Hello,

I'm interested to hear any ideas that those of you would have for a web hosting directory site. Many of you have experience with dealing with a lot of the free (and paid) hosting directories and I'd like to hear how you'd do things differently if you were on the other end.

A couple areas to talk about are:

1. Advertising - none, text links, banners, etc.
2. Host Search - small, advanced, wizard, etc.
3. Host Reviews - epinions style, amazon style, ebay style, etc.
4. Top x Hosts - community decided, editor decided, etc.
5. Plan submission - xml feed, old school input form, etc.
6. Plan selection - standard, auctions, custom, etc.

These are just a couple of ideas I'm throwing around. I want the site to be easily navigable. I really want it to be community focused where the customers ultimately promote their favorite hosts. I want a legitimate rating system in place where companies don't become the Top 10 by just paying more. I'd also like to get a little more advanced in the way information is collected, searched, etc. I've been thinking about spidering xml feeds from web hosts. So, rather than submitting your plans to yet another directory, you will simply create an XML file on your webserver and provide the URL while the spider does the rest - similar to the way Alexa does its thing.

I'm also considering doing what a number of the cell phone web sites are doing now where you can begin (or completely) sign up for a plan on the affiliate's site, and the order is dispatched to the hosting company. So, basically the customer would be able to sign up for your plan at the hosting directory web site, and it would be delivered to your integration system. This, of course, would be optional. It would provide a seamless sign up for the customer.

On that same topic, I've been tossing around the idea of hosting auctions since a number of people here run them on eBay. The Directory would list your desired auctioned plans at a preferred starting bid, and customers would be able to bid on the plan until it reaches its normal price.

Anyway, these are my ideas. I'd love to hear yours. I'm interested in putting some time into building a new and innovative way to organize the worlds web hosts and deliver solid leads.

If you'd be interested in something like this. Please vote in the poll. I plan on providing the majority of this service for free while only charging for certain things, such as advertising.

I did also registered some domains for such purpose, but as most names are taken up, I registered these domain starting with sg..so it be something like sgXXXX.com etc

In one of the site I had, I had already installed some links directory script but doesn't really have the time to modify its template...

I voted for the last option, saying it wouldn't go anywhere, without first reading your post. It seems like you have some good ideas, and it may get you somewhere, but I'm sure it would be difficult to get a good and profitable hosting directory up and running at this point, there are quite a few out there.

If you can get decent traffic, incorporate what you discussed here, and get a fair amount of established hosts to work with you on sign-ups and advertising, you should be able to do fine. However, there are many directories out there already, and getting to the point where you are profitable and have an established client base won't be the easiest.

A lot of people view banner ads, as you would probably have on your website, not as advertising directly so much as just brand recognition. That said, some innovate advertising ideas might help you there too.

Another thing though, having clients sign up for the plans on your website may not be the best thing to have. Given the option, if I were going with a host, I would want to sign up on their site directly and eliminate as many other parties as possible. If you could work it to use their system directly, the client may feel better about sending in that information.

Anyway, if you do go through with your ideas, the best of luck to you.

You should give it a shot. I would definately check it out.

I recommend offering a pay per click program where hosts can bid an amount per click that determines their ranking. I found that to work well on other directories.

It wouldn't hurt to have one more. Any exposure to a host is always welcome. And what can be better than a hosting directory !!!

Originally posted by thisisnoneofyourb
I recommend offering a pay per click program where hosts can bid an amount per click that determines their ranking. I found that to work well on other directories.

I would not suggest doing this what so ever. This ruins any credibility your site would have.

Whats needed right now is a good unbiased site that isn't in it for the $$$. I have yet to see one.