How vital is choice of category in a directory?

[Stephanie]

I have been trying to work out which is the best category to put our forum in on directories, and wonder if it works in a similar way to keywords in that it seems if you pick a more popular category you will get lost in the competition?

Clearly it has to be something relevant but our website (BizFace) has a broad range of things it could be classed as. Would it make sense to pick a relevant but slightly less popular category?

Cheers,
Stephanie

 

[SkinnerW]

Since it's a forum and like you said there is a broad range of topics it probably hard to pick one exact category.

There are two sides in picking less populated category:
Good - you have better chance that link will be found by SE.
Bad - You not likely get anay traffic from directory anyway so I would probably try to get best value from the most related category...

 

[BungeeBones]

As a directory provider I look at the usefulness of my directory to the END USER as the main factor when building my directory's categories. From that perspective, the best category will be a balancing act between 1) being found in the fewest number of clicks - as a link works its way down a category tree it takes more clicks for a user to find it 2) the relevancy of the link to the category - broad context of the category (usually found in the upper level categories) will result in a larger number of links in it, more competition for it 3) the number of links in the category - as the original poster said.

From the link submitters' perspective, they want to get in the most popular, with the least amount of competition.

As a directory owner, I am proposing a system for links to start in the general categories when the populations are low and then be migrated to the deeper level, less populated ones as the upper ones fill up. The best incentive, in my opinion, to get links to migrate like that, is pricing and I am hoping to get webmaster interested in a variable category pricing system. As the original poster says, they are looking at population already but if we add a pricing parameter to the equation then the link submitter will be motivated by that too.

In fact, I believe a flat fee submission price was the demise of the directory. As the original poster says, the competition of the directory system is the "keyword" a.k.a as Pay Per Click. As we know, PPC has different pricing for different keywords.

If you are interested in experimenting with such a variable category pricing system then please visit my new directory at Income Producing Link Exchange and submit a link. Some of the categories have filled beyond the size limits I have initially established (20 links per) and I am just now going to test what works to get links to move into lower populated categories. You would be getting involved at a perfect time.