Good indexing is the difference between a directory which will be used and one which will languish on the shelf. There are several ways to index, with the option you choose very much dependent upon
the needs of your audience. The traditional method is to select major product or service categories to cross reference the individual listees by,
however, there are numerous other ways. Here are a few suggestions for you:
- By Product or Service
- By Region, State/Province or Territory
- By Industry or Function
- By Brand Names Manufactured or Sold
- By Sales Representatives/Distributors
When indexing where there is a major listing the reader needs to be referred to, use page numbers, together with an organization name. Most directories only use the organization name, which means the reader has to search the publication again to find the listing. At the same time, remember that the Internet,
and more specifically, your web-site, is another place where you can place your directory for
visitors to your site providing value added. You can use hot links within indexes so that readers can jump back and forth. Wherever possible, computerize the page numbering through the indexing capabilities of programs such as Corel Ventura Publisher, or by entering the pages into a data base after the listing section has been created, but before the indices have been made.
For on-line directories, cross-referencing can be handled by
linking one item to another on the site. This provides for
dynamic lookup and offers ways of delivering value added to
a basic index, and in the case of advertisers may be a way
to drive added revenue to a site if these are cost items
that must be paid for. Links in this way can not only be
internal to pages on the site, but may also be external
driving traffic from your site to an advertiser's site.. Besides actual lists, we have found icons used with the main listing to be very helpful for indexing. This is especially true when there are only a few items to index.
As well, you can set up hot links to send a reader directly to the listee's web site, or to their e-mail address. And, if you are into making money with your directory, you can charge to have these hot-links added to a listee's directory. With the information in a data base, you can send your whole web-site directory programming to an output file ready for the Net, without the need of formatting and embedding HTML codes by hand. |
