7 Essential Tips for Building a Profitable Directory

Introduction

Today we're going to be closing the laptop because we're going to have a less tactical conversation today around the most important things that you should be thinking about if you're going to build a profitable directory.
So, I came up with seven different tips, lessons, questions you should ask yourself before you go and start building. And if you're someone who struggled to find success in your own directory niche, or if you're just someone who struggles to even know where to begin in the first place, then hopefully thinking through these things will give you clarity on where to focus your time.

Before I even mention the first one, let me just say if there's one thing that I think 99% of first-time directory builders should do is simply go find a directory that's already successful with a lot of traffic and just go build it.
And don't just rip it off, but look at what information is there and how the information is structured on a page and how that page looks and just recreate that and then improve upon it, right? Add something that makes you slightly different and then just go from there.
You probably won't outrank the website that you're copying off of, but it will teach you the entire workflow. And who knows, if you do stick with it and you build enough authority and trust with Google, then maybe one day you do end up outranking them and now you own that high traffic website.

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Tip 1: You Have to Learn SEO

But that kind of leads me to my first tip, which is you have to learn SEO.
If there's anything that I credit my younger self for is that I spent 100 hours on YouTube learning SEO and then manually applying those ideas to a WordPress website.

I don't care if you're vibe coding and just telling AI to SEO optimize your directory or if you're outsourcing it to a team on Upwork to build out your entire directory website without understanding SEO, you won't understand how to get traffic to your website.
If you don't get traffic to your website, then you will never have a successful directory.

And the only exception is if you're willing to go and get traffic somewhere else like social media, building a social media brand or an audience there.
But for most of us, SEO is actually going to be the easier and least high maintenance way to go and build an audience online.

That's why I say directories is a game of SEO.
There are terrible directories… yet they get tens of thousands of visits because their SEO is dialed in.
Even my porta-potty directory gets inbound leads even though it is badly designed — because SEO fundamentals are present.

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Tip 2: Build Conviction About Directories

The second tip is more of an observation, but you have to have your own conviction for why directories work, why they can be viable businesses.

People talk about Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, etc.
But you need conviction or you won’t survive long-term.

My conviction comes from:

• Directories that survived every Google update since 2022
• Traffic that stayed stable
• New directories getting validated by clicks and Reddit posts
• Real-world results

You have to find your own conviction, or you will quit.

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Tip 3: Define Your Goal Outcome (Passive vs Active Monetization)

The third tip is also something really simple, but it's a biggie: ask yourself what exactly is your goal outcome with your directory?

Passive (Lower income but low maintenance)

• Requires high traffic (30–50k searches/month)
• Needs niche with real search demand
• Rare and competitive

Active (Lead generation — high income but high work)

• Much more common niches
• Requires sales effort
• Requires talking to businesses and selling leads

When I worked a 9–5, I chose passive because I needed low-energy side income.

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Tip 4: Don’t Build Based on Passion Alone

If you want profit, don’t rely solely on passion.

Example:
I built honesthustles.com, a directory for people who turned side hustles into full-time businesses.
Cool idea — but no one searches for that.
No real keyword.
No SEO potential.

My formula:
70% data-backed niche + 30% passion.

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Tip 5: Don’t Monetize Too Early

Common mistakes:

• Picking a niche just because it makes money
• Trying to monetize before you have traffic
• Selling featured listings before proving traffic exists

If you provide value and get visitors, monetization becomes easy automatically.

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Tip 6: Stick to One Niche

Don’t enter multiple categories.

Imagine a doctor’s office with:

• a laundromat
• a dog daycare
• a gym
  all running inside it.

That’s how users feel when one directory tries to cover everything.

Hyper-specialized directories win.

I often build directories around a single keyword.

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Tip 7: Data Enrichment Is Your Advantage

This is your differentiator.

My first directory succeeded because I added:

• whether bathrooms existed
• if kids were allowed
• accessibility information

Small enrichment = massive value.

If you fail to add unique data, Google may de-index your pages for low-quality content.

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Conclusion

These thought experiments help eliminate analysis paralysis.
For me, knowing I wanted passive display ad revenue helped me instantly filter 95% of niches.

With that, I appreciate you watching. Grateful for your support, and hopefully I'll catch you in another video. See you.