In the first part I ended with DR, which is quite a good example of how my work on side projects works. I start with wanting to get more people to topicstotalkabout.com, and a few hours later I am studying the business economics of startup directories.
DR, meaning Domain Rating from Ahrefs, I have a little problem taking as seriously as part of the internet takes it. It is a useful metric, but it is still a metric of one SEO company built mainly on the backlink profile. A website with high DR does not have to be good, does not have to have big traffic and it definitely does not automatically mean that a backlink from it will shoot my project to the first place in Google.
Despite that, DR became something that everybody understands.
It is similar to the number of followers. We know that 100,000 followers automatically does not mean 100,000 people who really follow a person. Despite that, when next to each other we see an account with 83 followers and an account with 100,000, the brain very quickly creates an opinion.
With directories it is similar.
If somebody runs a startup directory with DR 50, already the number itself can be part of the product. “Submit your startup and get a backlink from DR 50 domain.” The maker maybe never comes for a second time, from the directory maybe he gets three visitors, but he got the backlink and has a feeling that he did something for SEO.
And honestly, exactly because of this I use these websites too.
I can pretend that I am above it and I don’t believe in DR, but when I find a relevant free directory with DR 60, of course I will add topicstotalkabout.com there. My principles have their limits.
The first domain over which I seriously thought with the new project was E***D****y.com**. And here appeared another interesting thing.
That domain already had DR 19.
It is no SEO giant. DR 19 is not Forbes or Wikipedia and nobody will fall from a chair because of this number. For a new project which does not even exist yet, however, it is quite a pleasant start.
And immediately my internal small marketing department started working in my head, which has exactly one employee and that employee should in reality be programming.
If the domain has DR 19 even before launch, with a few reasonable activities oriented on links it could probably over time get substantially higher. Maybe double the DR, maybe not – DR is not a linear metric and definitely you cannot simply say “I add ten backlinks and I have DR 38”. But the direction was interesting.
And mainly I started liking the idea to turn the whole mechanism around.
Instead of telling a maker only: “Add your project here,” I can give him something he wants.
A backlink.
If the directory will have decent DR, the project profile itself starts having value even without huge traffic. If in addition the project wins something, it can get additional visibility. If it gets into a ranking, it has another reason to share the website.
A small cycle started forming for me.
A maker adds a project because he wants visibility and a backlink. The project gets involved in a competition. The maker has motivation to send his people to come and vote. With this he brings traffic. The result he can share. If some makers link to their profile or badge, more links to the platform itself can appear. Higher DR again makes the listing more interesting for more makers.
At least in theory. Cause in theory all my projects are fantastic 🙂
But I still needed something which most directories are missing. A reason to come also tomorrow.
A classic directory is often a one-time transaction. I come, add a URL, take a backlink and goodbye. A launch platform is similar, only more concentrated. Today I launch, today I collect votes and tomorrow somebody else is on the homepage.
I therefore wanted to get competition and a gaming element into the concept. Not artificially glued achievements like “congratulations, you received a badge for completing your profile to 80%”. Something which is a natural part of the product.
And then came the idea to put two projects against each other.
Not ten projects in a list. Not stars. Not 127 projects sorted by number of upvotes.
Two.
Which one would you rather try?
I click.
Another two.
Suddenly there was something I was looking for at the beginning. A directory which can have SEO value. A gaming element. Competition. Content which is created by usage. Results which can be shared on social networks. And mainly a reason for the maker not to return only when he needs to change a screenshot.
At that moment I already had quite a good feeling that from frustration with promotion of topicstotalkabout.com at least an interesting experiment is starting to be born.
Only one small thing was missing.
A name.
And with that I successfully killed the rest of the day.
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