How To Build A Directory In A Weekend: The John Rush Directory Method Transcript, AI Summary & Key Points

00:00 so what I wanted to do in this video is I want to give you a concept where you can actually take and make an entire directory project in one evening, I made these slides based on a, interview with Greg Isenberg. He's got half a million followers on Twitter, and he runs a podcast called Startup Ideas. and that's really what he focuses on. He's in the Silicon Valley crowd, and he interviewed John Rush.

00:26 And John Rush is someone that has a great course on, on directories and he's what I would consider like a super builder. He just builds a lot of projects and he's very fanatical about it. What I wanted to do is break this down so you can have an idea of what their conversation was about, but more in the lines of giving you, instead of just hearing a podcast, I wanted to make it more actionable and I wanted to give you the.

00:53 Direction on what you need to do. So this is gonna have a ton of value. It's gonna be quite short, quite condensed, but you're gonna know how to start a directory project, so let's get into it. This is gonna make you a lot of money. By the way, John Rush says an average directory project, he looks to make three to $5,000 a month with it. And could potentially scale that to 10 20,000.

01:16 But I'm gonna compare that as like basically a business idea. So this is a broad concept business idea, broken down into something that you can actually create, right? So if you are looking online, looking for a project you can create that can make some money. This is gonna give you the overview of how to build a directory and why you might wanna look at that project as opposed to, more complicated long-term solutions because you can make money very quickly with the directory.

01:43 Alright, so let's get into it. So he's actually talking about a directory that he built called Mini Business Ideas. And this is the Online Directory Blueprint, how to build a five to 20 K per month asset in a weekend. a La John Rush. All right, so John Rush, actually, I should let you know this. He has a course on building directories, and I'm gonna leave a link in the description because I think that's really important for you to go through if you want to expand on this and get more into detail on his method.

02:13 Alright, so this is really important to understand. Okay. The golden era of curation. the internet has changed and AI has really sped this along. So you'll see on the left, there's the old web. there were lots of ads and stuff, and I remember doing things back when, overture, back when that was a pay per click engine, in the old days. And so basically what happens is people are.

02:37 Inundated with ads, and this even happens on Facebook. I was on my wife's Facebook account, just popped it open, her computer, 'cause I need to check something. Anyhow, I noticed all these ads in her feed that were like really story based. And this is symptomatic of what's going on with the web. So a lot of people don't trust, what they see on the web anymore in terms of is it advertisements, is it, really legit?

03:02 Is it actually relevant to this? Because people are just paying to put ads on places, and this is very different because with AI you have more curation and people want. Human curated information, right? if you, you can, anyone can go to AI or to the search engine and say, what are the top 10, keyword tools. But for someone that's really an expert in that field to really curate that and explain the nuances of each of those solutions on whatever that is.

03:36 That's a directory. Okay. And that's something that I think is gonna grow in importance. And because of that's why directories are a great, business to make money with. So people are searching more for like human curated information. That's really the key to understand here, and that's why directories. are really important. Let me use a better example.

03:56 people can, anyone can go to Zillow and, find out if they're, what a location is but if you talk to a local, they'll tell you about what those neighborhoods are actually like. And that can be a huge difference from what you just see online. So that's human curation and that's where the opportunity is. So basically what he says is, stop trying to build the next sales force.

04:18 Now, I'm just gonna explain the context. Both of these guys come from a startup background. John Rush has built, different SAASes in the past, and he's built things that have, he's sold, to, to companies. He's, exited, as they say in the industry. so they have a very high failure rate. And the problem with the traditional SaaS is it takes months of coding.

04:39 It often requires a whole team. So you're investing a lot of time, a lot of money. You're not earning anything back right away. and so you are relying on, VC money. So you could make a lot of money like with that strategy if you have a great idea. But it's a long route. And he basically says that a business directory is low risk. it takes one to two days to build.

05:02 You don't need code anymore. which is, which is really cool. and the customer acquisition you can get from SEO and also from, from social. So it's a low risk business, compared to traditional SaaS. from a builder's perspective, that's important. So he says the most important thing is to validate the idea. Okay. And there's, a great tool that I use for validating ideas.

05:26 I'll put a link in the description below. But basically he says, start with keyword research. He says, go to the Google planner, make sure there's enough search for that, and make sure that there's not too much competition for that search term. There's gotta be existing traffic of people already looking for that. and so he says you could throw random ideas into the search planner and try to find something.

05:47 I've got a better idea. I'll put a link in the description below. Then he talks about, the domain hack. if you don't know this, Google ranks, the meaning, not the exact word. So small business, all the kind of small business. ideas directories were taken. Okay? and so he basically got many business ideas. So you have different synonyms that, Google understands it's as the same thing.

06:11 So it's still, gonna rank for keyword phrases like small business and small business ideas, and, keyword phrases like that. calls this latent semantic indexing, right? So when there's a synonym, it understands the context of that. And it will understand that even in, different contexts, right? So let's use the concept of boots. So if I'm talking about boots and skis and snow and ski poles, it's gonna understand boots in that context.

06:40 Versus if I talk about on a page boots and I'm talking about Ronaldo and I'm talking about, soccer and passing drills, it's gonna understand how those boots. Are dissimilar. so that's latent semantic indexing. So again, he's a big component of John Rush is really about, getting. The keywords in the domain. Okay. And sometimes you gotta be creative about that.

07:04 obviously.com is preferred, but you'll see a lot of other projects using other domains. I don't think it's as super important to have. the keywords in the domain name specifically because of latent semantic indexing. And because I think once Google indexes the site, they understand what it's about. when you look at branded domains like Vogue, what is that about really?

07:26 it still understands. Google understands what that's about, right? or something like, Reddit. so yeah, that's a good way to put that. So he basically says, do one evening. And I like this because it's aggressive and it comes from that startup world, but he says, don't take too much time. And that's a problem that, that a lot of people take when they're building, particularly considering a directory.

07:48 you can do it in one evening, if you just block out your time, do your research, set it up, it's gonna take a lot of hours of focused work. Lot of coffee, a lot of caffeine, but you can do it with no code. And that's the whole thing. You don't need to have any of these, special codes in it. and, but he does say you do need built in, programmatic, SEO.

08:09 So it's like a small p and then capital SEO that's the kind of, phrase that it's, worked online. And so what that does is that creates pages that are. Almost dynamic that can allow you to rank, for multiple terms in this area. and he says that even people that are very technical, that have built these things before, shouldn't be using next JS and PHP and all that stuff, and, setting that up from a boiler plate.

08:38 He thinks they should be using no code for their directories because you can get it going quickly and then you can adjust it, and a lot of people take too much time adjusting everything. And this is the same thing with WordPress. People take way too long, adjusting this, adjusting that, when really, they should look at WordPress as something that. just is a database and you can set it up, have a look ugly, and then change the theme, the next day or the next week or the next year.

09:08 and by the way, WordPress is on the code side. it's not really no code. There are much easier platforms than WordPress to build directories with. So he talks about the, the AI stack. Okay, so step two is the AI build stack, and he actually uses Unicorn platform, which is his software. He actually bought Unicorn platform because it can create, very beautiful sites.

09:34 Quickly, and again, you're gonna lose some of the customizations, some of the, micro customizations. He says, don't worry about that's just a distraction. and I would tend to agree with him with that. I first came across Unicorn platform maybe a couple years ago and I built a sales letter on it. and it was really easy to build a sales letter, so before I'd have to, tinker with WordPress and it was.

09:56 Nasty. And there'd be all these bugs and stuff, and this just is very modular, so you can just pull in different blocks and you can't quite customize everything, but it looks good. And that's the whole point. You don't even know what people like, So people always spend too much time tinkering with, the infrastructure when they should be focused on the content.

10:18 so I should mention as well, I'll put a link to Unicorn platform 'cause it's something that I use and recommend, but he's actually doubled down on directories, John Rush, and he's put in a lot of different, templates that are specific to directories also. he's added a lot of integrations, so you can integrate Airtable and Google Docs. And build your, your content that way and have it show up dynamically, using PSEO on unicorn platform.

10:47 And, yeah, it's really easy. It's not difficult at all. And Unicorn Platform actually has great support. I've talked to their support quite a bit. he talks about the F-A-Q-S-E-O Loop, okay. Capturing long tail traffic by answering real questions. So he basically says, do everything to look at questions, Google it, scrape it, generate different questions and you want to get for all these long tail niche keywords, you wanna focus really on the question.

11:14 particularly in Google, the people also ask section, as well as answer the public. If you're not familiar with answer the public answer, the public.com allows you some free queries every day. And it will just blanket whatever keyword and give it to you from all these different perspectives and all these different questions, and it gives you some ideas.

11:36 So I would do that, use, answer the public, look at whatever your topic is, and then start making a list of questions that people ask. And structure your content around answering those questions. Okay? It's the most direct way to get someone that's already looking for a solution to your solution, very quickly. And then he says step three is the hustle.

12:01 Okay? So this is the first 30 days. So basically he says manual distribution to send the initial signal to, to Google. He doesn't want you to, create too much content too fast, because then it looks like it's a automated spam factory. But he says jump on Reddit. Reddit is great because you're anonymous on Reddit. so you could create a brand new, account, but you're not gonna be limited really by, By a lack of an audience, So you could have no audience, no kind of social media presence in this niche that you're building

12:32 this directory on, and you can still, compete and win on Reddit. And I've got some, some content on Reddit. I actually have a book on Reddit and, how to market on Reddit. I'll put a link in the description to that as well. just in case you're not sure about how to do that. I know a lot of people are becoming aware of how powerful Reddit is. he also says social listening.

12:56 so I'm a big fan of social listening particularly, for building because then you can get into the conversations that people are having. On Twitter and Reddit and some of these other platforms right away. so I'll put a link to a post that I've written about social listening in, the description. And, and then he also says about the directory, inception, listing your directory on other directories.

13:20 This is really important. This will boost your page rank. And so it's something that. You need to be focused on and block off some time to do it. The best way I think to do that is to just block off an hour or two, go through that every day, because it's, it is boring. but once you get the pieces that you need, like the, a screenshot, demo video. a description, that type of thing.

13:43 Then it's pretty much putting the same content on these different platforms and that will get you some, some initial backlinks, which are gonna be really important, for a new directory. John Rush is really like a builders builder and, quick to start something quick to implement it and quick to kill it. So he says after 30 days, if it is not going well.

14:03 If it just, it doesn't seem to be ranking, then just kill the idea. and So there's less risk when you're more diversified. And this is the concept behind ETFs versus individual stocks, he says, launch five or 10 of these ideas. And I think that's probably a little aggressive for people, but, keep it in into mind, the context that he's coming from. of having to, compare that to, spending months and months on one SaaS, hoping to sell it later to, to VCs.

14:34 So that's the context. step four is programmatic, SEO. so basically define keyword gaps and, find low competition keywords and scale up your content in that. He says, don't do that too fast. because of that sandbox phase. And just talking about Google the sandbox phase. there is sometimes a month or two where Google wants to trust your domain and they don't know what it is.

15:00 They don't know, if they can actually trust it. it's, 'cause it's a new domain but Google also wants to understand what. The domain is about, and the cool thing about directories is it keeps you really focused on what that topic is about. that's one of the benefits for that. Also, make sure on day one that you add your domain to Google Search Console and also big Bing webmasters tool, because that will help you get that initial data.

15:25 And of course, use some analytics. Google Analytics is great, but there's another one that, that I use that's a lot easier to understand and I'll put a link to that in the description as well. All right. I think this is really important, the expert mode. this is the concept. You get AI to build the, the content for the directory, but you're the one actually curating it.

15:45 So it's this neat mix of. doing something that AI can't do and having them do the bulk of the work and you're more doing the kind of organizing, the creating of it. And, that's why, in this context, quality is the main differentiator. Okay. That's what makes a directory good or not good. So comprehensive data, have no missing key players. for example, Mistral, the, LLM from France.

16:13 make sure that you're covering that if you have a an LLM directory. And again, in my opinion, you don't want to go too broad, right? Because if you're covering something that's really broad, it's hard to be comprehensive. And that's really the key. John Rush has built a, an AI tools directory and he is early, so you know, he got in and was able to do that.

16:30 But if you're thinking of doing an AI, tools directory, there's a whole bunch of them now. It's very competitive. If you pick a subset of that, maybe like a. AI podcast tools, that's more of a subset that you could succeed in and, be able to be comprehensive about that. Keep up on that topic and you see how this all fits together, right? Where you're gonna be following that topic.

16:52 You can set up Google alerts, so you're following that topic. Maybe start a Reddit group or be active in a Reddit group on that topic. And again, if you're in, Facebook groups, if you're in LinkedIn groups, you can be very focused on what that niche is and be that expert in there. and so he says, recent trends, add hot items immediately. That's why you want to have, Google alerts set up.

17:17 And he says expert validation, right? If the data is perfect, right? If the data is great, then influencers will share for you influencers in that space. people that are talking about that topic. curate the best. you want the cream to rise to the top, you wanna focus on the quality. And, that's the most important thing. So this does take a little bit of time, every week to, to maintain, but it doesn't take a whole lot of time.

17:42 so he talks about monetization. The, the different revenue. So you can charge sponsorships. you can pay to list so they can be, charged a fee to actually get listed on your directory. That's a more traditional way to look at it. the easiest way to monetize, in my opinion, is affiliate links. so this works great for, anything high ticket where you earn commissions if someone buys, also for recurring products, that works great as well.

18:09 And then you can have a paid to view. So basically it's gatekeeper, and users have to pay to unlock the details. And I wanna show you what that's like with his directory that he's talking about in this interview. So this is the directory he's talking about in his interview, the small business ideas. and again, it says mini business ideas, right? But his whole idea is small business ideas, So that makes that clear.

18:32 And he, has some of these different, Different categories, right? And they're ranked, by complexity, the time it takes and the budget. so when someone clicks through to this, then they'll be able to, to purchase his, his course, and I was just on here earlier, it was working, fine. Now it seems to be, have a 4 0 4 error, so I'm not sure about that. but basically I think it was about $39 where someone gets, the database.

18:58 Okay. So they get access to the, to the database So let's get back here. flywheel strategies. This I really I think this is super underrated, using directories to feed your main business. So I think of this in terms of lead generation as well. So you have a directory traffic, you have low competition keywords, you're getting free SEO traffic, and then you basically send them to your high value tool.

19:19 Okay? Interestingly, here it's pointed to, a next GS directory or a boilerplate, which I think is, is code, so it's, it is not no code, but, but I like thinking of this as a lead generation, so on my directory is typically what I'll set up is I don't love popups, but. I, I love a notification bar that comes on the top or the bottom of the screen, 'cause they're very viewed.

19:44 I have the metrics on this and they get clicks. And so usually I'll offer a freebie in that. So just a strip on the top of my site or on the bottom of my site, people will go to a capture page, opt-in. Now I'm getting opt-ins. Daily, From all of my, my sites. And if you want to extra monetize that, what I would recommend is you can, code out or vibe, code a sales letter.

20:11 Have a one-time offer and put a little product together where you know people are opting in and then they're seeing your one time offer. You're gonna have a portion of those people that will buy. Your, your product, whatever that is. And so then you're actually getting leads, you're getting some sales, every few days and you're growing your directory.

20:32 And so that's a really low key way to do it as an affiliate. Last up, you can sell the asset. And that's what I always tell people about these directories. once you have a directory, you have traffic, you have content. even if you built a directory and you didn't have any traffic, it would still be saleable on like Flippa or something like that. But, obviously with a directory you can sell it for, for more.

20:59 So if it's making 1000, 2000, 3000 per month, in revenue, maybe you have, ads on there, or e even AdSense, then you can sell it for multiples of that, right? So if it's selling for, if it's making 3000 per month, you could sell it for, 20 or 35 or 50,000, depending on, the, the topic and the, what people are paying for that. So micro acquire Flippa.

21:24 and then also, private outreach he mentions to SaaS founders who need traffic. So again, this is pairing, a directory which brings traffic leading over to, maybe a SaaS that has a subscription or something like that. So he says, have some realistic expectations for this. this is not a get rich quick scheme, but a success, a successful directory typically, will make, maybe three to $5,000 a month.

21:49 It's a cash flowing asset. It's not gonna be a billion dollar company. It's not like selling out to, to the VC where you're gonna, make several million dollars and, do that. But again, the risks are much lower with that. this is the execution checklist. First off, IDA, use the volume planner to find things that have volume and low competition, and there's no perfect thing for that because again, you're looking at keywords, you're looking at the meaning.

22:19 You're looking at what people are willing to pay for that. What kind of the niche is what tools around that niche are willing to, are selling for example. there's some variety with that. A domain. Try to find a semantic naps, semantic match, if you can't find a perfect exact match domain. And again, I think the domain, it's definitely a benefit, but it's not a deal breaker, build.

22:43 He says use no code and ai. And he says, just spend one evening doing it. so it's possible. obviously that's very aggressive and that's someone that knows how to build online, but the goal is, compress your timeframe so you get it done and then you can get marketing. That's really the key. he said, start with people also ask and FAQ for content, as well as, answer the public.

23:07 And then he says, do that hustle. mark that 30 days in your calendar, and look at it as a sprint for that project. So that's very important, but very startup thinking. and I just wanted to couch it in that, context. But I definitely think that when you start a project, really have that impetus to get that momentum going with the project. It's a really good idea.

23:33 And then finally he says, decide if the traffic exists. Then scale that up. If it is not, and it seems like a dud, then kill the whole project. so that's what he basically says, but that's your execution checklist. So you can go in and, be able to go from validating projects. How many idea, all the way to having a finished directory, particularly using something like unicorn platform.

23:56 And so the concept here is, you're one weekend away, so block off a whole weekend, don't do anything there, and he says, pick five keywords and build five directories and see which ones do the best. Now, keep in mind, if you're doing that, then you're gonna have that 30 day sprint for all five directories. it's a pretty involved process. He's comparing that to.

24:19 A SaaS, building a SaaS, maybe renting an office, having, several coders, building that and then trying to, sell that to vc, that type of thing. But, the risk of failure here really is, minimal and the rewards are very significant, particularly when you can re monetize that, you can sell the directory, you can generate leads from it, all that kind of stuff.

24:41 Now I've got a ton of links in the resources, including a link to John Rush's product on directories where he goes into detail on all of these different. steps, but also I've got a free guide that's going to show you exactly how to get started with building a directory. And it's gonna take you through those steps as well, but, give you like a free version.

25:01 and there's a ton of value in that people, and the feedback that I got from people, is phenomenal. And so I really want you to go in and check out the description. Also, if you're interested in building No Code directories, I got a couple other videos here on the screen right now that you should check out so you can see the topic from a different perspective.

25:21 and I've even got a, video where I'm showing you how to do it using Unicorn platform, which is the, software that I mentioned earlier in this video. All that being said, look. You have an idea, go out there and make it happen. There's nothing that can beat massive action, and I'll see you in the next video If you haven't already, be sure to say subscribe to my channel so you can get updates and, be the first to hear about new videos like this one. We'll see you in the next one.