The Exchanges

Q All right. Well, let's start with step one. How do we find a directory idea that, uh, is worthwhile to go after?

A Yeah. So there are many ways of doing it, but the best way is to start based on keyword research. So the keyword research is a way to see whether people search for certain keywords and certain phrases. And even if you think that certain idea is great, but often other people might not think so, and you can figure out whether that's true or not by seeing what Google says about that. And, and Google has this tool called Keyword Planner that people usually use to plan their ads. But you can also use that tool to see the traffic for directories. Uh, not for directors, for keywords. And I basically spend hours in that tool every day, just throwing all random ideas into that tool and seeing whether there's traffic or not. And I can show on a real example, I have even an idea I want to test today. And I will show you how I would test that idea actually right here on the.

AI assessment note: “the best way is to start based on keyword research”

Q thing that people don't talk about, which is, you know, if you're able to generate customers, uh, for a startup, people are willing to basically share in the revenues, you know, it's a revenue split basically, you know, so I think that what sort of prompt could you give to people in terms of, You know, how do you come up with an idea for, you know, in the space?

A I think the best way to come up with the idea is to start with how would you sell it? So basically, uh, don't build stuff, but just see what people are actually looking for. And for example, like I give precise examples from, from my own journey. Like I saw a lot of people asking about SEO, for example, like people were asking how to get backlinks, how to grow, how to, you know, uh, Grow the demand rating, et cetera. So when you see those requests, usually you see people answering how to do it with like seven steps. And some makers kind of like that, just, you know, they read the steps and they implement. But, uh, since most makers now are actually busy, like they have even full-time job or, or their side project say that they want to save time. And then if you rub that little kind of list of actions into a tool, I call that micro SAS, uh, and it, Just does one thing, uh, but it doesn't clear. It's clear what to expect and it's easy to recommend. So like my, my game plan is this, like I want people to recommend my tool under those posts. Like if somebody asks like how to do X and then somebody comes there and says, I did that using this tool. And if tool just only does one thing, then it's easy for the user to remember This tool, and to recommend that tool, comparing to the tools doing, like, a lot of things, like, then it's hard to remember exactly what it does.

AI assessment note: “the best way to come up with the idea is to start with how would you sell it”

Q What are the multiples for directories approximately? Like, what are people paying for a directory?

A There's no system at all. It just depends on the audience because you can have multiples based on the revenue because re revenue is usually not that important. The traffic itself also like some traffic is more expensive than the others. I think, uh, from what I seen, the actual deals, they go from Two K. They start at two K. So you can find and buy a directory for two K, which is, which has traffic. So it will definitely pay the investment back. And then the average directories go for 20 K in average. So small ones go for two to five K and then 15 to 20 K the average ones. And then the bigger ones go to a hundred K. And I think that's where it stops. I never seen a directory being sold for over a hundred K.

AI assessment note: “small ones go for two to five K and then 15 to 20 K”

Q Absolutely. So you were, so you were saying before I got really excited about that idea that you had a second idea around directories. What was that?

A Yeah, so the second idea about directories is that it's not a particular directory, it's just a method that I apply myself very often, uh, and it just works. I mean, it works so well that I feel it can't be true that it just works almost every time, uh, is when you search for keyword on Google Ad Planner, It's a free tool. Like it's ads dot keyword planner or something like that. And you search for keywords around random topics, and then you find a keyword that has high traffic. And then you search for that keyword on Google and only blog posts are shown on the top. That's the idea. Like you just build a directory around that and Google really likes directories and eventually you will get to the top too. So it is, it's kind of soulless. So you don't pick the idea that you like, but you can actually pick the ideas you like and test them for traffic. But overall, when I do that, I don't use any of my own judgment because then I tend to pick the idea that's not so good. It has little traffic, but I think it's good. And my, my intuition never works. And that's the thing. Like I think with director ideas, intuition always fails, because when you test, it turns out The opposite. So in, in my directories, all directories I had high hopes for, they failed, and those I didn't have hopes for, uh, succeeded, and I think the reason is that if I have high hopes, a lot of people also have hi…

AI assessment note: “the second idea about directories is that it's not a particular directory, it's just a method”

Q it's a beautiful, it's a beautiful time to be building. I want to, ah, I want to segue to your And, and talk about ideas around directories, because when I think of directories, to me, you're like the directory king. And I just want you to talk about, like, why, why are you building directories? And, and do you have any specific ideas that you can give away around directories?

A I had passion for directories for many years, I would say. And, uh, two years ago I had a team and we were discussing directories. And I want to go full into that stuff. And, and my team said like, look, this is, uh, an absolute stuff. Like nobody does directories. It was cool in 2017, but not anymore. Uh, and I was like, no, I don't think so, but I wasn't sure to actually, you know, follow my own idea. So I, I didn't start and then I start later, like just, just last year. Uh, I, I think directories Or underappreciated. Why? Because when the quantity grows, the quality The percentage wise drops. So the more things you can choose from, the harder it is to choose. And it means that people really want to go to places where the selection has been done for them, either selection or categorization or other type of, uh, enrichment of information so that they can pick the right tool or anything, the right item, right? And the amount of, like, the quantity on all the scales is growing. Like, there are, like, hundreds of CRM tools. There are hundreds of any kind of tools. And tomorrow it will be thousands, and then it will be 10,000. Like, it will just keep growing, right? Like, like, the old ones aren't being deleted. They, they stay too, and the new ones are adding up on top. And that's the same with regular stuff as well. Like, there are, there are more coffee shops. There are more p…

AI assessment note: “the more things you can choose from, the harder it is to choose”