Estate Round Directory

Estate Round has been around since December of 2005 and is steadily adding links throughout 2010. As of today, December 26th, 2010, they are charging $19.95 for regular links and $64.95 for featured links. They also advertise free exchange with quality sites.

The have their own unique template design, and have installed several mods from the phpLD Vault including ratings, report this link, and email author.

Their Alexa rank is relatively low at around 320,000 but their pagerank is quite healthy at 4. Yahoo Inlinks shows over 15,000 incoming links, many from the real estate sector, so they seem to have done a good job with on topic incoming links.

My main critique would be the number of "partner" links that are sitewide. Hopefully they could reduce these, and hopefully add some additional quality content beyond just links. Overall, they do seem to be selective about the links, and it seems likely they are making money with this site monthly from partner links, link submissions and some banner advertising.

I-dio Free Web Directory

The I-dio link directory that appears to have over 100,000 links. Looking at it today (dec. 23, 2010), I can see there 373 links added. I'm not sure how they are adding so many, but it seems they are hanging on to a pagerank 4 homepage. The Alexa rank isn't bad either at 23,210.

I tried submitting a link just now and it was not "auto approved" so it appears they have some editorial standards. They did require email confirmation, so that surely cuts down on some spam.

The screenshot provider is not working, so they may need some other solution like the screenshot processor. Many thumbshot providers come and go, so making your own can be a more permanent solution.

The appear to be running phpLD 4.0 and are using the Lusty Sky template.

I think what is most impressive is the size of this directory, and as more data processing technologies start to become available to directory owners, I think this directory can be taken to an entirely new level!

Vuwl Free Web Directory

Here is a site that has an Alexa rank around 50,000 and seems to be driving some traffic. What they have done is integrate phpLD with other software including vBulletin and some webmaster tools. Here are a few observations as of December 23rd 2010.

1. They have over 10,000 links and are actively accepting links daily.
2. Titles and descriptions don't seem to be edited, so the submitter is getting exactly the title and description they request, so some room for improvement there.
3. Yahoo is showing just 26 Inlinks to this site with some from Directory Snob and web-directories.ws. They might want to publicize a little more
4. No pagerank yet, but the 50,000 Alexa rank is impressive with the leading countries being Canada, Croatia, United States, India and Pakistan sending traffic.
5. Link Submission requires a login, but appears to be free.

Overall, it seems that Vuwl is doing some things right with regard to traffic and building a site that is more than just a directory. They could focus more on quality in the editorial process, but hopefully they will keep getting better and better!

Minx Nails Salon Locator

If you are looking for a nail salon, it appears this nail salon locator may provide a good list as it is showing 1791 active links. I would love to see more use of maps, and some images added to the design to give it a nice feel. Here are a few notes as of December 23rd, 2010.

1. The domain was created in February 2007, to it is approaching 4 years old
2. It is running phpLD version 3.4 with the Chrome template.
3. I see a couple of problems with slashes in the text. We could help them with that in the phpLD forums.
4. They have a pagerank for 4

I think more could be done with this domain, but it is a good start. Some use of maps for whole categories and a location based search (monster-submit.com/phpld) would go a long way.

Australian House Hunter's Directory

Seems like a good idea for a niche directory, this Australian House Hunter Directory seems to be carefully edited with lots of useful links added (not just user submissions). Here are some observations as of December 22nd, 2010.

1. Using the google cache as a guide, it appears 4 new links were added between December 13th and December 22nd.
2. phpLD 4.1 is installed
3. Registration is required to submit a link
4. The last link ID is 1914 as of today
5. There is one article, so mostly it is being used as a link directory.
6. They are using the Elevation Template.
7. According to Alexa there are 95 sites linking in to this site, and there it is in the top 10,000 sites in Australia.

This could be a nice directory to submit if you are in real estate or a builder in Australia as it could help further your position in the niche.

The Free WD Directory

Ranked 8th of Vilesilencer's top free directory list, the Free WD is a directory that is thriving. Here a few interesting notes as of December 22, 2010:

1. They are using Google Adsense to monetize the site

2. Between December 13th and December 22nd, there were 13 new links added, so it appears they are actively adding and approving links that are submitted.

3. They have a Google PageRank of 4 according to the Google Toolbar.

4. The domain was created in August of 2006, so it has been around for a long time.

5. Registration seems to be required to submit a link

6. It is using the Rock Aqua Template and running phpLD the latest phpLD 4.1

Being recommended by Vilesilencer, having a good pagerank, and having been around since 2006, this is a directory you may way want to consider submitting your site! They seem very active in approving links as well.

Klinky Directory Looks Nice

The first thing when you see Klinky is the design is really nice. It seems to be a custom style that is not available publicly as best as I can tell at the template is called Klinky_V1. Here are some more observations.

1. The directory was created February 14, 2007

2. It appears to be running phpLD version 3.1 which was released in 2006, so the directory was probably setup before the release of phpLD 3.2.

3. As of December 22, 2010, the last link added was November 11, 2010, so it seems the directory is probably being maintained.

4. The last link added is only link id 250, so there are probably not a large number or links in the directory.

5. The site seems to be monetized with google adsense.

6. Regular Links are $4.99 and Featured Links are $9.99

7. Love the "Klink It!" for the search button. :)

With such a small number of links on a domain registered in 2007, this directory still could prove to be a good value for people now.

East Link - Review

I thought it might be fun to look at some of the directories that you see online today. Some are old and not as maintained. Some are old, and doing well. And some are new and just getting started. I picked East Link at random.

As of December 22, 2010 here are some observations.

1. It is using the Lemon Shadow template from OS Designer, a nice clean design on the homepage all the way down to the detail page.

2. The last link added has a link ID of 29805 which equates to a possible count of the number of links submitted to the directory.

3. The latest link was added April 8, 2010 which means no new links have been added for 6 months.

4. Their submit page requires user login, which is a little less common these days.

5. The most interesting of all is this domain was registered November 13, 1995, so the domain is 15 years old!

I could there being a benefit even now to submitting a link to this directory with the domain age. :)

phpLD Site Updated

There was an announcement today about the phpLD site being updated. They gotten rid of the /articlescript and created permanent redirects with the overall effect of simplifying the URL structure. Earlier this year they rolled out an improved design as well.

Official Google Blog: A new approach to China: an update

Official Google Blog: A new approach to China: an update

I think google tried their best to work with China, and hopefully in time China will realize that while you can shape the flow of information, you can't completely control it. There are plenty of governments that do a great job "educating" their voters without resorting to such extreme measures.

Official Google Blog: Stars make search more personal

Official Google Blog: Stars make search more personal - One thing I have always wanted in personalized search is the ability to know if I am looking at what everyone else sees, and if not, I want to know how I can see what everyone else sees. Once we pass this test, I am happy to use stars, and that would help me a lot.