I've compiled a list Directory listing / Article site scripts.  I've had a good look at all of these before putting them on here, so rest assured that they're not just the first 20 I found either.

Back in the day, huge link sites used to be all the rage…. then came along search engines that returned better results than AltaVista, and an endless stream of blogs posting lists of things. I remember making cookie cutter casino sites for DMOZ years ago. Happy days. Nowdays you'll be lucky to even get your listings reviewed by one of the volunteers let alone accepted.

Useful directory listings and Articles sites will pretty much always make money as long as you're providing something people actually want. They're not too much of a nightmare to maintain and are a worthy addition to most portfolios. I wonder if we'll actually see a rise in the importance of human-edited directories again, outside of buying links to keep up with the latest SEO trends.

  • Webmaster Site
    This company has been making their product for 8+ years now, so they're clearly making doing something right. Some of the best scripts in their class. Look at the demos and the feature list(s). Not the cheapest ($150+), but you totally get what you pay for.

     

    • WSN KB (Article script) – Features list
      Brilliant, professional script with a lot of support behind it. Does everything you will need, and is VERY customisable.
      There's 300+ articles of documentation, examples, and extras which is presented using the script, so you get a very good idea of what this script can do for you. Includes functionality like TOPLISTS out-of-the-box
    • WSN Links – Look at that list of features
      The granddaddy Link directory script. Every feature in the book. The last word
      Listing links since DMOZ was cool. Shares a lot of the same features as the Knowledgebase / Article script above. Make sure you check these out, as they're pretty much the best in the business in my opinion.
  • Your Articles Directory
    VERY full featured article directory script. Comes with everything including the kitchen sink, tons of themes, and it's only $100.
    Only $100 too,
  • Subrion CMS
    (Subrion is a new PHP content management system and it can be used for building both simple and enterprise-level sites. It includes an extensive plugin system that makes Subrion CMS extremely flexible and easy to use. There are several packages that can be used separately or together on one site. They are: article publishing script, auto classifieds package, realty classifieds script, and web directory package.)
  • PHP My Directory - phpMyDirectory Mods - PMDMods.com
    phpMyDirectory is another feature rich link directory / site management script. Interestingly, there is an active third-party development community for the software.
  • Inout Article Base
    Another article script. I wasn't particularly impressed by the admin though.These guys make a very cool PPC ENGINE and Search script though.
  • JMBsoft linkX
    A good link directory script from a company that has made similar software fo the adult industry for the last 10~ years. This looks to be an excellent script, and at $50 it's a bargain.
  • PHP Link directory (Premium version)
    Open source script with a premium version. Has lots of plugins/modules. If you want to list articles… Use this. If you want a pure link directory, then JMBsoft linkX would be a better script for the price.
  • Gossamer Threads Links
    Another very old and mature link directory package. As with the others, it's got pretty much everything + plugins, so it's a case of seeing which suits you more.
    They just released 3.3 today according to the forum, so you can be sure it's still being actively developed and supported.
  • eSyndicat
    Popular pro link directory script.
  • Indexu Deluxe
    Another popular professional link directory script.

Free / Open Source Directory and link indexing Scripts

WordPress Directory Plugins / Themes

To be 100% Honest, I am yet to see a wordpress directory theme / plugin I think is particularly good. That's not to say the following plugins are bad software…. they're just not up to par as a link directory / article directory system compared to what else is out there.

Other CMS software for running directories

  • Drupal CMS
    Very strong CMS. Depending on how much time development capital you have, you can make it do whatever you want.

Link Bid directory scripts.

These scripts are down last because I found them last and haven't reviewed them. There's nothing with paying (or charging) for placements, after all, the point of the exercise is to make money, right ?

Note that many of the other scripts also have paid placement modules, so it's definitley not a feature unique to either of these scripts.