This is some thing that has been doing rounds in my head for a while now, though I do submit my site to directories I have never bought any paid links on them, since I get little if any traffic from the directories barring yahoo. Due to this I haven’t felt the need to buy links from directories, however I would like to hear from people who go for paid listing and paid inclusion how much traffic they generally receive and what is the main reason they go for it.
Can you please elaborate a little? Like pros and cons and in which way it will help achieve some "goals"?
I think the top 20-30 directories are worth their cost...most directories are nothing but link farms and Google has started devaluing links from such sites. Traffic from directories is rare..most people buy listings to gain PR.
paying for inclusion on the top directories is worth it, they are really seo friendly, unlike the thousands of free directories that use the slogan SEO Friendly, now they have learned to spread around the PR to all inner page/sub categories, they have learned to drive traffic to certain categories, so I think its def. worth it, not all paid directories, but a lot, I would suggest if your going to start doing it, submit and pay to the ones that have deep links options. EDIT: This list http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showpost.php?p=2785004&postcount=538 top directories that offer deep links.
I've come across several paid directories, which are just PR 4 or 3 or less and list your link for $5 , $10 or more. I don't think these sites are worth this cost.
You can find enough directories to submit and get a valuable link. Look for the ones with webmasters that take the job seriously. you can get a good link for a few bucks and be sure that this link will get stronger through time. All you have to do is examine these directories before you pay them for a submission. Some directories will go up while some others are just link storage places. Each case is different and this you must take under consideration. So choose carefully and be sure that the money you pay buys you something of the same value.
E.g. if your goal is to achieve a specific rank or a position in the search engines and if the paid directory listings justify the spend to achieve a step for that goal and you get a good ROI from that listing, it is worth it - otherwise not
Deep link directory sounds good, I guess this is better than links pointing to the domain. Fair enough, however isn't the same can be achieved by submitting to the free directories?
yes, it can be but what you have to see - is there any value addition because of the listing being done by the paid directory submission also, some paid directories have an authority/trust value with google and there they can play an important role
Directory traffic is low, but I gusss it depends of how well you write your description and what your niche is. Paid directories are worth it because they will often have less listings AND higher PR.
I don't think they are. One of the big problems, unless it is like Yahoo, is that the directory owner sells a few links, then they turn around and sell the directory to someone else. Even if the original directory owner was the best webmaster in the world, you don't know what the new owner will do. I think if you are looking for traffic or good PR, you are better off spending your money on a link with a site that is related to your niche. Of course if you are just looking for quick PR so you can sell links or turn around and sell your site, then a few paid directories with very high PR might just be what you need.
i think they are definately well worth it because these sites have high pr ... like aviva , alive persay.. u see what i am saying its like you are going to get a higher ranking from these because due to their high pr .. they rank high for strong keywords, and if you have a link in there you will pop up high as well. forex: http://www.dirwizard.com/ <-PR 5 ... i submitted to this guy's site and its ranked #4 for my keyword Genuine Paid Directory http://www.vision.to/directory/detail/link-10.html << same with this one http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Genuine+Paid+Directory&btnG=Google+Search << so these are strong backlinks you are buying for your sites ... there are some good free directories out there, but alot of paid directories are stronger than most of the free directories. so it is definately worth paying ... not persay traffic because you won't get that much, but you will definately get a strong backlink. for ex. i submitted to forplex ... (Pete) makes so many mods and include them ... now instead of having a link in just one category i have like my link on 10+ PR pages ... including alpha listing - pr listing - my link in category - deep link - owner's manual etc etc you see what i am saying ... paid directories tend to have that edge ... the more service they will provide and such.
In my experience directory submissions are well worth it, but you have to be smart, and do some research, to get the most for your money.
Some of the top trusted paid directories are worth the money. I have probably spent over $500 for my web design site and intend to do more.
You can read my experience from a while back (before I even had a directory) where I concluded that directory submissions are still well worth it. http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=251646
I can see Yogesh got lots of views and must be happy. Here are my views about paid advertisements in directories-- #1-- Not a single website will give ya huge traffic --so too paid advertising in a top-class directory will not give you huge traffic. #2. - Directories who offer paid advertising are very powerful as the owners put a lot of time and of course spend small fortunes in advertising them. They have huge number of backlinks themshelves which makes the bots find these websites very quickly -not to mention the sites advertising on these sites. #3. -- I would compare like this -- -- Listing in either Alive or Aviva will give you same SERPs benefit of submitting to 500 free directories due to the reputation and strength these directories have. How much do ya pay for 500 free submissions ? Out of those 500 --I wonder if 20% are worthwhile. # Pay for advertising on 35 renowned PR5/6 directories and see your SERPs effect skyrocket on SEs. Bottomline: - All webmasters who are not after PR but traffic --die for SERPs ranking. And your SERPs depend on trust vote from highly reputed sites --I hope you understand which are the reputed sites I am talking about. No single directory advertisement could give ya the desired result--not even DMOZ or Yahoo Directory. But try some of them --the strength of votes from all these powerfull directories together will push ya on high pages of SEs and you will get Organic traffic. Many people tend to mis-understand --the role of directories. They are just like any other websites -they are not traffic farms to give ya duplicate traffic stats. They are there to give you normal traffic like any other sites and also help you improve your SERPs ( I am not mentioning PR because you seem to be interested in traffic).
You can find lot of free directories that are good. So, I am inclined to hire a submision service than pay one name directory. Thanks
Paid feature listings (especially permanent) are probably the best value. You will be on (and stay on) a page with decent PR. Regular paid listings are good too if you plan on running the promoted site for a long-time (at least a year). Free listings tend to disappear quite often, most directories can't survive long-term as 'free', so many go out of business and there are others that stay in business but delete free links after a set period of time.
This has been my experience, too. In the early days of my website, it was struggling along with a small amount of visitors. Then I allocated some money for paid directory submissions. Soon thereafter the traffic numbers took a major leap upward. I can't explain all the technical reasons why this happened, just that it did happen. Better PR? Direct traffic from the directories? Links from "authority" sites? In any case, it worked!