I am in the process of writing a software that will submit to host directories. I have seen a few threads that talked about some in development, but none ever showed up, and I couldn't find any script like this, so I though this might be a good product.

I am coding this in Java, since this is the only server side language I know.

I am looking for suggestion on my software, if you are a web host,
1)Do you think you will really buy a script like this?
2)How many directories do you want it to submit to?(keep in mind, the submission process is very difficult, so its will take me a few day just to write the code to submit to one, besides, there are only 15 or so directory last time I checked)
3)Do you want this to be a subscription service or a standalone product?
4)what kind of price would you pay for a subscription service?(service is my first choice)
5)I have heard that manual submission offer higher quality, is this true? Why is it true?

If you own a web host directory, I woud appreciate if you can tell me,
1)Do you like/hate/forbid the idea of an automated software submitting to your system?
2)How often do you change your interface(CGI form submission)?
3)How do you keep the login information(if you have one), cookie? URL rewrite? Hidden Field?

Unless I receive some extremely bad feedback, I will continue this project. So, I am requesting that any web host directory owner interested to contact me. I will develop the code to access your directory first if you agree to provide me with the CGI information and allow me to test my code on your directory.

Thanks,

Peter

1)Do you think you will really buy a script like this?

Without hesitation.


2)How many directories do you want it to submit to?(keep in mind, the submission process is very difficult, so its will take me a few day just to write the code to submit to one, besides, there are only 15 or so directory last time I checked)

Erm... well, http://www.hostcompare.com/websitesarticles.htm lists more than 50 hosting directories, and I have no doubt that that is an incomplete list.

I'd say that you need to hit as many as humanly possible in your first go-around. Ones that I'd deem absolutely necessary: (listed in alphabetical order, *not* in order of priority)

CompareWebHosts.com
Findahost.com
FindSP.com
Findwebspace.com
Gethosted.com
HostCrawler.com
HostGlobal.com
HostIndex.com
Hostreview.com
Hostsearch.com
HostSpot.com
iHostCafe.com
IspCheck.com
Tophosts.com
Webhostdir.com

I'm sure that there are several on the HostCompare list that are equally deserving of inclusion, but unless I have personal experience with them I haven't listed them here. Maybe someone else can suggest additional options.




3)Do you want this to be a subscription service or a standalone product?

Subscription would be my personal choice, but only if the price is reasonable.

Good luck, and keep us informed of your progress.

Jason

Thank you, Jason, that was very encouraging.

Right now, I am beginning to code that part that will interface with the weh host directory. I would love to have someone who owns a web host directory to allow me to test the code. I don't want to spam a directory with my testing data without letting them know.

Thanks,

Peter

CK,
I can just imagine the amount of testing you'll be doing with all these hosts :-)

But if you get it done, it'll be a cool product.


Originally posted by ckpeter
Thank you, Jason, that was very encouraging.

Right now, I am beginning to code that part that will interface with the weh host directory. I would love to have someone who owns a web host directory to allow me to test the code. I don't want to spam a directory with my testing data without letting them know.

Thanks,

Peter

Well, if I get it gone...

By the way, would you(ADW) or anyone else answer my little survey on my original post? This info would really help.

Thanks,

Peter