It would be good if i had more Google visits than others traffic but actually, my bigest traffic is only from signatures forums...
atxsurf, Re: Directories, It depends on what your website is about. We have a website about web design in sydney. So we have free listings in local business directories, directories for web designers and directories for coders. In that case we probably get as much traffic from 3 directories, like xemion, as we do from google.
I've dinked around with other SE and made a couple of bucks but nothing has beaten the 800 pound gorilla. For the time being I am pleased if I get traffic from the others but I only optimize and write content for G. If it passes G then it is good enough for everything else. Bing has shown promise and their code monkeys are probably staying up late to prove them worthy. Google became the game changer becase they concentrated on a clean interface and relevance IMO. Now that they have to manage earnings and report to shareholders someone else could knock them off if they take their eye off the ball or fail to keep up with rapid innovation.
Yahoo search is working for me .Google gives low traffic compare with yahoo.i think yahoo index easily and faster then google.
I just checked my records for the last couple months. My stats seem inverted compared to what I've read in this thread. Over 80% of my visitors came from links on other websites. Direct traffic is the second most popular. Organic search engine traffic (all search engines combined) accounts for the least percentage of visitors. I suppose this means I've either done a fantastic job of networking directly, or perhaps my SEO still needs more effort.
Google offers the best for organic. But I never underestimate the value of a good targeted link in some websites