I have a directory and i strongly believe that if properly developed could become the future dmoz. Some people call us "ranked dmoz". We already received about 800 listings within 30 days and we accepted only 250 sites, because of strict guidelines. we always wanted to build this directory of highest quality and to keep the directory always free against all odds.

Everywhere most people talk about making money from a directory, i still believe a high quality directory allowing free submissions would take one step ahead of these people talk about money.

My questions are...

* Will i survive if i keep my directory a non profit one ??
* How do i support myself(in terms of money) with such a directory ???
* How do i get sponsors/capitalists/investors ??
* Will my directory stand long or will get saturated at one point of time like dmoz?

what are your solutions and advice ??

Good luck with the project ... a hand-edited directory is a big task indeed! You can make money by running AdSense or other contextual based advertising on the page.

Something you might consider is within the form to "Add a Link" to the directory, you might have an added option: "If link is accepted, make link bold for $250" or something like that.

Another option is next to every link in the directory there could be an icon for: "Do you own this link? If so, feature it in bold at the top of our category for $50 / week"

You could then get subscribers that way The benefit would be that you're only allowing advertisers that you would have normally accepted within that category anyway.

thanks for nice response dani. i dont think sticking adsense to a well maintained directory, wouldnt be that much worth. because most of the visitors are webmasters and most of them dont tend to click on the adsense.

as you have said, sponsored/featured advertising might have a good chance indeed.

There are several thousands of web directories on the internet. Making it is not easy.

Anyway, what is your directory? And can I add my website to it?

sure, you are free to add your site. please use the signature

good look

here is where i am struck. If i charge listings for paid inclusion, say $49 for inclusion, then i automatically guarantee inclusion of spam/useless sites just because the owner can pay $49. By charging the listings i lose control of declining the submissions. With free submissions i have more control of declining/rejection of listings. i often wonder this why dmoz is always kept free.

another problem is i get huge number of submissions. how do i keep balance between free and making money from directory?

any advice is appreciated very much

Like Dani said, you do not need to accept any web site just because they have paid you. The webmasters only have the option to upgrade their listisng to a "bold" one after they have been acpeted as a free link

Hope it helps