I received an e-mail saying that there will be a new version of phpLinkBid coming out soon, with over 30 promised new features! As my bidding directory is starting to get regular new bids & has recently acquired a Page Rank of 3, after only running for 5 months, I’m looking forward to just some of the enhancements:

1. Site Pages – new WYSIWYG page editor and integrated image & file management
2. Administration – improved link & bid management, searching, sorting & interfaces
3. Reports – new charts & reports show directory earnings, growth, and stats
4. Payments – new payment processor support, payments API, and fee tracking
5. User Accounts – users can manage & update links, new admin user manager, change approvals
6. Category Leaders – optional category leader lists for top bids by category
7. Free Links – enable unpaid links listed with $0 minimum bid
8. Search – improved search interface w/ extended options
9. Link Tags – custom tags, tag pages, clouds
10. SEO – sitemaps, improved META tags, proper 404 page not found errors
11. Email Manager – manage subscriptions, custom lists, signatures, segments & HTML emails
12. Bad Word Filter – scan & automatically deny submissions with certain words
13. SPAM Prevention – new image CAPTCHA, custom Q&A verification, IP blocking, link cleanup
14. RSS Feeds – new RSS feed options & custom parameters, tag feeds
15. Themes – faster rendering, easier to customize, 1.4 compatible
16. Addons – less conflicts, easier to install w/ new addon manager
17. Categories – category suggestions, category icons, locked categories, new display options
18. Error Handling – cleaner, more detailed error handling for server & database errors
19. Site API – optionally provide site info, link and/or bid details in public API

A web directory is basically an organised index of Web sites.

If you own a website and do any kind of online promotion, you should already know the importance of backlinks for search engine rankings and website traffic. Getting links to your site is important for getting visitors and getting listed higher in search engines, with 80% of Google’s ranking believed to be taking this into account.

Web directories can be a great way to build links with just about any budget & bid directories are the latest type of web directory to come about. A bid directory is an organised directory of links sorted by bid amount; the higher the total bid for a link, the higher up it is listed in the directory.

Just like a business might list their company in the Yellow Pages, a website owner can add their link to a bid directory & by spending more on their link, they control how much exposure the link gets.

Usually, the highest bidder on the site takes the “link leader” position, and gets a sitewide link, or other special benefits from the directory owner. This will often result in competition between link owners that keep bidding to maintain the highest spot on a directory. Since link owners can add to their bid at any time, they benefit from having full control over when and how much they spend.

I was pleased to see that my link bid directory (FreshBidz) has already achieved a Page Rank of 2, despite only being up since July.

I used the PageRank tool at SEOlogs.com to check the Page Rank of the site, which then allows me to add a button to the site showing that this PR is valid. Hopefully, this will encourage advertisers to add links to the directory & compete for the front page with their bids.

Having been using bidding links directories for a while now, to obtain permanent one way links, I decided to start my own web directory!

Using the phpLinkBid script was pretty straightforward & only cost $29.95 for a single site license. I decided to go for the SEO Bundle Site License which also gives two add ons, Advanced Link Stats + PageRank Checker.

phpLinkBid makes it easy to launch a full-featured bid directory with automatic payments using PayPal and powerful administration tools.
phpLinkBid Features

• Fully automated link bidding system
• Unlimited categories & classic letters mode
• Instant payments with PayPal IPN
• Powerful administration control panel
• SEO friendly URLs
• Deep Links
• Email Manager
• Link Approvals
• Link Expirations
• Latest Links
• Linkrolls for your favourite sites
• Custom Language Files
• Multiple Currencies & Currency Manager
• Outbid Notifications
• User friendly pages and fancy error handling
• Built-in Content Management System
• Template support for easy customization

As I say, setting up was pretty straightforward, even if I did make a couple of schoolboy errors & had to re-install the add-ons. The site is configured to use my existing Paypal account & to test, I set up my own websites as the first couple of entries. All works well, the payment is made, credited to my Paypal account & the link goes live automatically.

E-mails were sent to me as the bidder & site owner, so the FreshBidz Bidding Links Directory is live & now I just have to promote & find customers! The same old story lol.