Interview With Threebuckchuck - LinksQuitters Owner

With the success of the Interview With A Directory Owner Who Has 50+ Directories, I’ve decided to have more interviews with directory owners. I like the interviews because they reveal interesting information about directory owners and tips, the ones they used in building, maintaining and promoting their directory.

Today, I have an interview with Threebuckchuck, he is the owner of LinksQuitters Directory. In this interview, he tells his points of view about the directory business and his his directory specifically. I find the tips really interesting and helpful and thus you should read this article.

Q: First of all, introduce yourself to Directory Kit’s audience. Is there anything unique about you?

My name is Dave Post and I am the owner of the LinksQuitters Directory. I am 47 years old, live in Michigan and work full time for IBM.

On the advise and with the cooperation of my wife Anne, I started building LinksQuitters Directory in November 2006 and I don’t strive to be unique; I strive to be the best at what I do.

Q: What got you into making your own directory?

ODP crashed October 2006 and we needed something to do. My wife likes to edit a lot and she needed a replacement while they were down so I started LinksQuitters.

Q: What do you think is a quality directory?

A: Quality is subjective, depending on the characteristics of the desired results, so a quality directory would be a directory that has a good category structure and good useful links in every category.

A quality directory should have listings of quality sites in every category, with more added daily so it keeps growing. Nice PR, design and mods are a plus, but content is our #1 priority and for a directory, by definition, content means listings.

Q: What was the hardest part in establishing Links Quitters?

It wasn’t hard to find a directory script, but it was a little harder narrowing it down. It was not hard to find a template either since there are a lot of templates to choose from but we decided to use Anon’s Singe template right now but we bought some custom templates and are trying to decide which one we want to use.

Q: Now Links Quitters is a pretty popular directory. How did you promote it at the beginning?

A: I submitted our directory to a number of directories, mostly free, some paid. I did not buy any other type of advertisement. I have my directory link in my forum signature but I don’t buy other people’s signatures. I have also sponsored a couple of templates.

We submitted to other directories that looked like the owners were working on them, skipping the ones with a bunch of empty categories. PR is irrelevant when we submit, we look at the categories and the listings.

Q: What are three things that you dislike about other directories the most?

• Maybe you dislike when people use default template too often? That doesn’t bother me.
• Maybe when they use default category structure? I hate that, it’s lazy and says the directory owner doesn’t value his own directory enough to create categories that fit his listings.
• Maybe you dislike when people create link farms and not directories? Yep, I hate that too.

Q: What are three factors that determine if you will submit your site into a directory or not?

A: First off, design and PR do not determine if I will submit my sites into a directory. I consider whether the directory seems well maintained or if it has a lot of errors and dead sites. I check to see if listings have been added recently and if they’re in the right categories. Last, I check the submission guidelines and the category that I belong in.

Q: Can you give one advice to beginners in directory business out there?

People should only take on a directory if they really like working on directories because it takes a lot of time to do it right, and doing it wrong is just a waste of time and money.

If you devote a lot of time to your directory, you shouldn’t need a lot of money to begin with. Maybe a little to submit to other directories but I wouldn’t recommend overspending.

Q: How do you see directory business in the next 5 years?

A: I see the directory “business” splitting off in two separate directions. Some will be just a part of a larger webmaster resource. Others, like LinksQuitters will stay focused on the directory itself and become more comprehensive, growing day by day. I also think that there will always be directories. Some will be better, most will be forgotten.

Q: Any interesting developments for Links Quitters in the future that you can tell us about?

A: After Google is done messing around with everyone’s site, I am planning to upgrade LinksQuitters to the latest version of the script I use and a new custom template.