Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill
1. they treat their submitters fairly, and don't bury/hide the links in an attempt to strip every last signup off the traffic before deigning to let the surfer see our sites.
I'd rather submit to a site that treats me fairly and sends 10 hits a week than to a site that treats me like I'm a sucker and sends 50. And I'd sure as fuck rather put a fair person in the same table as greeny, tommy, and penisbot.
2. they review regularly, reliably, in a reasonable time, and accept pretty much every site once they know you, and aren't assholes about little picky shit.
alexa, PR - well, one is aware of such things sure, and they might affect being willing to test a site, but they don't in themselves mean enough to obsess over.
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Want to hear something semi humorous? I lost almost all of the submitters at my largest link list when I stopped reviewing and re-scripted it to list their links automatically upon submission. I'm told that the 3-4 remaining semi-regular submitters don't mind the lack of competition. (I don't have any daily submitters.) There are days when the casual observer viewing the index might wonder who owns the site, Simon or Red Cherry.
As much as having more submitters might be beneficial from a fresh content standpoint, it's also a pain the ass, especially if one is as anal as I am, which is why I don't go whoring for more. I really like knowing that I don't have to check the site because the current few active submitters never do anything that annoys me. OK, there's one guy whose English isn't the best, so his titles sometimes make me cringe, but I can live with that.
It's actually quite difficult to design a link list that is mutually beneficial to both the owner and the submitter. On one hand, you want to get traffic to the listings so that you can please the submitter and create loyalty. One the other hand, if the surfers aren't pausing on your ads, owning the link list is a waste of time. I keep an eye on where my revenue is coming from, so I know that I earn more from banners than I do listing FHGs. I also know that I hardly ever see a sale created by the uppermost banner spot on my index, no matter which sponsor or banner I use. I'll probably end up removing it again, which will bring the listings up another 300 pixels. But then I'll feel foolish for not using that space!
A lot of link list owners need to heed Simon's advice about generating traffic. We're beyond a decade past the
build it and they will come era of internet porn, yet many owners still sit around hoping for traffic to increase by pure will power. Good luck with that.
I'd be happy to see some level of evolution in the free site/link list wing of this industry, but I doubt it will occur. Though the status quo is forcing everyone out of business, the forces of change are weak.