Interview with Stuart C. McHenry who is the President of Site Sift Media, Inc (
Site Sift: Main)
Q. Are you able to give us an insight into the history of Site Sift?
Back in 2003/2004 I had a few websites and when I submitted to directories I often got frustrated by their customer service. Some took too long to approve listings and others had ridiculous submission polices. One would only list your name in the directory as the URL. So for example if your site was
Airline Tickets and Airline Reservations from American Airlines | AA.com they would list your site as "AA" in the title. Even though the official name of the company was "American Airlines."
So policies like this frustrated me and I told myself that I could run a better directory than that. So in Sept. 2004 I planned out and started
Site Sift: Main .
In Nov 2005 we wanted to have a way to increase link popularity as well as get some free advertising so we created and launched Site Sift Listings a directory script.
Q. How was the idea of Site Sift Directory and the idea of the link directory script come to life?
The directory script is the single best thing we did for the directory. The directory script gives us backlinks (copyright) and targeted advertising. A good number of new directories are free directories and when people submit and if the owner is using our script then 99% of the time the person submitting the link see's an advertisement (text link) for the Site Sift Directory.
Q. What was your biggest challenge getting the site Sift link directory script to where it is now?
The biggest challenge was the initial roll out of the script. It was stressful for me making sure it had the basic features of a directory without going too far over budget. (which we did)
Q. In your view what is the biggest challenge for directory owners in this day-an-age?
This is a simple one... branding and making a name for your directory. There are tons of new directories starting up everyday but how are people supposed to find them??? The best advice I can give to someone that is just starting out is to give someone a reason to submit to your directory. Way too many directories give little to no benefit from a traffic and SEO standpoint. Find out why people submit to the more popular directories. It is not as simple as giving a directory a few links and creating some categories.... new directories take some work.
Q. What are your thoughts on SEO friendly links that are used within directories? Are they beneficial in your view or not?
If you are talking about having a direct link... then yes. Having a direct link from a directory can be very helpful for SEO reasons.
Q. With many website owners now placing high level’s of attention to SEO, do you think that directories will have to evolve to keep up with the changes on the Internet?
Yes.. like any business you have to stay on top with what the customers want. We have already been seeing a lot more niche directories than we did a year ago.
I think in the next year we may also see different ways directories change to provide more benefit to the webmasters/site owners.
More can be found here:-
Interview with Stuart C. McHenry, President, Site Sift Media, Inc. - Directory Owners Forum
Hope you find the interview with Stuart informative
-Dan
