Converting a popular personal site into a Directory

[James]

I would like feedback on this idea, and suggestions for advertisers.

ukgayescort.com now gets about 200-300 visits a day and a lot of this is search traffic that is given away or wasted because of the sites generic appeal and lack of delivery (on local searches and niche searches for example). I have a lot of landing pages that have been experimenting with local or niche keywords, see http://ukgayescort.com/sitemap and plan to expand with hundreds more. This site looks disorganised, and I have tried to make each page useful by offering my services as a researcher over the last month or so. I have only ever achieved two sales this way.

I need to establish ukgayescort.com as a directory before I leave the country in one or two years time, as that would leave me best placed to make an income off it. Qualified traffic is ok, but I need about 1,500 visits a day to be viable, and could do with some of this being genuine Clients who are returning not on the basis of a punt in the dark.

For this initial period, I am happy to list advertisers for free and ask them to take care of a small cash donation by the Client - an inefficient but I think satisfactory interim arrangement. I am also very sensitive about what advertisers I list, as I am looking to fill a gap in the market - that is Clients who do not trust advertisers or "all in" free or paid directories. For this reason, I will only list advertisers who I know personally or have other good reasons to prioritise, i.e. before-the-fact vetting. This will also help with my own basic admin skills, keeping no more than 20-28 advertisers (probably less to begin with) profiles updated, and looking after the interests of each one would be my approach. Where possible, I would try to get advertisers discounted or free advertising on other websites and in the print media on the basis that their ads can be seen as present and relevant. As for listing so little, are there really any more than 30-50 "professional" Male for Male Escorts in the country anyway?

By process of elimination, I would also be far more inclined to list advertisers who have signed up to a forum such as this one, although not arbitrarily.

Presently, I plan to use the blocks within my drupal site to relegate my own content and its navblocks to a minisite and create in its place regional directories and guides/information resources. Regional landing pages will replicate the regional directory with a simple piece of CSS (e.g. Luton will replicate Eastern England, Bristol will replicate South West England). Niche landing pages will probably use html to list appropriate advertisers throughout the country. So we have directory content site wide, as well as personal profiles.

[TopGuy]

Sorry James, I'm not as technically minded as you so I don't understand a word of that. Would it be possible to do a jargon-free version?

[Craig]

...and I thought that I was the only dense one!!

[James]

Landing page - this is the page that a visitor uses to enter the site, typically from a search engine. You can create a page specifically designed to be a landing page by prioritising certain keywords that represent your offer, as this will help your performance in search results related to those keyphrases.

By qualified, I mean that the traffic going thru such landing pages is not just randomly sent from some page or erroneous search result that doesn't describe my site's content, but the visitor has found content relevant to his search.

The Navigation Blocks (site-wide links) on my website can be rearranged within the Drupal Content Management System in such a way that they only display on certain pages, such as my own. This will free up space for directory Navigation Blocks with more relevant information.

The CSS and HTML just describe codes that I can use (CSS to replicate advertiser directories to every relevant page - that could be tens or hundreds, HTML is the standard form if you only want to tailor content on one page).

[James]

For advertisers, let me clarify, I am not looking for you to understand how I will modify the site, but I want feedback on the idea of a Directory that only lists Professional Male Escorts. How much demand would there be for this, and how many of you would be comfortable placing an ad, given that I would be working more like an agency in order to get Clients to pay for your services (this would not negate direct contact with your Clients).

[ozinlondon]

For advertisers, let me clarify, I am not looking for you to understand how I will modify the site, but I want feedback on the idea of a Directory that only lists Professional Male Escorts. How much demand would there be for this, and how many of you would be comfortable placing an ad, given that I would be working more like an agency in order to get Clients to pay for your services (this would not negate direct contact with your Clients).

So would you allow advertisers to list their own contact details like a directory or would clients arrange their bookings by calling you, like an agency? If you're making a directory you'd be up against some well established competition with sites like sleepyboy and rentboy but not much, if any, competition with the agency. I don't know of any agency here advertising exclusively for gay male escorts. But then how would you manage an agency from overseas?

[James]

The initial contact would be between the advertiser and the potential client, however my work on behalf of advertisers and the content of the advert would be more in the style of an agency in that I am responsible for advertising them and getting them work. I would write each advert and justify the choice of advertiser personally.

I don't think that Rentboy or Sleepyboy are much competition for the kind of operation that I am trying to establish. They are both London meat racks and with even semi-competent admin, they will always take a profit by serving that part of the market. I am trying to open a niche that can not be served by either of those approaches - that is to focus more on selective advertising that can not be bought by unprofessional models who are looking to profit over the course of a week or a month.

[Ben Manchester]

I think James is saying he's creating a curated directory, one that will only list escorts with a good reputation who intend to be in the business for a while.

Sounds good to me, and having a reputation for quality escorts is likely to go down well with clients as well.

[TopGuy]

Is THAT what he's trying to say?! I had guessed that but it's nice to have some non-jargon, simple corroboration.

[HowWeOperate]

Sounds like a good idea. Rentboy.com doesn't strike me as that user friendly, and my experience of it was mainly global time wasters, and lots of spam emails from Rentboy.com. I say go for it, and best of luck.

[James]

OK, glad people can see what I am doing ... I would like to trial the directory in the best covered area, so that means the North of England (M6S Cumbria-Cheshire, M62 and South Yorks, A1N to Newcastle). There are a few guys who I send traffic to on a small scale who I will create full profiles for, but I am willing to trial with some others, so anybody who is a few years in the business, leave me a message.

[James]

To correct my earlier error, the multi-page regional directory (i.e. same regional gallery of advertisers on pages for, say Oxford and Swindon) is sorted by PHP (importing a HTML file to each page) and not CSS. The concept is proven now, so "all" I have to do is create hundreds of dense, high quality regional pages covering every town in the UK. Yay.

[SleazyMichael]

'As for listing so little, are there really any more than 30-50 "professional" Male for Male Escorts in the country anyway?'

That you have listed my profile I take as a great compliment! 

[SleazyMichael]

I think James is saying he's creating a curated directory, one that will only list escorts with a good reputation who intend to be in the business for a while.

Sounds good to me, and having a reputation for quality escorts is likely to go down well with clients as well.

YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!

[SleazyMichael]

'I don't think that Rentboy or Sleepyboy are much competition for the kind of operation that I am trying to establish. They are both London meat racks and with even semi-competent admin, they will always take a profit by serving that part of the market. I am trying to open a niche that can not be served by either of those approaches - that is to focus more on selective advertising that can not be bought by unprofessional models who are looking to profit over the course of a week or a month.' 

You are so taking the right approach - 'less is more' - the majority of sites 75% top heavy with escorts that never update and/or have shite photos - which to me gives the impression 'am I bothered?'