How I Built Directory Sites that Generate $2,500/mo+ in Passive Income — Transcript
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- 0:00What is a good uh directory topic to to
- 0:02dive into? I wanted to have a business
- 0:06that was scalable, that was high margin,
- 0:09low startup cost, that could be sold as
- 0:12an asset that can be done anywhere in
- 0:14the world.
- 0:14>> 2500 to $3,000 a month you're earning is
- 0:17about as close to passive as possible.
- 0:20>> I haven't really worked on any of these
- 0:22websites for probably 6 months at this
- 0:24point. When I saw how much I made at the
- 0:26end of the month, I was again shocked.
- 0:28around $1,200.
- 0:30>> So much of what you're saying is going
- 0:32to echo with people listening.
- 0:34>> The reason why my directories are
- 0:35boring, they work, is because Google
- 0:38Maps is still kind of bad at helping you
- 0:41find certain things.
- 0:42>> How important do you think link building
- 0:44is to the success of your directories?
- 0:47You got to have a good strategy for
- 0:49getting back links.
- 0:50>> The display ad concept is going to make
- 0:51a lot of sense for most people
- 0:52listening. If I'm going for display ads,
- 0:54I'm going for as much volume, as high
- 0:56search uh traffic as I can. What's your
- 0:59first 30 days once you've got a
- 1:00directory live? I've seen a lot of
- 1:02people fail at that. So, what I would
- 1:04recommend is actually
- 1:08>> All right, welcome back to the Niche
- 1:09Pursuits podcast. My name is Jared Bomb.
- 1:12Today, we've are joined by Frey, a uh
- 1:14SEO and directory builder. Frey, welcome
- 1:17on board.
- 1:18>> Thanks, Jared. Appreciate you having me
- 1:19on.
- 1:20>> Well, it's gonna be a good one today. I
- 1:22said it a lot. I've been saying it a lot
- 1:23lately, but we've had some great guests
- 1:24lately and today I'm excited about the
- 1:27topic. I mean, we could go uh some
- 1:28different directions because you do have
- 1:30your hands in a bunch of different
- 1:31things. We're going to focus though for
- 1:33the majority of the interview on this
- 1:35directory building uh that you've been
- 1:38doing and that you've had a lot of
- 1:39success with, especially of late. I
- 1:41mean, directories making a bit of a
- 1:43renaissance from my seat, you know, in
- 1:45terms of what's getting talked about in
- 1:47our industry online. I'm sure you uh
- 1:50know that and understand that very well.
- 1:52Of course. Um hey, before we get into
- 1:54the details though, can you share with
- 1:55us your background a little bit? Maybe
- 1:57how you got started in what you're doing
- 1:59today?
- 2:00>> Yeah, sure. Um yeah, so Directories is
- 2:02not my first business. It's not where I
- 2:04started. Um I've always been attracted
- 2:08to the entrepreneurial life. I started a
- 2:10business right out of college. It was an
- 2:12e-commerce footwear brand. Ran that for
- 2:14five years. After that, uh you know, got
- 2:17really burnt out. tried to do the whole
- 2:19flipping, flea markets, garage sales,
- 2:21that whole thing. I did that for
- 2:24probably a year and a half, and that was
- 2:25my second main business, real scrappy,
- 2:28and uh was paying rent that way. Um, and
- 2:30then I realized that I wanted to have a
- 2:35business that was scalable, that was
- 2:39high margin, low startup cost, that
- 2:41could be sold as an asset, and that can
- 2:43be done anywhere in the world. And that
- 2:45was just my new standard because at that
- 2:47point you started up businesses where
- 2:48you're like, "Okay, I don't think this
- 2:50is for me long term." And I looked
- 2:52everywhere, scoured the internet, found
- 2:53SAS and websites or niche websites. At
- 2:56the time, niche websites were huge. It
- 2:58was around 2022.
- 3:01And then we saw the core update that
- 3:03destroyed a lot of niche websites as I'm
- 3:06sure a lot of your audience members
- 3:07know. And so I just figured, hey, I
- 3:10would just I didn't even think about
- 3:11building directories. I just learned
- 3:13SEO, just selftaught myself through
- 3:14YouTube, and then said, "Hey, let me
- 3:16just apply what I'm learning to a
- 3:18website." And this directory thing, I
- 3:21kind of subconsciously realized a lot of
- 3:22these websites that are still pretty
- 3:24steady in hrefs um are directories.
- 3:28They're super resilient. So, I played
- 3:30around, built it, and within 6 months,
- 3:34it was getting a thousand visitors a
- 3:37day. And I was like, "What the heck?" I
- 3:39remember randomly just signing into my
- 3:41Google Search Console and I was like,
- 3:42"Wait a second." Um, so I just threw on
- 3:45some ads and when I saw how much I made
- 3:48at the end of the month, I was again
- 3:50shocked. It was around $1,200
- 3:53pretty much pure profit.
- 3:55And that was essentially kind of the
- 3:58turning point where I said, "Okay, I can
- 4:00probably build a lot of these." And that
- 4:03was three years ago, almost three years
- 4:05ago at this point. So, since then, I've
- 4:07built a bunch of other directories in
- 4:09random niches. Some B TOC, some B2B, um,
- 4:13some in healthcare, some in like
- 4:15thrifting niches. Super random, but
- 4:18that's that's what I continue to do
- 4:20today.
- 4:22Hey everyone, this episode is sponsored
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- 4:52below. Okay, now back to the episode.
- 4:58So, this is going to be interesting
- 4:59because a lot of people with SEO chops
- 5:01have been listening to this podcast for
- 5:03years. You kind of alluded to it
- 5:04yourself, like, "Hey, I got into the
- 5:06niche site business, uh, niche
- 5:09pursuits." Like, so much of what you're
- 5:11saying is going to echo with people
- 5:13listening. And I think a lot of people
- 5:15listening since HCU, since the helpful
- 5:17content update have kind of been
- 5:19struggling with what do I do with my SEO
- 5:21skills, you know, and a lot of people
- 5:22have gone into services and started
- 5:24providing that as a service- wide
- 5:30hustle or projects they can build and
- 5:32then sell using SEO. And here we have
- 5:35directories that you're talking about
- 5:36that uses a lot of those SEO skill sets
- 5:39and you're applying in a way that's
- 5:41creating a kind of somewhat passive
- 5:43asset that can be sold. So anyways, you
- 5:46I'm kind of just resharing what you
- 5:47said, but maybe before we get into how
- 5:49you built some of these and what's
- 5:50working, can you tell us where you're at
- 5:52right now? Any numbers you're
- 5:53comfortable with on the directory side
- 5:55of things, like how many, what kind of
- 5:57traffic they get, maybe what kind of
- 5:59what what they make, that sort of thing.
- 6:01>> Yeah, totally. Um, so I just I'm an open
- 6:04book, but I just don't share URLs. The
- 6:05first time I did that, it invited a few
- 6:07competitors. Um, right now I have uh I
- 6:11probably have around
- 6:14eight or so directories, but four of
- 6:16them are directories where I truly went
- 6:19A through Z, like did the on-page stuff,
- 6:21built the links, at least starting to.
- 6:24um three of them are ranking uh rank one
- 6:28page one for the target keyword. Um in
- 6:31total I think those are probably around
- 6:3480 to 100,000 monthly visitors for the
- 6:37first three directories. The fourth
- 6:38one's just recently launched, so that's
- 6:40why I'm trying not to count that. But um
- 6:43yeah, in I would say this month I'm on
- 6:46pace to do right around $2,500.
- 6:49Um that's passive. I haven't really
- 6:52worked on any of these websites for
- 6:54probably six months at this point. And
- 6:56yeah, for the last three years or so,
- 6:59that's just been the case. It's always
- 7:00hovered around the like $2,300 to $3,000
- 7:04month passive. Uh, and that's personally
- 7:06because I like to go for the boring
- 7:09evergreen niches. Um, typically what I
- 7:11see is that there's two different types
- 7:13of directories. You have your evergreen
- 7:15passive directories that just monetize
- 7:17through display ads. You can think
- 7:18Mediavine, Ezoic, AdSense, and then you
- 7:21have your lead genen where you have
- 7:22sponsored listings, feature listings.
- 7:24You can do top of the funnel to agency
- 7:27services as you mentioned. And that's
- 7:29where you get a lot more lucrative and
- 7:30high ceiling with your earning
- 7:32potential. For me personally, I've just
- 7:34audited my own ideal lifestyle and the
- 7:37way that I work. I like to sprint really
- 7:39hard and then just chill out. That's
- 7:41just how I am right now. I'm in a chill
- 7:43out phase. Um, and so it's nice to just
- 7:47have that recoccurring income even
- 7:48though it's lower and in my mind I know
- 7:51I can kind of chase something higher.
- 7:53It's just my personal preference. And so
- 7:57um yeah, that's that's kind of what uh
- 8:00what I I've buil built so far.
- 8:04>> It it's great. Congratulations because I
- 8:06I think you know we we hear about
- 8:08passive and for those of you listening
- 8:10I'm using air quotes here. Um, and a lot
- 8:12of the stuff that we end up getting into
- 8:14and building on the internet is far from
- 8:15passive. It's just not maybe full-time
- 8:17work. But I would say this 2500 to
- 8:20$3,000 a month you're earning is about
- 8:22as close to passive as possible. I mean,
- 8:25we're really talking like you haven't
- 8:27spent any time on it in six months. You
- 8:30hardly spent much time beyond the build
- 8:32phase of it, right?
- 8:34>> Yes. I will say like because it's so
- 8:37nuanced uh and yeah, you're absolutely
- 8:39correct. uh you spend a hundred hours in
- 8:42the beginning, right? It's hard work in
- 8:43the beginning. You do the on page, you
- 8:45build some links, make sure that gets to
- 8:47the front page and at a certain point
- 8:49when you feel like you're happy with the
- 8:51traffic and it's ranking on the first
- 8:53page high enough, um yeah, that's when
- 8:56you can kind of coast and that's been
- 8:58the case.
- 8:59>> Well, awesome. Okay, let's get into some
- 9:01of the details here. I've got a laundry
- 9:03list of questions, so I'm going to try
- 9:04to maximize the time we have with you.
- 9:06Let's do it. From a high level, people
- 9:08are going to be familiar with
- 9:08directories, but they're going to be
- 9:09familiar with them on a different scale,
- 9:11right? A lot of people are going to be
- 9:12familiar with them, say in the
- 9:14oldfashioned 25 years ago model that is
- 9:18archaic and feels like something that
- 9:20they don't want to create. A lot of
- 9:21people are going to be more familiar
- 9:22with them in terms of newer directories
- 9:25that have gotten shared and are talked
- 9:26about um on on Twitter or X and these
- 9:29sorts of things. What is a directory as
- 9:32it as as it relates to what you're
- 9:34building? talk about from a high level
- 9:35what it is in its principal state.
- 9:38>> Yeah. Yeah, that's a great question. Um,
- 9:40so directories are archaic and they are
- 9:43old. The difference is that the
- 9:45directories that are successful today
- 9:47are actually aiding in the decision-m,
- 9:51right? I think they're like I guess the
- 9:54on paper difference is that there's so
- 9:56much more data enrichment. If you look
- 9:58at listings back then, it's like name,
- 10:00address, phone number,
- 10:01>> right? I was gonna mention NAP and a lot
- 10:03of us who are experienced with SEO will
- 10:05think of directories as maybe just you
- 10:06know citation building.
- 10:08>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Um but I
- 10:10think to go the extra mile if you want
- 10:12to compete in today's landscape you have
- 10:15to actually put yourself in the shoes of
- 10:18who is typing the keyword which I know a
- 10:20lot of us do but I'll I always give the
- 10:22example of daycare right? If you think
- 10:25about it a parent is handing a child to
- 10:28a bunch of strangers at a facility. They
- 10:29probably have a bunch of questions like
- 10:31are you licensed? Are there
- 10:33entertainment options? Is there a
- 10:35itinerary or schedule? Of course, what's
- 10:37the price? You know, there's a lot of
- 10:39there's a lack of price transparency in
- 10:41so many niches and um there's so many
- 10:46micro decisions that uh you know,
- 10:48ultimately lead to someone choosing the
- 10:50right daycare facility. Uh proximity is
- 10:53just a small one which I think most
- 10:54people think of with directories. Um and
- 10:58then like there's another side of the
- 11:00coin which is simpler. Uh the types of
- 11:01directories that I build is really just
- 11:04consolidated information. So in the
- 11:06sense it's like the same thing. In my
- 11:08opinion, a directory is just a list. I
- 11:09like to just call it a list. The utility
- 11:11of a list is actually really underrated.
- 11:13It's never going to go away in my
- 11:15opinion. But consolidation is like still
- 11:19very valuable. And the reason why my
- 11:21directories are boring and like they
- 11:24work is because Google Maps is still
- 11:28kind of bad at helping you find certain
- 11:30things. And if anyone's listening and
- 11:33they want to test this out, you can go
- 11:34to Google Maps and type in liquidation
- 11:36store and see what pops up. You'll see
- 11:3899 cent stores, you'll see thrift
- 11:40stores, you'll see liquidation services
- 11:43for businesses. But some people just
- 11:45like to shop at liquidation stores. It
- 11:47gets something like 20,000 monthly
- 11:48searches a month. So it's not really
- 11:51clear. There's a lot of fragmented
- 11:52search and so the value that you provide
- 11:55with these types of directories that I'm
- 11:56building is just consolidating that
- 11:58information so it's easy to find in one
- 12:00place. So you have like the data
- 12:02enrichment side which I would argue is
- 12:04more tied towards like lead generation
- 12:07you know high ceiling high profit niches
- 12:09and then like the boring stuff the
- 12:11evergreen stuff which I do where the
- 12:12inherent value is just it's hard to find
- 12:15like it actually is still hard to find
- 12:16in 2025 and there are niches where
- 12:18that's the case. Uh so hopefully I kind
- 12:21of explained uh you know those two
- 12:23compartments uh in an easy to understand
- 12:26way. No, you did. And I'm glad you made
- 12:28the separation of, hey, there's kind of
- 12:31just aggregating data. It's almost like
- 12:33a list. It's almost like pulling stuff
- 12:34together that people have a hard time
- 12:36finding otherwise because Google, Google
- 12:38Maps, other, you know, other search
- 12:40platforms just haven't done a good job.
- 12:41But then there's the data enrichment
- 12:42method which is kind of like combining
- 12:44different sets of data that exist
- 12:47independently but you're doing something
- 12:49unique by just bringing it together and
- 12:50therefore giving someone an experience
- 12:52that they might be able to find on their
- 12:53own but they'd have to go to three or
- 12:54four different places and and know the
- 12:56prompts to have to even look for it in
- 12:57the first place.
- 12:58>> Exactly.
- 12:59>> Um let's talk about selection or you
- 13:02know really niche selection or directory
- 13:03selection. I mean you have some
- 13:04experience. You said I think you said
- 13:06you started eight directories. Four
- 13:08you're actively working on three are
- 13:09doing really well. You've been doing
- 13:10this for a while. You mentioned a bit at
- 13:13the beginning about there's B2B, there's
- 13:15B TOC, there's lucrative niches, there's
- 13:18boring niches. Like, where do you start
- 13:20when you're coming up with what to what
- 13:22what to what is a good uh directory
- 13:24topic to to dive into?
- 13:26>> Yeah, I think this is a question that
- 13:29always circles back to what you want.
- 13:31And it's like, you know, it's a it's the
- 13:34kind of cliche thing, but you kind of
- 13:37want to decide how you want to monetize.
- 13:40Are you like me where you just want to
- 13:42kind of chill out and have something
- 13:43passive, put the work up front, um, but
- 13:46you will earn less, or do you want
- 13:48something more active, something that
- 13:50will give you quit your job money, you
- 13:52know what I mean? Um, that is really
- 13:54important because that's going to
- 13:56influence your keyword research that's
- 13:57going to influence everything. uh how
- 14:00your website's structured, how much data
- 14:01enrichment, it's going to influence the
- 14:03cost of your project. Uh for something
- 14:06like mine, um you know, I look for high
- 14:09search volume. That's like pretty basic,
- 14:11pretty straightforward. Something around
- 14:1320 to 50,000 monthly searches, uh with a
- 14:16ton of location-based queries. So, for
- 14:19example, like with the liquidation
- 14:21store, maybe liquidation near me gets
- 14:2220,000 monthly searches, but I know I'm
- 14:24not going to rank for that right off the
- 14:26bat. I probably will rank for things
- 14:29like liquidation store Bakersfield
- 14:32California or something like something
- 14:33like that. And then slowly over time as
- 14:35I gain Google's trust, I'll maybe end up
- 14:38just with a broad keyword liquidation
- 14:40store near me. So you want those
- 14:42location-based queries to have enough
- 14:44search volume, ideally I don't know 500
- 14:48to a,000 per major city like liquidation
- 14:51store Los Angeles, liquidation store
- 14:53Seattle, etc., etc.
- 14:55um because I know that that's what's
- 14:56going to rank. Um and so those are the
- 14:59kind of keywords I try to look for. I
- 15:02also consider, you know, the nature of
- 15:04the business. Is it going to like move
- 15:07around a lot? How hard is the data to
- 15:09acquire? With liquidation stores,
- 15:11they're, you know, they have a location.
- 15:13It's like brick and mortar. So, it's
- 15:15pretty evergreen. Like, it's not unless
- 15:16they close down, I won't have to worry
- 15:18about it. Uh with lead genen, you don't
- 15:20have to worry as much about high search
- 15:22volume. Uh if you have some high ticket
- 15:26niche, let's say commercial demolition,
- 15:29I think I looked that up. There's 50
- 15:31people a month um you know, searching
- 15:34that keyword, especially the location
- 15:35based ones.
- 15:36>> If you just get one out of those 50 and
- 15:40you sell that lead to a commercial
- 15:42demolition company, that could be worth
- 15:44tens of thousands of dollars. And the
- 15:46same is true for some healthcare niches
- 15:48and finance niches, uh legal niches. Um,
- 15:52so you don't have to worry about that as
- 15:54much. I would just look at the keyword
- 15:57difficulty to an extent and then I would
- 15:59have a strong backlink game. You got you
- 16:02got to have a good strategy for getting
- 16:04back links. Um, not so much like
- 16:06worrying about search volume in my
- 16:08opinion because it's all like really
- 16:10high buyer intentbased keywords for
- 16:12those types of niches. Um, yeah. So,
- 16:16>> how much does competition play into
- 16:18this? Are you like would you avoid a
- 16:21topic if say you go to Google and you
- 16:24type liquidation store near me and I
- 16:27come up and there's eight you know we
- 16:29can't say 10 results anymore but let's
- 16:30just say out of the eight results Google
- 16:31has on page one four of them are already
- 16:33directories. Is that too much
- 16:35competition or would you say oh that's
- 16:37actually a good sign Google's ranking
- 16:38directories. Let me go see if those
- 16:40directories are doing a good job. uh
- 16:42where does competition play into this?
- 16:43Because we're used to it perhaps in
- 16:46other areas of uh of niche of niche
- 16:48research, but maybe not so much here.
- 16:51>> Yeah, huge green flag. Actually, that's
- 16:53one of the biggest factors that I look
- 16:55for is a directory on the front page and
- 16:58it's just proof that it works and that I
- 17:00don't know if it's a search intent or
- 17:02Google prefers the directory structure
- 17:04for whatever reason. Um, however, it's
- 17:07kind of a double-edged sword, right? If
- 17:09you see care.com and you're like or
- 17:11Angie's List, right, some of these
- 17:13directories are so massive that they've
- 17:15done an incredible job with data
- 17:17enrichment. So, I always ask myself when
- 17:19I come across a niche with one of those
- 17:21massive companies in the front page, can
- 17:24I improve upon this or can I niche down
- 17:26further? So, like
- 17:28>> with daycarees, I think care.com is in
- 17:31daycarees. I might niche down to
- 17:33something like this is a keyword I
- 17:35recently found. um uh daycares with
- 17:39cameras. So like parents want and
- 17:42apparently it's a dealbreaker for them.
- 17:44Maybe they travel a lot, they're busy,
- 17:45they want a daycare where they can like
- 17:48log into an app or just yeah basically
- 17:51see and check up check up on their kids
- 17:54anytime they want. And maybe that's a
- 17:56deciding factor. And so you can
- 17:58basically create a directory niched down
- 18:01and just consolidate all the daycarees
- 18:03with a camera. and that could be kind of
- 18:05your competitive edge and then get
- 18:07topical authority with just that
- 18:08specific keyword. Um, so yeah, those are
- 18:11like the two questions that I asked
- 18:13myself, but actually really important to
- 18:15for me personally to to find a directory
- 18:17on the front page for sure.
- 18:19>> Awesome. Okay. Um, let's talk about
- 18:21building the directory. Uh, there's a
- 18:23number of different ways to go about it.
- 18:24I know structure of the directory can be
- 18:26very important. We've we've had someone
- 18:28on a couple years ago who talked about
- 18:30um how important that is and so we've
- 18:33talked about that like where do you come
- 18:34at it from the building side of things.
- 18:37>> Yep. Um so mainly two structures. It's
- 18:41got to be the pillar page directory uh
- 18:44or just your traditional directory where
- 18:46there's individual listing pages. And it
- 18:48really the decision to choose which
- 18:51structure you're going to go with starts
- 18:53at the keyword research I would say. Um,
- 18:55so there's like kind of two areas that I
- 18:57look at. Uh, if all of the keyword, uh,
- 19:00the search volume is around those
- 19:01location based keywords like liquidation
- 19:03store Los Angeles, then I'm going to go
- 19:06on Google, just type it in and look at
- 19:08the top three SERs and see what what
- 19:12structure they have. If it's more or
- 19:14less like a listical or like, you know,
- 19:17yeah, like a pillar page, then that's
- 19:18what I'm going to go with. I'm just
- 19:19going to make it better. I'm going to
- 19:20add more data enrichment. And that
- 19:22simple strategy has worked out really
- 19:24well for me. Um, so yeah, and then I
- 19:28would say the traditional directory with
- 19:31individual listing pages, uh, if there's
- 19:33a lot of keyword volume around Freys
- 19:36liquidation store or Bob's liquidation
- 19:39store, uh, because it's just got a
- 19:41reputation. There's a lot of niches
- 19:43where that's the case. Um, then I would
- 19:45probably build out its own listing page
- 19:46because it deserves it. Uh I want people
- 19:48to basically use that as a landing page.
- 19:51Um so that's like a very simplistic
- 19:54approach. Uh whether you go with your
- 19:57traditional one or a pillar page
- 19:58directory. I think pillar page directory
- 20:01structures are so underrated. Like I'm
- 20:03building one right now uh for a keyword
- 20:05that gets like a 100,000 monthly um
- 20:08searches. It's like so boring, so under
- 20:11the radar. And yeah, it's should turn
- 20:15out pretty good. I think
- 20:17>> maybe dive deeper, explain the pillar
- 20:19page methodology maybe as it relates to
- 20:21the example you've been using was
- 20:22liquidation pages just so everybody
- 20:24really gets it
- 20:25>> down. Um because it's important that you
- 20:28make this decision properly on the front
- 20:30end. Not saying it's irreversible, but
- 20:32if you don't make the decision on the
- 20:34front end of how you're going to
- 20:35structure some of these things, like it
- 20:36can be harder down the road once you
- 20:38either start ranking or once you realize
- 20:40that you didn't follow maybe a process.
- 20:42It's not as simple as like a straight
- 20:43blog, I guess, is what I'm saying.
- 20:44>> Totally. Totally. Yeah. So, the
- 20:46difference is just that a traditional
- 20:48directory with listings that you can
- 20:50click into is four layers deep from the
- 20:53homepage. So, think about starting from
- 20:55the homepage, you go to liquidation
- 20:57stores New York, right? That's a state
- 21:00page. And then you go to
- 21:02liquidation stores in Brooklyn, New
- 21:04York. That's a city within the state
- 21:05page. And then you click on phrase
- 21:08liquidation stores in Brooklyn, New
- 21:09York. So, like four layers deep.
- 21:11>> The pillar page structure is just three
- 21:14layers deep. you just stop at the city
- 21:16specific page. Uh if you want, you can
- 21:18even make it two layers deep. My first
- 21:20thrifting directory is literally just 50
- 21:22pages on a WordPress site, one page for
- 21:26every state, and it gets 60 70,000
- 21:29monthly visitors. It's a pillar page in
- 21:31the sense that all the information is
- 21:33just on like liquidation stores New
- 21:37York, that version of the page, and it's
- 21:40really long. Like you can't
- 21:42>> one big listical. like every time a new
- 21:44thrift store pops up, you just plop it
- 21:45in there and it's just one long
- 21:47listicle.
- 21:48>> One super long listicle um with a table
- 21:52of contents, uh internal links to the
- 21:54other state pages on the bottom. And the
- 21:56great thing is that yes, it's not the
- 21:59best like UX from a mobile perspective,
- 22:02but that page ranks for like a thousand
- 22:04keywords for every pillar page. It's
- 22:06kind of insane. Um, and so yeah, if uh
- 22:09yeah, basically you would want your H1
- 22:11to be the broad keyword, like let's just
- 22:13say liquidation stores New York, and
- 22:14your H2s would be the the city specific
- 22:18keywords like liquidation store
- 22:19Brooklyn. Um, and yeah, you don't need
- 22:23an individual page with an H1 targeting
- 22:27liquidation source Brooklyn to to rank
- 22:29really high for that. I uh all of my
- 22:32rankings are like page one and those are
- 22:34like Yeah, that's how I I basically
- 22:36structure it.
- 22:37>> That's amazing. I'm a bit shocked to
- 22:39hear that that is doing so well. Why
- 22:41wouldn't you I'm just asking to play
- 22:43devil's advocate. I'm guessing someone's
- 22:44thinking this as they're driving in
- 22:45their car right now. Now that that page
- 22:47is doing so well, why wouldn't you go
- 22:49back in and add individual pages, i.e.
- 22:52three layers deep for phrase liquidation
- 22:55store and then hyperlink from this
- 22:57massive listical that's doing so well to
- 23:00it.
- 23:01>> Um like why don't I just go a layer
- 23:03deeper.
- 23:04>> Uh and I think that
- 23:07>> probably the true answer is it's work
- 23:10that I don't want to do.
- 23:11>> Well, that's fair boring.
- 23:12>> You said the way in like I I'm in coast
- 23:14mode right now and so that's a fair
- 23:16answer but you know would that help do
- 23:18you think? Yeah. Um, I think that it may
- 23:24help, but I think the nature of my niche
- 23:27is that
- 23:29people just want like there's so few in
- 23:32this thrifting niche, right? It it it
- 23:34targets a subset of thrift stores, like
- 23:36a specific brand of thrift stores.
- 23:38They're very like few and far in
- 23:39between. So, people just want to see how
- 23:41many there are in a state. And I think
- 23:43that's kind of what I got from social
- 23:45listening looking on Reddit. Uh a lot of
- 23:47the social social like media posts were,
- 23:50"Hey, are there any of these stores in
- 23:52California?" And I was like, "Oh, that's
- 23:54interesting." I mean, there were some in
- 23:55specific cities, but yeah, I think I
- 23:58don't think it would help that much um
- 24:00for that particular niche. Uh, but I
- 24:03think a lot of other niches, the one
- 24:04that I'm building now, it's going to be
- 24:06a pillar page um, directory as well, but
- 24:08I'm going to go four layers deep with
- 24:11individual city pages as my H1 rather
- 24:15than doing state pages because it's it's
- 24:17too broad. There's too many stores. I
- 24:19want to drill down a little bit deeper.
- 24:20And I think in this particular niche, it
- 24:22makes a lot more sense because there's
- 24:24like 12,000
- 24:25um, yeah, 12,000 of these businesses.
- 24:29for reference that the thrifting niche
- 24:31where I'm kind of describing this pillar
- 24:32page structure, there's only like 130
- 24:34stores. So, it's okay to like keep it
- 24:37broad and keep it statewide in my
- 24:38opinion.
- 24:39>> Okay. And that's great clarity. Like
- 24:41getting into the weeds on that was was
- 24:42fun because I think what you're
- 24:44ultimately what you said at the
- 24:45beginning is there's many different ways
- 24:46to do it. And it sounds like there's
- 24:48some strategy to which one might be the
- 24:49best and there's also going back to what
- 24:51you said at the beginning like
- 24:52optimizing for where you're at and what
- 24:54kind of directory you want to build and
- 24:56how much involvement you want to have.
- 24:58It kind of all plays into the the
- 24:59approach you take for it. Is there any
- 25:01technology that helps with this? Whether
- 25:03it's um a a theme builder, whether
- 25:06you're using AI, like any any any sort
- 25:08of uh gains on the technological side of
- 25:10things you can share with people.
- 25:12>> Yeah. Um I just use so kind of like my
- 25:16tech stack for WordPress for the longest
- 25:18time uh was of course WordPress. Um and
- 25:22I used Out Scraper, which is just one of
- 25:24many scrapers people can use. And I do
- 25:26scrape Google Maps. Some people might be
- 25:28hearing this and be like, "That's
- 25:29against toos." And I would say you're
- 25:32not wrong, but um it's a risk factor
- 25:36that everyone has to take into
- 25:37consideration. And there's a lot of
- 25:38scrapers out there. Um and uh after
- 25:42that, you want to have some if you want
- 25:45some automation for the data enrichment.
- 25:48Uh you know, I candidly did create a
- 25:51software for this. Uh it's called
- 25:53Enrich. directory and essentially it
- 25:55just allows you to input a keyword and
- 25:58it'll search for that keyword in Google
- 26:00reviews for that specific business and
- 26:03so you can like prompt it and ask like
- 26:05hey is this a liquidation store just
- 26:06just want to confirm just look at do a
- 26:08sentiment analysis on the reviews and
- 26:10just tell me um okay well does this
- 26:12liquidation store have like good prices
- 26:14like what do people think about the
- 26:15prices um so that's like one way you can
- 26:18kind of automate it otherwise it's
- 26:19pretty manual WordPress kept it really
- 26:22simple uh element Mentor Pro. Um,
- 26:25really, really simple. Uh, you can use a
- 26:28plugin called GeoDirectory if you want a
- 26:30programmatic SEO build. Uh, if you want
- 26:33to publish like 4,000 listings in the
- 26:35same day, Geodire is pretty solid at
- 26:38that. There's a few of them, but that's
- 26:40my favorite. Um, and then, yeah, there
- 26:44are some extra plugins like WPL import.
- 26:46I like that. Um, some people build
- 26:49directories with uh, Jet Engine. don't
- 26:52really prefer that, but it works. And
- 26:54then, yeah, that's pretty much it. In
- 26:56Hrefs, that's kind of like where I go
- 26:59and execute my backlink strategy. I
- 27:02always use hrefs to look at my
- 27:04competitor's backlinks and then reach
- 27:05out to them and say, "Hey, do you want
- 27:07to do like can you just swap out my link
- 27:10for this competitor's link on this
- 27:13article? I'll pay you like 50 bucks."
- 27:15And
- 27:17that's why HR is important. So, that's
- 27:19pretty much it. I've been spending a lot
- 27:20more time in cloud code and cursor. I've
- 27:23actually been like super obsessed with
- 27:24it for the last 3 weeks to four weeks.
- 27:26Um, and I'm building this pillar page
- 27:28directory on cloud code. Um, so that's
- 27:31exciting. But yeah, that's kind of my
- 27:34tech stack historically.
- 27:35>> Okay. I love it. Thank you for sharing
- 27:36all that. I mean, everybody can go if
- 27:38they want to get involved in this, they
- 27:40can kind of go, you know, research all
- 27:41the different things you just
- 27:42referenced. But that's awesome. Um, one
- 27:44more question before we move into
- 27:45backlinks because that's Don't worry,
- 27:47folks. We're going to get to that.
- 27:50um on page. What are there any other
- 27:52on-page work that needs to be done?
- 27:53You've kind of talked about the assembly
- 27:54process, how you're building this
- 27:56structurally, what goes on a pillar
- 27:58post, what goes on a listical, what the
- 28:00H1, the H2s are, how how many deep like
- 28:03we we've got our mind around the the
- 28:05structure of of today's directories for
- 28:07you, but like what any other onpage work
- 28:09that needs to get done? Um, I think
- 28:11besides the fundamentals, um, I would
- 28:14say that I've kind of been doing a 180
- 28:17on my takes with blogs because for a
- 28:19long time I didn't see the use case for
- 28:21blogs, especially after the core update.
- 28:23But I'm seeing a lot more um, blogs get
- 28:27referenced by LLMs. And so I think
- 28:29that's a solid use case, especially for
- 28:31a lead genen directory because you need
- 28:33all the traffic that you can get. Uh, I
- 28:35recently talked to the CEO of Sam's
- 28:37List, which is a direct read to help
- 28:39high netw worth individuals find
- 28:41financial advisors and accountants and
- 28:44you name it. And she wrote a really
- 28:46simple blog. Um, and she's starting to
- 28:49see like one to three people a day come
- 28:52to her website just from that from chat
- 28:54GBT. Um, which is huge for her, right?
- 28:57Because one customer can be tens of
- 28:59thousands of dollars. Um, and so I would
- 29:03say that is something that I've kind of
- 29:05changed my mind around. Um, and I think
- 29:07like more structured data schema. Um,
- 29:11that's stuff that I I guess is like I
- 29:15guess it's kind of on page but not. Um,
- 29:17but yeah, I would say that's something
- 29:20that I've been looking into more again
- 29:21for the same reasons. Uh, LLMs tend to
- 29:24like more structured pages, but I I'm
- 29:26sure your most of your audience already
- 29:28knows that.
- 29:29>> Yes. Well, that's a whole another topic
- 29:31altogether. But yes, um I was going to
- 29:33ask about the blog, you know, and if it
- 29:34if you bother with it or if you don't.
- 29:36So, uh well, okay, let's talk about link
- 29:40building. I'll start with a high level
- 29:42question like is it mandatory? Do you
- 29:44think it's mandatory to get the kind of
- 29:47traffic you're getting? Again, I'm
- 29:49trying to think of someone who's
- 29:50listening to all this but is reticent to
- 29:53dive into the nitty-gritty of link
- 29:54building is thinking like, "Hey, is this
- 29:57one of those things where I can build it
- 29:58and eventually they'll come anyways?"
- 30:00How important do you think link building
- 30:02is to the success of your directories
- 30:04and could they be successful? Maybe not
- 30:06to the same degree without it.
- 30:09>> It's hard to give a bling answer because
- 30:12it depends on the niche. And I'll give
- 30:14you an example. I've won my third
- 30:16directory that I built, fresh domain, no
- 30:18back links, uh really low competition
- 30:21niche. Um it hit 10,000 or is still at
- 30:2410,000 monthly visitors with no
- 30:26backlinks. It's just how it is. I
- 30:28literally just created a pillar page
- 30:30directory and no one seems to be really
- 30:33be talking about them. Um and that was
- 30:37yeah, that's just how it is. With the
- 30:39first directory, I definitely needed to
- 30:41build links. I had a competitor that was
- 30:43getting a 100,000 monthly visitors. I
- 30:46needed to take them down. Um,
- 30:49and all I'll say is it took me one link
- 30:51insert from a super relevant article uh
- 30:56and website with real traffic. Um,
- 30:59basically exactly like the same topic as
- 31:02my directory. And it took one backlink
- 31:04to overtake that 100,000
- 31:08um searches a month uh competitor. So I
- 31:12get it like I don't want to do backlink.
- 31:14I don't want to do link building either.
- 31:16It's costly in some um some cases time
- 31:19consuming. It's really boring. People
- 31:20don't respond if you do cold outreach. I
- 31:22get it. But sometimes if you build in
- 31:25the right niche a you don't need
- 31:27backlinks or if you do you don't even
- 31:30need that many. You just need the
- 31:32quality ones and a few of them at that.
- 31:34So it doesn't have to be this gargantuan
- 31:37task that you see. Um, that's that's in
- 31:40my opinion. Of course, you need
- 31:42backlinks for any like any lead genen
- 31:45play where you're gonna have more
- 31:47competition. So, it's super important.
- 31:50Um, but again, I don't really care about
- 31:52any other backlinks than like hyper
- 31:54niche specific ones with real traffic.
- 31:56Um, I've bought niche edits. I've spent
- 31:58thousands of dollars on niche edits.
- 32:00They are hollow in my opinion. High DR,
- 32:04no real traffic, kind of buried deep
- 32:07into the website. Yeah, you can
- 32:09customize your anchor text, but come on.
- 32:11Like, it's just a high DR website.
- 32:14That's it. That DR in my opinion is kind
- 32:16of a vanity metric, and I I maybe that's
- 32:18a hot take, but I uh yeah, I've seen
- 32:21proof with my own directory builds. Um,
- 32:23so yeah, that's what I'll say.
- 32:24>> Well, good. We we've we've talked to the
- 32:26person who maybe doesn't want to build
- 32:27links, but now let's talk to the person
- 32:28who does want to build links, and you've
- 32:30kind of already waited into it a little
- 32:31bit. what types of links work well uh
- 32:35for directories specifically that you
- 32:37found, you know, and kind of we'd love
- 32:40to hear anything that you just don't
- 32:42think is working or that is maybe not as
- 32:44effective as something else. A lot of
- 32:46people again listening are going to be
- 32:49interested in this topic. They they did
- 32:51uh use link building to drive uh overall
- 32:54authority for maybe their website
- 32:56prehcu. Maybe they're still doing it
- 32:58with a local business, with a SAS
- 33:00product, with ecom, but they have that
- 33:01that experience. And so, let's get into
- 33:03some of the, you know, more advanced or
- 33:05more detailed side of link blending that
- 33:06you've seen work well for for
- 33:08directories.
- 33:09>> Yeah, directories are weird because the
- 33:12nature of the keywords you're going to
- 33:13be ranking for are basically aligned
- 33:15with local SEO. It's like liquidation
- 33:17store in New York, right? So, maybe like
- 33:20a typical person learning SEO might be
- 33:22like, okay, I'm just going to build
- 33:24citations, but that's not what I do. Uh,
- 33:27in fact, those are not the types of
- 33:29links that I've seen success from. It's
- 33:31like I don't know what you call like
- 33:32national SEO, but essentially articles,
- 33:35blogs. I I never know what to call it.
- 33:37>> I know. I'm like there's local SEO and
- 33:38there's
- 33:39>> there's like
- 33:40>> just other Yeah. Yeah. There's just SEO.
- 33:43Um, that other is where I target. So,
- 33:46like exactly kind of what I mentioned,
- 33:48just articles, blogs, mom and pop, small
- 33:51publishers, that kind of stuff. Um,
- 33:54those are like priority number one. as
- 33:56long as it's niche specific and there's
- 33:58real traffic, I'm down for that. I don't
- 34:01like, yes, I take DR into consideration,
- 34:03but it's like third or fourth priority
- 34:05when I'm going about it. Um, I would say
- 34:07badges is a unique um kind of backlink
- 34:11proposition for directories. Um, not a
- 34:13lot of people can just create badges for
- 34:15like best liquidation store in Seattle,
- 34:18like hey, we just wanted to award you
- 34:20this. Here's an HTM HTML snippet you can
- 34:22embed on your website. you can't pull
- 34:24that off in a lot of situations, but
- 34:25directories can pretty easily. Um, and
- 34:28so that's something that I've uh played
- 34:30around with and it works well. I think
- 34:32that the reason I mentioned this second
- 34:34is because it lacks that anchor text
- 34:37that would help you a little bit. It's
- 34:39just an image backlink, which is great.
- 34:42Um, but I still think the first option
- 34:46is better if you can. Um, and yeah, uh,
- 34:51essentially that's that's kind of it.
- 34:54And I kind of forgot about your your
- 34:56question if I'm being honest. Like if
- 34:58there was a specific backlink question.
- 35:00>> No, I was I was saying what what does
- 35:02work. You know, we kind of talked about
- 35:03and maybe let me ask a follow-up
- 35:05question on that to to just also ask
- 35:07about what you were just sharing. You
- 35:09talked about niche edits not really
- 35:10working all that well. You talked about
- 35:12citations not really working well, but
- 35:14you have kind of said link insertions
- 35:16have been valuable. Um, draw the line
- 35:19between those. What's the difference
- 35:20between a link insertion and a niche
- 35:22edit for a directory site?
- 35:24>> Yeah, so for me, a niche edit is
- 35:26basically when you go to a link building
- 35:28agency and you pay like a hundred bucks.
- 35:31They will access their own network of
- 35:35small publishers and then
- 35:38hide put your link somewhere on a page.
- 35:40You don't know the page. You don't even
- 35:42know the referring domain. You don't
- 35:44know anything. You kind of just fill out
- 35:45the sheet that says like, "Yeah, like
- 35:47this is a like I would like preferably
- 35:49to be in the liquidation space, the the
- 35:52secondhand goods space." But you don't
- 35:54know what you're going to get. You're
- 35:55kind of just gambling kind of. With a
- 35:58link insert, you are going into hrefs,
- 36:01identifying your main targets, and then
- 36:05analyzing their back links, looking at,
- 36:07okay, well, this backlink is from Frey's
- 36:12blog. It's exactly to do with
- 36:14liquidation stores, and he has a ton of
- 36:18articles around this and links to my
- 36:19competitor. I'm just going to reach out
- 36:21to them. I know exactly the DR, the tra
- 36:23the real traffic coming in, um the the
- 36:26topic, how many um you know, outgoing
- 36:29links there are or um you know, I can I
- 36:31can look at so much more data and make
- 36:34the decision myself as an SEO whether or
- 36:38not I would want want that. And so um
- 36:41the difference in like the $100 spent
- 36:43with a niche edit and a link insert is
- 36:45night and day. Um and that's what I like
- 36:48about link inserts. Um, and then the
- 36:51badges I think you mentioned is kind of
- 36:53in its own separate world. That's Yeah.
- 36:56>> Yeah. Which that's awesome by the way.
- 36:57That's a great tip because, you know, if
- 37:00you're a small business and you're like,
- 37:02I just got an award as the best such and
- 37:04such. And you know, like even if you're
- 37:07not really sure what it is, I'm sure a
- 37:09lot of people are like, I'd be happy to
- 37:10put that on my site, feature that so
- 37:12that people, my customers, my potential
- 37:14customers can see that. And um so that's
- 37:17a great that's a great tip there. From a
- 37:19lot of what you're talking about with
- 37:20links that work well, it seems like
- 37:22relevancy is important. And again, I'm
- 37:24making a broadstroke statement. It seems
- 37:26like getting links from um from from
- 37:30domains that have relevance to your your
- 37:33niche is is really important. Talked
- 37:35about DR not necessarily being a big
- 37:37deal to you. So maybe the power side of
- 37:39things isn't quite as important. Is is
- 37:41that a safe assessment? Like if
- 37:42somebody's building a directory, is that
- 37:44relevance component to the links they're
- 37:45trying to build really important?
- 37:47>> I think so. I think that's the main
- 37:49factor that I look for is is the page
- 37:52that's is my referring page super
- 37:54relevant or at least like pretty
- 37:56relevant to my niche and is there real
- 37:58traffic going to the page? Um I think
- 38:01like user signals in general are
- 38:03increasingly important um just in the
- 38:05last few years and to yeah just to
- 38:09legitimize you as a actual authority um
- 38:13subject matter expert. So that's why the
- 38:16real traffic is important to me. I want
- 38:18people flowing in from my referring page
- 38:20to my website engaging clicking around.
- 38:22I want those um and then yeah niche
- 38:25relevance. I think that's super
- 38:27important. Um Dr. Yeah, I think it's a
- 38:30vanity metric. I have a directory with
- 38:32in Hrefs it's a 0.1dr
- 38:36and it's the 10,000 um uh it's the one
- 38:40one getting 10,000 monthly visitors and
- 38:43um yeah fresh domain I think at this
- 38:45point naturally I've gotten like one or
- 38:46two back links for that uh directory but
- 38:49it's still a 01 uh a 0.1 DR which is the
- 38:53lowest possible DR that you can get
- 38:55scored on hrefs and it's still ranking
- 38:58page one rank one for the the keyword
- 39:00That's amazing. Yeah. Um, so let's talk
- 39:04about monetization if we can for a bit.
- 39:06And you talked I I I believe you kind of
- 39:09differentiated between there's display
- 39:10ads and then there's lead genen which um
- 39:14there's also or part of that which is
- 39:17just charging for premium listings. And
- 39:19I think that maybe we should we separate
- 39:21that as a different model as well. um
- 39:24you know talk about which ones you've
- 39:27tried, which ones you've landed on, and
- 39:29maybe why you've landed on a certain
- 39:31monetization method over a different
- 39:33one.
- 39:34>> Yeah, so the ones that I've tried in
- 39:37order of like length of experience um
- 39:40are definitely display ads first. I have
- 39:42a lot of experience with that. Um
- 39:44digital products would be second and any
- 39:47kind of lead genen would be third. And
- 39:49that's kind of the next chapter that I'm
- 39:50walking into right now. I'm building a
- 39:52luxury uh porta-potty directory right
- 39:54now. Um but yeah, just to kind of yeah
- 39:59the way monetization is tricky because
- 40:02you want to identify the earning
- 40:04potential in the very beginning of niche
- 40:06selection, but the truth is without
- 40:09traffic you have no monetization and
- 40:11once you have traffic you're rich with
- 40:13problems around monetization. Um, but
- 40:16the basic idea is that with any lead
- 40:18genen, I do try to find any service with
- 40:22relatively high ticket. Like a luxury
- 40:23portaotty can be rented out for $2,000 a
- 40:26day for weddings, outdoor festivals, you
- 40:29you name it. So reasonably, I think like
- 40:32following Alex Hermosy's mindset of
- 40:34like, well, what could you offer that
- 40:36would be dumb for them not to take? I
- 40:38think I could sell a lead for $300
- 40:42per lead potentially if it's a really
- 40:44warm lead. Filled out, you know, a
- 40:47request quote form. I have all of their
- 40:49information around a wedding they need a
- 40:51luxury portaotty for. I could probably
- 40:53sell that because that might be able to
- 40:54turn into like a $2,000
- 40:57maybe even more, right? If there's
- 40:58multiple days they're renting for uh
- 41:00customer. So yeah, like you want high
- 41:03ticket um tons of like landscaping
- 41:07niches, of course, finance, healthcare,
- 41:09legal niches. These are leads that are
- 41:12potentially worth like $20,000 plus. Um,
- 41:17and quick funny story, I actually
- 41:18created a really crappy version of a
- 41:20portaotty directory. It still has Lauram
- 41:22Ipsum on the front page and I just did
- 41:25it as a test but uh a few weeks ago I
- 41:28haven't worked on that website in almost
- 41:30you know like a year. I got the New
- 41:33Mexico State Fair as a lead and they
- 41:35said hey we need 109 porta potties like
- 41:38three luxury toilet uh you know porta
- 41:40potties. It was a $20,000 lead from a
- 41:42website directory that had Lauraum on
- 41:45the front page which is like kind of
- 41:47stupid but um yeah that's the general
- 41:49gist of that. Of course, like one
- 41:52mistake that I made, really, really poor
- 41:54decision-making is I built a plasma
- 41:56donation directory. It's still up and
- 41:58running. It's just monetizing with
- 42:00Mediavine. But I didn't take into
- 42:02account how easy it is to actually reach
- 42:04out to these plasma donation owners. Uh
- 42:06if you look at the landscape with plasma
- 42:08donation, there's like 15 of them in the
- 42:11US. All of them are doing like 100
- 42:13million plus uh in revenue. It's really
- 42:16hard to like get in contact with them.
- 42:17there's like yeah it's just something I
- 42:21didn't consider. So that's something I
- 42:22would definitely take into account if
- 42:24you're building lead genen is how easy
- 42:25is it to actually start building that
- 42:27relationship
- 42:28>> and um eventually lead to like a lead
- 42:30genen play. Um, that's pretty much it
- 42:33for lead genen. I would say like the
- 42:35main points display ads are so easy.
- 42:38It's just like get the traffic, apply to
- 42:41Mediaine. Mediaine has Mediaine grow
- 42:44now. So you can you can start applying
- 42:46at like 3 to 5,000 monthly visitors and
- 42:48you'll get in and then that's pretty
- 42:50much it. It's easy as that. I think the
- 42:54display ad concept is going to make a
- 42:55lot of sense for most people listening,
- 42:57especially if you go after those niches
- 42:59that have high traffic potential. That
- 43:02makes a ton of sense. Do you ever layer
- 43:05on the premium listing or other types of
- 43:08services along with display ads? Um, is
- 43:11that something that you've seen work
- 43:13well or just that you've seen other
- 43:14people do?
- 43:15>> Oh, yeah. I see it all the time. Uh, I
- 43:18don't know if it's the best depending on
- 43:20the niche. If it's a niche where you
- 43:23inherently have like a high trust
- 43:26situation, like ads on a finance
- 43:28directory would be kind of like I don't
- 43:30know, it just gives you the wrong kind
- 43:32of impression in my opinion. Uh, but
- 43:34that's just me. Um, but I do see it all
- 43:37the time. Um, the plasma donation site
- 43:40for a moment was like for a month I was
- 43:43making money with lead generation. I
- 43:45think I only made like 500 or,000 bucks
- 43:47that month. Um, but yeah, I had ads
- 43:51throughout that whole period. I had
- 43:53Mediavine uh going and it didn't seem to
- 43:56be that consequential, so it was fine.
- 44:00I would say try to keep it separate
- 44:02mainly because if you have a really high
- 44:04potential lead genen niche, usually you
- 44:08won't have enough search volume to make
- 44:11it worth it for display ads. That's why
- 44:13I like to keep it super segmented. Like
- 44:15if I'm going for display ads, I'm going
- 44:17for as much volume, as high, you know,
- 44:20search traffic as I can. Uh I don't want
- 44:23to be like thinking about the lead genen
- 44:25side. It's like I don't know, it's too
- 44:27confusing for me personally. There's a
- 44:30lot of depth with one side and like it's
- 44:32really shallow on the other. Right.
- 44:35>> Um, let me bring this kind of all the
- 44:37way full circle and ask you a really
- 44:39high level question for someone who's
- 44:42been listening to this and wants to go
- 44:43out and start their first directory. Um,
- 44:46they do their research based on some of
- 44:47the strategies you talked about. They
- 44:49find their niche. They, you know, listen
- 44:52to what you recommended in terms of tech
- 44:54stack. They've got the site all built
- 44:56out. They've got their long-term plans
- 44:58for link building. What's their what's
- 45:00what's their first 30 days look like?
- 45:02like just from a high level, what's your
- 45:03first 30 days once you've got a
- 45:04directory live? You've obviously got
- 45:06your link building tasks that you want
- 45:08to get started on, but what what what
- 45:10what are you doing for those first 30
- 45:11days? Give people like a playbook. Yeah.
- 45:14Um I think I could go into the tactics,
- 45:17but I think at this point I've spoken to
- 45:19enough people where my recommendation
- 45:23seems slow, but it's in my opinion the
- 45:25fastest way, which is you just want to
- 45:26like learn enough to build and then
- 45:29learn more and then build. And the
- 45:31reason I say that is because you're kind
- 45:32of learning like five to 10 different
- 45:34skills with building directories. It's
- 45:36like keyword research, you know, you
- 45:38have to do a lot of social listening.
- 45:40Um, you have to do, you know, website
- 45:42scraping, cleaning, enriching, that's a
- 45:44whole thing. Website design,
- 45:46monetization, backing out. There's so
- 45:48many skills that you're trying to
- 45:50tackle. So, if you try to just like
- 45:53build this very lucrative lead genen
- 45:55directory off the bat and say, "Okay,
- 45:57like I have my idea. I'm going to go
- 45:58straight to the website and like kind of
- 46:00just have high expectations going in.
- 46:03I've seen a lot of people fail at that.
- 46:05So, what I would recommend is actually
- 46:07just create a really simple directory.
- 46:09If you're just starting out, maybe you
- 46:11have some base level SEO skills, just
- 46:13prove yourself that it works. like that
- 46:15momentum when when you start to see you
- 46:17rank for location based queries and
- 46:20keywords starting to see a little
- 46:22trickle of traffic that's going to
- 46:25inspire you because I see so many bad
- 46:28websites on the at the uh bottom of the
- 46:31first page and yeah they're they're
- 46:33terrible. I mean my portaotty directory
- 46:35it's ranking for a ton of keywords on
- 46:38the first page and has Laura Mipsum. So
- 46:40like just prove it to yourself that you
- 46:42can do it. um learn just enough so it's
- 46:45not overwhelming and just start
- 46:46building. If I knew zero like about
- 46:49WordPress or anything, I would
- 46:50definitely go straight to Claude code
- 46:52and cursor. Um it's really intimidating.
- 46:56I'm a non-coder. It was extremely
- 46:57intimidating to get started and I didn't
- 46:59do that. I didn't learn anything for 6
- 47:02months and I did recently and it's so
- 47:05worth it. It's so fun. Um so that's kind
- 47:08of what I would recommend. uh definitely
- 47:13spend the most time around ideiation. I
- 47:16talked to John Rush um and Tim start
- 47:19kind of recently and we all agreed that
- 47:22thinking about the idea is the most
- 47:24timeconuming part because there's so
- 47:25many like small micro decisions around
- 47:27monetization potential. Oh, can I reach
- 47:29out these people? What's my backlink
- 47:31strategy? like all these things that you
- 47:32want to ask yourself before spending
- 47:35money scraping data and like buying
- 47:38softwares and building a site. Uh those
- 47:40small questions are worth it in my
- 47:42opinion. And then the second most
- 47:43timeconuming part is probably the data
- 47:46enrichment.
- 47:46>> Mh.
- 47:47>> And then everything else like you can do
- 47:49relatively quickly in my opinion. Uh so
- 47:51that's what I would probably recommend.
- 47:53Um I don't know that it's not 30 days
- 47:57but
- 47:58>> I mean I'll just give you a number.
- 47:59Yeah, just to give you just a a podcast
- 48:02host question really. It doesn't have to
- 48:04be 30 days, but
- 48:05>> um hey before you go like what where
- 48:08where are you spending most of your
- 48:09time? Because again folks like a lot of
- 48:12what
- 48:13Fre's been talking about is very passive
- 48:16after that initial launch after that
- 48:17initial you know time as what you said
- 48:19at the outset like hey put in call it a
- 48:21100 hours and then watch it grow and
- 48:24then you can put as much or as little
- 48:25time as you want to into it. So, what
- 48:28are you spending your day doing? What's
- 48:29uh what's what what what are you working
- 48:31on?
- 48:32>> Yeah. Um right now it's probably a mix
- 48:35of four things. I have two ongoing
- 48:37directory projects. One's the luxury
- 48:39portaotty directory. That's a really big
- 48:41project. It's going to be an automated
- 48:43lead genen directory kind of like Yelp
- 48:44and Care.com. Um and that's a big one.
- 48:48I'm using Cloud Code for that. I'm also
- 48:50building a boring evergreen pillar page
- 48:53directory also in Cloud Code. I have a
- 48:55community of people, a free community
- 48:58and a private paid community for anyone
- 49:00building directories. Um, so I'm always
- 49:03in there every day just talking to
- 49:04people, sharing what I know. And then
- 49:06YouTube has been a wild and random
- 49:09occurrence in the last eight months.
- 49:11I've been very lucky and grateful, but
- 49:14it's where I spend a lot of my time
- 49:15every week just sharing what I know and
- 49:18trying to communicate uh what I'm
- 49:20learning to non-coders and beginners and
- 49:22anyone trying to learn. Awesome. Where
- 49:25can people kind of connect with you or
- 49:26follow along with what you're doing? Um
- 49:28I know that the uh directory community
- 49:30you talked about uh is is one good
- 49:32place, but like where would you where
- 49:33would you guide people if they wanted to
- 49:35connect with you?
- 49:36>> Yeah, I think um well YouTube doesn't
- 49:39really Yeah, I would say Twitter or X is
- 49:42the best place. I'm really just on that
- 49:44social media platform. And then if you
- 49:46do want to pop into the free community,
- 49:49there's I think 2,600 people in there.
- 49:51It's just shipperdirectory.com.
- 49:53You can access it through there. Uh same
- 49:55thing if you want a little bit more uh
- 49:58kind of commitment and serious you want
- 50:01to be around serious voters
- 50:02shipperdirectory.com. Uh that's where
- 50:04you can learn everything you need to
- 50:05know.
- 50:07>> Frey, this has been such a fun
- 50:08interview. I mean I feel like you
- 50:10probably are going to inspire a lot of
- 50:11people. Uh, you know, obviously this is
- 50:14something that is going to kind of
- 50:16scratch an itch for a lot of people who
- 50:18are looking for a place to put a lot of
- 50:20their talents, a lot of the, you know,
- 50:22things that they've done historically
- 50:23very well. You talked about how, hey,
- 50:25the online world is and will forever be
- 50:27constantly changing, but in many ways,
- 50:29this is a blast from the past. It's
- 50:31something that's been around for a long,
- 50:32long time and is still working really,
- 50:33really well, provided that you, you
- 50:35know, do some of the things that that
- 50:37you talked about here. So, I just can't
- 50:39thank you enough. I've got like a page
- 50:40or two of notes. probably listen to this
- 50:41one again if I find the time to start a
- 50:43directory myself. Um, thanks so much for
- 50:46coming on. I really appreciate it.
- 50:47>> I appreciate it, Jared. It was fun going
- 50:49to uh the weeds and uh yeah, appreciate
- 50:51this.
- 50:53>> All right, until we talk again. Thanks.
- 50:54>> All right, thanks Jared.
- 50:56>> Hey everyone, Spencer here, founder of
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