the research and data enrichment phases, but when it comes to updating and maintaining its agents can really do magic.
Alexander, do you have any experience with these kind of tools to maintain directories?
Heights Platform
Great post. You got me thinking about it. Everyone understands making blogs, so why not make directories?
Unicorn Platform
@bryanmcanulty I also noticed that a directory is way easier to promote than a blog post. For instance, I posted one of mine on Reddit and it was warmly welcomed (https://www.reddit.com/r/SEO_Dig...). I plan to do that with each of the directories ๐ค
RealMail
Launching soon!
Interesting strategy. I had an ecommerce directory once and it worked well. What software do you use for this? Are they fully auto-managed or do you need to review each submission, etc?
@ivarsmas There are literally tens of platforms, plugins, templates and code boilerplates to build directories. Here a few of the all-in-one types:
* BrilliantDirectories
* SuperStash
* Marketgrabber
* 360 Directories
* eDirectory
P.S.: I am writing my next newsletter issue around this very topic (and listing 70+ of these tools), but from a slightly different angle: building directories to build trust. (If interested check out: https://robingood.substack.com)
Launching soon!
Wow, who knew a simple directory could be such a powerful marketing tool? Looks like creating directories is the hidden gem of free traffic. Plus, itโs a great way to prepare for any future projects, like Her Ideal Match, where a strong base of visitors could really come in handy. Talk about a smart investment! ๐