Content Strategy Stories

How Tim Stoddart’s Directory Sites Became a $250k/Year Profit Engine

Tim Stoddart built directory sites where the core product (listings) also serves as marketing: every new listing increases utility and attracts more advertisers. After learning content and SEO through Copyblogger and agency work, he focused on technical directory architecture—category/geo pages aligned to commercial intent—and monetized with paid featured placements. SoberNation’s treatment directory demonstrated the model’s profitability (on the order of $250k/year), and the approach generalizes to high-LTV local services. Cash-flow-first operations and lean systems underpinned execution.