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Exclusive directories?

by jlgolin
12 replies
Does anyone have any thoughts on or experience with "exclusive directories?"

I live in a large metropolitan area which is essentially a conglomerate of several highly populated towns\suburbs. I was thinking of creating sites targeting "attorneys in suburb" for each of the suburbs, ranking them and then hopefully selling exclusive advertising space on each of the sites. Each of the sites could have pages for personal injury, dui, divorce lawyers, bankruptcy, etc. on which attorneys could advertise.

After I read John Durham's directory thread, I got to thinking why not create a directory targeting "attorneys in metropolitan area" and then create a page\category for each of the suburbs with sub-pages for each type of law. Then make it an "exclusive" directory only allowing 3 or 5 attorneys to be listed in each suburb\practice area.

As an example,

"Top" Metropolitan attorneys
  • Suburb A
    • Personal Injury
    • Divorce\Family law
    • DUI
    • Criminal Defense
    • Bankruptcy
    • Real Estate
  • Suburb B
    • Personal Injury
    • Divorce\Family law
    • DUI
    • Criminal Defense
    • Bankruptcy
    • Real Estate
  • Suburb C
    • Personal Injury
    • Divorce\Family law
    • DUI
    • Criminal Defense
    • Bankruptcy
    • Real Estate
  • Suburb D
    • etc.
  • Suburb E
    • etc
With this model, you end up with 30 spots (5 suburbs x 6 practice areas each) then multiply that by the number of listings you'll allow in each practice area) say 3 for this example and you end up with 90 spots at which you could sell adverting\listings. Then add the main suburb levels plus the top of the directory for premium listings and this could, theoretically, be quite lucrative.

After writing this out, I'm realizing that it might be quite a stretch that I could actually pull this off with sites like findlaw out there, but I'd be interested in hearing anyone's thoughts about the feasibility of it even for other trades. Primarily, what are your thoughts about local directory sites and am I better off sticking with a five page local site instead?

Thanks,
Jlgolin
#attorneys #directories #exclusive #exclusive directories
  • Profile picture of the author David Miller
    Much of it is going to depend on the city you are in. Findlaw is not your only competition. The name keeps getting tossed about for reasons that I don't understand but there are others that are far more popular with attorneys. Lawyers.com, Martindale Hubbel, (owns lawyers.com but has a directory also) nolo.com, infolaw just to name a few of the major nationals.

    Than there are the various Bar Association directories, and University Directories like Cornell.edu, and a few others that are free but well established.

    In addition, there are directories for various areas of practice, such as NACBA, the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, The National Bankruptcy Forum and there are others for Accident and Injury, Criminal, and Insurance. There are literally hundreds of directories for DUI/DWI attorneys.

    But none the less, it's possible depending on pricing, location, and your traffic. In virtually any major city you'll find quite a few directories which are empty. Many people build them with the expectation that "if you build it, they will come" and if that were the case, they would not be empty.

    You need to be able to market your directory on a personal level or it will be empty as well.
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    -- FRANK SINATRA, quoted in The Way You Wear Your Hat
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  • Profile picture of the author jlgolin
    David,

    Thanks for your reply; exactly what I was looking for. I think I'm going to stay away from the directory approach.

    Thanks,

    John
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    • Profile picture of the author David Miller
      John - It wasn't my intention to stop you from doing it. Just to let you know that it is going to take some level of direct marketing to make it happen.

      David
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      The big lesson in life, baby, is never be scared of anyone or anything.
      -- FRANK SINATRA, quoted in The Way You Wear Your Hat
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      • Profile picture of the author jlgolin
        David,

        No problem. I was just looking for some insight on my latest epiphany. Given my available time and resources, I'm going to stick with the original plan of creating local sites and selling advertising space on them.

        Thanks,

        John
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        • Profile picture of the author santi
          Originally Posted by jlgolin View Post

          David,

          No problem. I was just looking for some insight on my latest epiphany. Given my available time and resources, I'm going to stick with the original plan of creating local sites and selling advertising space on them.

          Thanks,

          John
          Just a quick question. I am a little curious about your business model. You are in the advertising business? Why should someone buy advertsing space from you when they can buy it from Google/Bing/ Yahoo /Facebook or any other network?
          Secondly because of "PPC blindness" click-through rates are very,very low. How are you going to actually make any money?
          santiago
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          • Profile picture of the author jlgolin
            Santiago,

            Thanks for your message. My plan is to create local websites for "business in city," e.g. "dentist in hollywood," rank it and then sell exclusive advertising on the site to a dentist in hollywood. See WSOs like "The Credibility Code" and\or "The Ultimate WSO" for further details.

            Make one, then rinse and repeat for numerous others.

            David Neale,

            I think I may start with a regional website and then have individual pages for the multiple localities. The exclusive directory idea is based upon the perceived competitiveness among attorneys and that some may jump at the chance to be included in such a directory. As David Miller suggests, I'll search the forum for other industries and I may still give the exclusive directory approach a go.

            Thanks to all for your help.

            -John
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  • Profile picture of the author beeswarn
    Am I just getting tired, or do others notice that a lot of requests for help now begin with 1000-word posts?
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    • Profile picture of the author kenmichaels
      Originally Posted by beeswarn View Post

      Am I just getting tired, or do others notice that a lot of requests for help now begin with 1000-word posts?
      we already give people grief when they post one liner help requests,

      we cant give them grief for posting too much info.

      well we can, but i don't think we should.
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      Selling Ain't for Sissies!
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  • Profile picture of the author beeswarn
    Good point, Ken. Back tomorrow night refreshed.
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    • Profile picture of the author David Neale
      Jlgolin, there are other niches/industries besides law. I think this approach has some legs. I currently have a "typical" local directory and it doesn't get enough SE traffic to be worthwhile to me. But staying focused on one niche/business looks interesting.
      Signature

      David Neale

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      • Profile picture of the author jlgolin
        David,

        Thanks for your reply; I appreciate it.

        John
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        • Profile picture of the author David Miller
          There are a couple of threads floating around that list a lot of niches to market. Just about any one of them can be explored for an exclusive directory.

          Not all of them have been overly beat up.
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          The big lesson in life, baby, is never be scared of anyone or anything.
          -- FRANK SINATRA, quoted in The Way You Wear Your Hat
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