August, 2008 Directory Of The Month

Tekime, perhaps you can suggest some criteria as to how a site could be chosen as the winner?

Editorial Integrity - Do we delete those spammy casino links, re-write titles etc?

Design - Do we have a professional, unique design.

Domain - Is the domain brandable - or just another "bidmeup.info" type domain we see everywhere?

Uniqueness - Has the directory owner paid a programmer or had any custom mods added. Are there any unique features that their directory has over others?

Content - If I'm not wanting to bid for a link, is there anything else that makes me stay on your site? Have you added a blog with content that will interest me? Do you offer free downloads, templates etc? Do you write articles and add them on relevant categories?

Thanks,
Mike

We will have a full rundown of criteria, plus tips and other resources very soon. Great thoughts on criteria too, thanks for the ideas and I will be listening to everyone's feedback as the DOTM expands for future awards as well.

I agree the DOTM should be spam free.



This could be a weighing factor but I would agree with a professionally operated directory over design.



With a shortage of good .com domains this may be difficult to determine. I agree though the directory should be maintained and updated regularly. I do not think a DOTM should be an off the wall pageranked domain turned directory.



I agree with you some what but I see an unfair advantage for many who are not programming inclined. The DOTM should not be gauged on how much money is soaked into it but rather the promotion methods, management, integrity.



I like this. Going the extra step to make a client happy should be a vote for DOTM.


Some suggestions from me would be that the directory should be at least 6 months old. I know this even knocks out my directories since I have only been around for a month now but I would think its funny if the DOTM was less than 6 months old.

Directory owner should be a contributor. Either by providing mods, themes, forum participation, and etc.

DOTM should get a badge to display on the directory if the owner chooses to.

DOTM could have the badge displayed on the phplb home page.

DOTM should have a minimum 300 backlinks from related websites and directories.

Pagerank should not be a deciding factor since you never know what Google is up to.

I think we can come up with a good list of guidelines but IMO I think any directory that is operated professionally, has integrity and is a contributor of some sort is OK by me.

Wow thanks for all the great comments 1nspire!

I have documented the current Rules & Selection Criteria. I have considered all the feedback here and in conversation with users and feel confident with this as a platform for the DOTM.

The spirit of the DOTM, I believe, is to set aside the technical & SEO analysis of a site and recognize it for truly great Webmastership, not just artificial ranking systems and budgets.

So will backlinks, indexed pages, keyword rankings, etc. be considered at all? Yes, all factors will be considered really but I don't feel it's necessary to set limits or requirements on these figures. A well promoted directory with a dedicated owner will get these naturally, and if Google decides to strip someone's PR or slap them in the "Google sandbox" for some unknown reason, this should not jeapordize an otherwise exceptional nomination.

There are also the negative factors to take into account.

Directory owner should not be buying an unrelated, dropped domain to cash in on the PR it still holds.
Directory owner should not be removing footer links etc.
Fake bids, hundreds of footer links that they've sold etc. Pretty much the stuff on the do's and don'ts list we compiled earlier.