Becoming a paid directory?

Has anyone ever successfully made the transition between being a free directory and being a paid directory? I'm recieving a ton of spam submissions, and I'm trying to come up with a good way to get rid of them. I figure that if I charge for submission, maybe $5 for a lifetime listing, then people won't bother submitting sites that I am not going to list.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

 

if your site has good PR then go for it.

 

That's exactly what I did.I got sick of the spam and even though I have no PR yet (predicted 4/5) I went paid only.Get about one new submission a day now but expect that to rise when I get the PR.

 

This problem is with every directory but every directory has not gone for paid option

 

you can maintain the free submissions. I accept both free and paid.

 

I enforce a very long description. The spammers don't usually have time for that.

 

I submited megri.com to freshdir

 

accepted

 

i have two directories and i would say that i get very little spam i dont know if its because they are paid directories and require a recipcal link or something else.

 

I used to not receive nearly as many spam submissions, but as soon as I put up a message saying what sites I don't accept I am getting twice as many of those.
Do ya'll think that $5 for a PR 4 or 5 directory would be fair?

 

I've seen PR4's do $25/year or $75/life.

 

I move to pass motion for $5 paid service. $5 isn't a whole lot to pay, you won't get as many people submitting for a while... but you can also offer discounts and specials to get free submissions. For example, offer free submissions to DP members while surfers coming across your website have to pay. Just a thought

 

DP members have had since August to get their sites submitted for free. I'm not even sure that that's the direction I'm going to go. Its just something I'm seriously considering.

 

I thought about this, but I reckon u would lose alot of legitimate submissions aswell as most ppl just dont have the time to do that (just for the one listing)

 

What about using a script to track the IP address the submitter used, and then have a page listing suspected spammers... no that would get too dicey... Directly reporting them would be too much work... hmm... You could try just putting up a well worded legal warning to scare them, and displaying their IP address... that might help reduce spammers...

I wonder if you could write a script to check the submissions automatically for signs of spamming, and then section the submissions off for you, allowing you to deal with the definitely legitimate submissions first and foremost, then just keep an eye open in the suspected spam submissions for legitimate submissions... Or simple make the script delete the submission, and send an email to the submitter saying your submission didn't meet all our criteria, please review and submit again...

Just brainstorming out loud/in text here, hoping somebody can build a solid idea out of my thoughts...

-The Exception

 

- Put Image based Password System - this will restrict SPAM i suppose
- Start with few month introductory offer for paid placement, play with pricing or placements as well if your directory permits
- once you have results you can go for it