An affiliate programme no less, can't remember a directory doing this before.

World domination thanks to the greed of the SEM community, marry whoever thought it up Shawn ;-)

And your point is...?

You are upset that it isn't just billion-dollar corporations who make money from webmasters, but (gasp) that webmasters also seek to build legitimate business on the web, providing services for - and earning money from - other webmasters?

All the best to him.

Odd you should take this aggressive/defensive line on what is basically a "Hats off to.." post, but maybe not so odd....

I'm inclined to agree with Brian, why would it be such a *bad* thing for directory owners to make moves designed to encourage growth and development of their directories?

People don't have to use them, and for some SEM's/SEO's it could well be a win win situation. Unless of course, one happens to be of the mindset that the SE's should send new directories to SE Hell. ;)

* why would it be such a *bad* thing *

Where do you read that in the post Rob?

I merely inferred it from your various less than glowing posts here there and everywhere extolling the uselessness or inadequacies of the various new dirs on the block, coupled with the use of the words greed and all the negatives that world domination implies, neither of which were ever glowing positives in any book I ever read, but... if thats not what was inferred and you wish them all the best of heartiness then I'd be more than happy to retract my conclusion in its entirety.

I see, lots of inferring going on...

Whatever I may wish for UTN, would you not agree this is indeed a cunning plan?

LOL! When I see the words cunning plan, I conjure up imagery of Lord Black Adder and Baldrick but thats neither here or there.

I wouldn't say it was a cunning plan, I'd say it was an original use of an existing reward mechanism used by all sorts of businesses to reward new business brought by their agents and affiliates. ;)

The use of that particular phrase was to try to inject a bit of humour in the thread, sort of surprised you Brits missed it ;-)

Now, inferring apart, does it not also strike you as a masterstroke?

I did not realize this was a nonprofit industry - no wonder people see me as aggressive - I thought this was laissez-faire economics at its finest.

Not a masterstroke no, sensible use of a known growth tool yes.

Other dirs do the same you know, hunt around and check them out.

If people engage in these things, then provided that they are fully aware and informed etc, then it all boils down to good ( or bad ;) ) old fashioned capitalism doesn't it? Buyer beware and all those old chestnuts.

But yes, from the perspective of UTN and their agents and associates then yes, it might well be a good idea. Whether it is for the people paying the monies, well, only time will tell won't it? We don't know the long term plans of UTN or any other dir owner for that matter. The history of Dirs is littered with winners and losers, it isn't really for us to pass judgement on the likely success or failure as ultimately only time will tell, will it not?

Rob, you seem to be familiar with my view on these new directories, so we don't have to go there on this thread ;-)

I wasn't aware others were doing the same, on the other hand UTN has a certain amount of momentum going, and it may well benefit them more than the others.

Strange as it may seem to some, the thread was a genuine appreciation of a "cunning plan" ;-)

Strange as it may seem to some, the thread was a genuine appreciation of a "cunning plan" ;-)
Apologies then for mis-construing your intentions, glengara. Referring to "greed of the SEM community" didn't exactly suggest a positive tone, but I appreciate that intended tone can be extraordinarily difficult to interpret on forums.

The "greed of the SEM community" was prompted by the example of the Coop network.

The benefits coming from signing up new members seems to have turned the membership into a rival for the JWs ;-)

If this is in any way mirrored by the UTN affiliation programme, we'll be seeing links with exhortions to list in that directory all over the shop.

Which is doubtless the object of the exercise ;-)

Considering the undoubted expense he has incurred marketing UTN, I'm not surprised that he's eager to help recover costs. :)

Even still, I would see it as one of the better directories to come out recently - those with a possible long term future. I paid for some sites to be submitted yesterday, and am happy to do so in future, regardless of any possible affiliate schemes.

I'm keeping any views I might have on that directory separate to acknowledging what struck me as a bit of a marketing coup.

So will the others have to respond in kind?

Shawn knows very well how to target market and will do well. He has also joined with other Directory owners concepts of not filling the web with garbage non-content pages which shows he has ethics. The two combined make for a good and sound business.

Odd, but posters seem much more concerned with defending that particular directory than actually discussing the marketing ploy that this thread is supposedly about.

Now why is that?

Personally, I think it's a great idea. Perhaps I'll borrow it for some of my own projects :) I used an affiliate style system when I was first starting out as an SEO and was actively looking for clients.

You send me customers, I pay you. No different from Adwords, or banner ads or traditional marketing methods - just more personal - normal people get to benifit as well as large corporations.

As long as the standards are kept high and no one cheats, it sounds like a good plan. Innovation is to be admired, not feared.

Ian