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"Paid Reviews" vs. "Paid Links" - The answer is here!

Discussion in 'Directories' started by bobby9101, Oct 11, 2007.

  1. #1
    I know a couple of people on DP and say "Paid Reviews", what a blatant lie, and some say, we are truly doing paid reviews.
    I'd like to make some comments on this matter.

    We are all well aware of Matt Cutts post about paid links:
    http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/how-to-report-paid-links/
    Specifically about:
    and
    Here is a quote by BritishGuy
    OK down to the nitty-gritty.
    I believe that 99% of directories that say they are doing paid reviews are just in fact selling links.
    The whole "paid reviews" talk is bullcrap, and here is why I say this.

    I visit Alive Directory, and a permanent regular listing is: $224.95 a permanent featured is $299.95.
    Ok now that is just crazy, I guarantee that if I submit a site to alive, and it is accepted and then I look at how long the admin spent reviewing my site, it would be well under an hour. Making $299.95 for less than an hour of work is just absurd. Surely plenty of that is for the link price.

    Also, what about Aviva, $49.95 per year for regular, and $74.95 per year for featured. So even if aviva's admin spends an hour reviewing a site, and he makes $49.95 an hour (that's reasonable) why is the featured more expensive? Surely he doesn't take longer to review the featured link. So at the MINIMUM he is charging $25 for that link.

    This pattern repeats endlessly throughout the directory market, thousands of brainwashed zombies just worshiping their Google god. They lie about how they are doing "Paid Reviews" and yet the whole time they are charging insane "Review" fees, and even charging more for "Featured" links when they spend no more time reviewing them.
    Lawyers make $299.95 an hour, why should a directory owner make that kind of money if the money is only for his time for reviewing?

    So what is the solution?
    Well there are two very easy options, and there is no gray area.
    Option 1:
    Stop being so greedy about money, start coming clean, say that you were and are selling links, and that you would like to change. Start off by lowering your prices, spending more time reviewing, kill off those stupid featured links, make sites for visitors again.
    Option 2:
    Tell Google, "Screw You" I am going to sell advertising on my site if I want, you don't control me, ban me for all I care, I'll take Yahoo and MSN

    Easy enough huh?

    BTW, I think this might be one of the many reasons for the Google penalty
     
    bobby9101, Oct 11, 2007 IP
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  2. balkanboy

    balkanboy Banned

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    #2
    People who spend years learning and working deserve to charge more than others for their time that others who just start working after high school.
    That's why collage professors make more per hour than bartenders.

    It is same with directories. Directory ower who spent 5 years working on his directory is able to charge more for his time that somebody who just dropped phpld on a domain name.


    In this case price of regular link covers review and rest of price for featured link covers higher exposure that results in more traffic.

    Maybe you should start working on your sites and face all problems and questions that may occur in this business yourself before starting all this justice hunting questions. I am sure your views will change on many things. Just a friendly tip.
     
    balkanboy, Oct 11, 2007 IP
  3. DownUnder

    DownUnder Well-Known Member

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    #3
    Intersting post, may as well add my 2 cents, What a directory charges would be up to the directory owner, the general public will decide if the price is to high or to low, in that if people thought that xyz was to high then they would not use the service and or the submission rate would fall, where the owner then may look at lowering prices.

    Second just because the price is high does not mean the owner is creaming in the $ , i wont discuss private business but i can say if people say my price is to high that is their choice, but i wont lower it. why?

    Simple i am paying premium price for my system, paying premium price for my development and backup, i am paying a premium price to my editors and also office admin staff because i want the best, the best comes at a price, after all is paid the owner ends up with a small % and for doing their job properly there is nothing wrong with that, it is a business.

    People charging big $ but offering little or no service will be weeded out naturaly.

    I have said up front i wont charge for a review , you will pay to advertise / promote your business or service.

    calling it as it is regardless of who says what.
     
    DownUnder, Oct 11, 2007 IP
  4. Red_Virus

    Red_Virus Well-Known Member

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    #4
    Hi Bobby,

    Well U just answered your self, Check your signature link sponsor ;)
    Quality directories are promoted heavily & promotion is not that cheap. Directories also allow quality sites to be included. Quality also does not comes in cheap. So I think the amount of quality targeted traffic that a directory can send to your site is really worth the money spent.
    Please don't rep rep me now ;)
     
    Red_Virus, Oct 11, 2007 IP
  5. pipes

    pipes Prominent Member

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    #5
    Points there that i cant ignore, also bricked in by the situation, everything there suggests suffocation, theres no let up for the directory owner, its either a search engine breathing down your neck or 100 annoyed webmasters.

    As always its never so simple to just choose a route out of the above suggested. Its like standing at the crossroads at midnight having a conversation with the devil, either way, we lose something.

    Im going to suggest Common Sense is all that is needed, as opposed to do this or else.

    [​IMG]
     
    pipes, Oct 11, 2007 IP
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  6. bobby9101

    bobby9101 Peon

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    #6
    A. Yeah because we know that everybody uses alive or aviva to find information :rolleyes: All of alive and avivas traffic are webmasters.
    Anyway whatever traffic they give, is still paying for the link not the review, so don't call it a review :)
    B. I don't own any real websites at the moment, but I do have a bunch of them on my home server that are in development.

    True the price is up to the directory owner, but charging $299.95 for less than an hour of "review time" is crazy. I would have no problem charging $10,000 for the link if they clearly stated that they were selling a link.
     
    bobby9101, Oct 11, 2007 IP
  7. bobby9101

    bobby9101 Peon

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    #7
    So if it is for traffic, then stand up and grow some balls, state that you are paying for a link, not for some crappy review.
    I have no problem with selling links if you say that you are.
     
    bobby9101, Oct 11, 2007 IP
  8. mikey1090

    mikey1090 Moderator Staff

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    #8
    1 ) Featured links cost more for a reason - you get to be at the top of every page in that particular category - added exposure traffic etc. Thats why a featured link costs $25 more on aviva - not for extra reviewing - its for extra advertisement opportunities.

    2) People set their prices based on quality and other factors. The $300 you pay for alive will not all go in the owners pockets. Firstly its a permanent link, which pays for several re-reviews over the years. Nextly its one of the better web directories (lets not get into a PR/alexa/backlink quantity debate), so that $300 will go towards heavy investment to bring better SERP results for your listing and better traffic.
     
    mikey1090, Oct 11, 2007 IP
  9. bobby9101

    bobby9101 Peon

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    #9
    No offense to you or anyone else, but please if you are going to respond, read my post.
    I agree that featured links will cost more if they provide more traffic, I agree that you pay more for a link on a highly promoted site, but then say that. Don't say that you are charging for a review only.
    This isn't jsut about alive and aviva, thousands of directories are doing this
     
    bobby9101, Oct 11, 2007 IP
  10. DownUnder

    DownUnder Well-Known Member

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    #10
    bobby is your directory up and running yet ? honest Q don't know and what wording do you plan to use and or are using ?
     
    DownUnder, Oct 11, 2007 IP
  11. balkanboy

    balkanboy Banned

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    #11
    You should browse Aviva more carefully. You will see bunch of content that attracts non webmasters people. I can remember humor blog, law articles and photoshop tutorials at the moment.

    You have some proof to back up this? How do you know what am I expecting for directory when I pay for inclusion?
    Webmasters and SEO's are after links but they often do not pay for links simply because they know how to get them for free. Business owners who pay for a website to be made don't know anything about SEO and link building and they are simply paying to be included in Business indexes and search engines because of advertising and traffic.

    Ok, spend few years and all your money on them and than come back to justice hunting if you can afford time to do so.


    Everybody has a right to make a price for his time. You are not obligated to pay price that is too high for you, but someone else will. Even if we say that price is too high for time needed for review, we must consider amount of time needed to run complete business.

    I am charging higher rate per hour for my services than people who just started, but client is paying more simply because I spent 4 years of my life and counting, learning and trying to deliver higher quality products than before. Everybody who thinks my prices are ripping people of is more than welcome not to hire me. It is simple as that.
     
    balkanboy, Oct 11, 2007 IP
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  12. mikey1090

    mikey1090 Moderator Staff

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    #12
    your previous post was written before i pressed the quick reply button.

    I dont think you do pay for 1 thing. The review, category placement, category order, extra exposure all make up the price. So the link/advertisement is also part of the price...
     
    mikey1090, Oct 11, 2007 IP
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  13. bobby9101

    bobby9101 Peon

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    #13
    I got two big projects, IWDAA and IndexMonkey that I am working on. But with ym day job and college classes it is very tough to get much done.
     
    bobby9101, Oct 11, 2007 IP
  14. bobby9101

    bobby9101 Peon

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    #14
    So why does nobody here on DP have the guts to say it?
    Is Google that powerful? Are we so afraid of them, that we can't say "Yes, I am selling a link on my site, and yes many of my customers are paying for a link that will increase their rankings in your search engine"
     
    bobby9101, Oct 11, 2007 IP
  15. MeetHere

    MeetHere Prominent Member

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    #15
    There are always some advertisement/listing options in any field. Not just directories..
    Banner ads cost more than links...
    Similarly featured links are more than just a review.
     
    MeetHere, Oct 11, 2007 IP
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  16. an0n

    an0n Prominent Member

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    #16
    You're WRONG. What other directories do you know of that promote like alive or aviva? What do you think; that that review fee goes into someone's pockets? Get a grip and get a life, because you obviously haven't been around *here* long enough to see that alive and aviva are everywhere.

    Did you know that aviva has 6 editors AND and editor to edit those editors.

    Stop with your bullshit specualtion already.

    Yes, start listening to your own advise and put forth your own pattern 'of stop worrying about what someone else does with their project or if they profit from it or not', and try to focus on your own and get it up to par with the likes of alive and/or aviva and try to better them.
     
    an0n, Oct 11, 2007 IP
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  17. Red_Virus

    Red_Virus Well-Known Member

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    #17
    So how do u think, directory owners can charge $10 (seems fair for a review) & also promote a directory. Why will anyone be willing for paying a link in a directory that does not deliver him any traffic.

    Do have any suggestions of how all this can be changed ? & that directory owners can only ask for the review fees & at the same time promote the directory & are u keeping the sig link of alive directory for free ???

     
    Red_Virus, Oct 11, 2007 IP
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  18. uttoransen

    uttoransen Prominent Member

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    #18
    featured links provides an extra exposure of advertisement! it's all about traffic. Also, the review time for featured links is sort, because they are given extra priority, so the rates will be high!

    IMHO - It is very un-professional to discuss the review rates of directories!

    also this is a very valid point!
     
    uttoransen, Oct 11, 2007 IP
  19. bobby9101

    bobby9101 Peon

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    #19
    Rob, oh Rob wasn't expecting such animosity from you.
    You are proving my point, I don't give a rat's ass about how much they charge and how much goes into their pockets. The whole post is about, yes these sites do spend thousands advertising and yes these sites get thousands of visitors (although I don't think the percentage that uses them is very high), so yes they can charge $5,000, just don't say it is all review money. Because it isn't.
    Maybe I shouldn't have used alive and aviva as examples, because they have so many concubines around here.
     
    bobby9101, Oct 11, 2007 IP
  20. bobby9101

    bobby9101 Peon

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    #20
    Wow, you all just don't get it do you? I am saying that the directory industry isn't about reviews. Directory owners are making money that goes back into the market, they are providing advertising and we all know it. Why can't we just say it.

    And no I do not have alive in my signature for free, it is expiring in november.
    EXACTLY the industry is for advertising not for reviews.
    And I don't care if it is unprofessional to discuss something that people are to weak to handle.
     
    bobby9101, Oct 11, 2007 IP