There’s 7 core filters and questions that I run every directory niche idea through before doing anything else.
If an idea passes all of these filters, I walk away with a strong sense of confidence that my directory can rank and monetize over time.
These include:
- Keyword difficulty + search volume
- Strength of competitors
- What problem am I solving? (i.e. are people having trouble finding specific info around a location)
- Clarity of search intent
- How frequent do I need to update my listing data?
- Can I improve upon what’s already available?
- Monetization potential
If I’m being extra thorough, there’s really a total of 11 but these fall under my “advanced foresights” category.
These are nice to have, but not incredibly necessary.
– Paid partnership –
I’ve been using Hostinger as one of my go-to hosts for building directories—they make it ridiculously easy to get set up with WordPress, a domain, and everything you need to launch.
For WordPress users who want a smooth setup without getting too technical, I genuinely recommend Hostinger’s Managed plan—it’s what I’ve used myself.
While I’ve developed my own style for building directories, you don’t need to have the same approach to win.
In my opinion, there are two types of builders.
Those that meticulously run an idea through a bunch of filtering questions and others that choose a shotgun formation method and launch projects super quickly until one hits.
Both work. Both have drawbacks.
Most of my time building directories is spent thinking and researching
The common narrative in the SaaS world is to ship fast. Create an MVP within a day and test the waters.
But I have meticulously high standards for my niche selection (mainly because I go for evergreen, low competition, passive cash-flowing directories).
With that said, it takes me a lot longer to find a niche that’s worth building in.
The advantage is that, by the time I start building, my odds of ranking, getting traffic, overtaking competition and monetizing is pretty high.
That’s why my first three directories all resulted in earning multiple thousands of visitors within two or three months of launch (and continue to do so today).
Building slowly and methodically has always been my style.
Ideate slowly and craft a clear game plan to dominate a space.
Probably because implementation isn’t my superpower. I consider myself just “good enough” when it comes down to actually developing the website.
I play to my strengths, which is finding low competition niches and monetizing in creative ways.
For whatever reason, I have a knack for looking in places that no one else is looking.
On the other hand, John Rush and Alexander Sora are both great examples of a successful directory owners that ship fast.
So my recommendation?
Figure out where your strengths fit in the multi-step process of directory building. And adjust your game plan to that thing.
Keep Building,
Frey
