Do directories generate revenue at all?

These days, a group of self-described “indie hackers” are urging people to create Twitter directories, promising an easy $5k in return. It is difficult to accept that. Is there anyone with experience who would be willing to share?

I still make money from a directory that I established back in 2013. It was the closure of a well-known directory that gave me the notion.

An influencer made a video about it during COVID, and it made a shitton of money (I had no role). Since I was jobless at the time, it truly saved my ass.
I am going to attempt to create a new one.
Simply select a specialty, load some information into a database, and upload it to a website.
When you get down to it, eBay is essentially just a database (of items for sale).

It’s possible, but it involves a huge amount of work, so it’s not worth my time.

I created two directories, but once I realized the constant effort needed to make them valuable and revenue-generating, I stopped working on them. I even gave one away and am planning to give away the other soon, which isn’t as simple as it sounds. Few people are willing to invest that much time into something. It might be easier to just delete it from your server.
Ultimately, directories are for those with a lot of free time who don’t mind earning less than they might at a place like McDonald’s. They might also suit people who are already deeply involved in the niche and can invest the time needed to make the directory successful. For them, it could be a useful addition to their existing business.

The directories that are truly solving a problem—as opposed to merely compiling data for show—are the ones that generate revenue.

Since traditional search only finds the solutions that are best optimized for search engines, it can be really challenging to evaluate a range of options. For example, theresanAIforthat.com
At times, the data is easily obtainable per entry, such as on nomadlist.com, but it isn’t compiled into a handy, centralized format elsewhere.
Making judgments is aided by the intelligent, self-serve presentation of data that has been aggregated.

With ours, we’ve experienced some respectable growth (low thousands of revenue), but it’s been quite labor-intensive. Building it will require time and serious work, just like any other business.

They don’t seem to earn a lot of money, but it’s a terrific way to get started with something that can be quickly prototyped and launched, freeing you up to concentrate on the crucial aspects of marketing.
In my instance, I created one directory in three days by following these suggestions, and a week later, I made my first transaction.
Although the pay isn’t the best, it’s passive, and I’m picking quite a lot of SEO knowledge.

completely full market. Boilerplates for directories are being sold for a profit by some people, which further oversupplies the market. The only one I’ve ever used is Product Hunt.
The majority of clients are independent hackers with limited resources. Building directories is simple, but maintaining and gaining traction requires a lot of labor.
You can coast a little after putting in the early work, but it’s nowhere near what a SaaS can offer.

In extremely specialized directories, where there are still a lot of potential clients, money can be made.
Unless you have high DR, the generic directories that just feature SAAS or AI won’t do anything for you; otherwise, you’re basically just selling links.
I’ve noticed some independent hackers advocating for the creation of directories because, you guessed it, they’re offering a SAAS or course that assists in creating directories.

Not relevant, however I find these AI directories really bothersome. They have previously picked up my products and, before I can improve the SEO on my website, ranked higher for a while with an awful description of what the product is.
Sincerely, I wish there was a method to prevent this from occurring.