Has anybody come across some free to list directories that are actually bringing in traffic? Even if its one hit a week then it might be worthwhile, especially of that visitor has hit your link within that directory due to searching for your exact product or service. I do not particularly want to waste my time on directories that bring nothing but the inherent link pop. Cheers
Keep in mind a great deal of that traffic will be entirely indirect. Someone may google for something and end up following a link from that directory to you. Not all traffic (and likely very little) comes from someone visiting a directory and then searching in that directory for your site. The search is usually performed at the SE level.
sometimes.. but even you dont get traffic. submit on directory can make your rank on SERP increase . high Rank on SERP = More Traffic.. isn't it?? it's natural way to build link on your site.
There are several people around the world who do visit web directories and then follow the listed websites. See the traffic ranks of directories listed at http://www.whenweseo.com/web_directories/top_traffic_directories.jsp
Which is how all searches on the web are performed, no? In answer to OP question, I get lots of trickle traffic from individual directories which in itself turns into a fairly rapid stream based on weight of numbers. I don't think any one directory (general) will give you a rapid stream of traffic. In fact I don't think any website on the web outside of say "The Big 3 engines" will give you a direct rapid stream of traffic, so... take that as you will.
You don't even get much traffic from Dmoz nowadays. That's how irrelevant "general" directories have become, in the eyes of google at least, because they're clearly not getting much search engine traffic.
I never did get much traffic from DMOZ. I doubt that is a reason for relevancy at all. Basically people use Google as their first stop. Why else would've "Yahoo" been the number 1 searched phrase on Google year after year. If we are basing relevancy on that, then really no website is relevant at all. None of them. They all just exist as content conduits for Google. In which case if that's what they are, directories represent the best of these conduits. Why? categorised info. To explain... If I go to Google and want to research something I type in my phrase, and then I'm presented with the results. I take a look at the first one, its a blog, the author is writing an opinion piece, their content is drivel, I go back to Google and hit the next one. It's a wiki, great, but I didn't want the global definition of the topic i wanted specific information so I go to the 3rd one, another blog, another narcissistic opinion, badly researched. I look at the 4th option, it's a youtube video... I laugh. I look at the 5th option it's a linkedin profile, that's great but that isn't what I am looking for, I go to the 6th option it's a directory all about the topic I am after, ok, let's take a look. On scanning the 10 listings on the page, I can see that 3 of them suit my needs, I ignore the rest and visit those 3 sites. Great, I got what I wanted. In saying directories are irrelevant we really need to temper that by saying that forums and blogs are just as or (in most cases) even moreso irrelevant.
Don't get me started with wiki... Just boggles your mind how such smart people can get it so wrong. As you've alluded to before good directories are ones that offer a lot more then simply directory listings.
ITs really hard to get traffic from directory listing..you will have better chance to get so if your site is listed in top level directory like yahoo, dmoz, etc where visitors come to see for company of their specific interest..this is my experience..but you can give it a try.
I get the very rare hit--onesies, twosies, etc. I get more traffic directly from other--non-directory--sites that link to my site. And Google. I'd like to think that one benefit of directory submission is to shape the type of traffic Google sends to my site. For example, say I am marketing a brick-and-mortar store that sells optical telesscopes on the eastern side of America. I do not want visitors who are seeking generic information about telescopes, astronomy, stargazing, etc. By specifically targeting keywords such as "purchase", "telescopes", "buy", etc., I hope to attract the traffic of serious buyers. Directory submission helps me link some of those keywords together, along with the association with my site. It is like being the first listing in the phone book: those first listings get the lion's share of business. That is why some companies name themselves "AAA Services" or whatever. They want to be listed first. Well, that is my theory anyhow. So I hope. All these updates keep changing the game.
Directories can definitely offer some good direct traffic, but their basically used for link building purposes and of course are much better at link building than giving direct traffic, sometimes you will get some direct traffic from directories though
I also did not get too much traffic from directory site. As so many one said use directory critic, so i have used it and let see how much traffic it can produce.