Well you all have seen that google is hitting hard on the directory owners who just want to run link farms on their sites.

Why does this happens and why some directories are thrown out of the index?

First of all many directory owners will be using same directory script. I am not telling that code your own. But this is a point which should not be taken lightly.

Then they take the ready made templates and paste them on their directory.

Next they download the category dump and put it in their database. Hoping people will pay them for a link now.

But some people pay and some don't.

Who cares atleast it is earning more then $20 and they make 100 of this. So it takes them to $2000

This puts immense load on the SERP's. Who will be ranked first? The one who has more backlinks?

Well here they purchase links from high PR sites.

Now what to do? Junk directories get higher rankings then the pure directories which are there for reference of people on the internet.

So its a good move by google so atleast directory owners will customize their directories and offer something more which other 1000 of directories don't offer.

What to do to get out of that crowd?[b]

Make your directory unique as much as possible. Linking structure. Categories. Template if possible. Make it more appealing to eyes wherever possible. If someone is paying for his or her link, they would like to see their link displayed nicely. Make a nice branding by sticking to less colors and clean theme.

Check if it is valid markup language or not.

You can integrate RSS feeds, Even PPC feeds to make it more full of content.

You can throw in some related article and news for the categories related keywords.

Focus on getting some very good links rather then getting bunch of unrelated links.

Keep qulaity links in your directory. Outbound links can create an issue if you are linking to improper sites.

For some dollars don't kill the whole directory itself. Keep improper sites away and refund the amount. This will benifit you in future when the directory has more weightage in Search engines then the others.

Try to make the approval time as much less as possible.

In past I have made some very good relations with my clients on my paid directories. They submit their links regularly. But still I only accept links on my basis. It doesn't matters if they pay. I can always refund them back.