No worries Steve, I value ALL friendship(s) I've gained via helping out. Some people 'hence my sig' are unappreciative and instead of recognizing, would rather instead renege on their pledges when they are called upon.
As for morons, your post just showed me one - and his name is Rob If rule was there when these guys submitted their links, then he should not accept them. You cant have one thing in mind when taking a money for those links, and other thing month or two later. If that rule had been implemented after those submittings, then it definitelly shouldnt be retroactivelly implemented on links before new rule. Anyway, I dont care too much for this.... but dont think it was not a nice move. ...... and definitelly dont care for further Rob's answers
Hi Steve, Thanks for your comments. I never like to see an unhappy client and would like to try to work things out with you. Here's 3 possible solutions: 1. I can give you an immediate and full refund; 2. You can add a link to your individual listing page that has the anchor text that you want; or 3. You can pay to upgrade to a featured link and change the anchor text to whatever you want. Let me know what works best for you or if there are any other alternatives. I'll address the other issues raised in this thread in a moment.
Since the summer, Aviva Directory has required that all regular links use the official website or business name. At first we were a bit lax about this, but now this requirement is rigorously enforced and in fact we are going through the directory and implementing it on all listings. If you are looking for anchor text there are two things that you can do: 1. Purchase a featured listing - anchor text is permitted there. 2. All regular listings now include 3 additional links on the listing page. You can use 1 of those additional links for your homepage and use anchor text in that. More to come...
A few people have commented that using the official website or business name is wrong and that in fact one of the primary purposes of listing in a directory is for anchor text. My comments on that are as follows: 1. That's not looking at things from a user of the web directory's point of view. For instance if the user goes into the web design category and see the following listings: a. Web Design b. Cheap Web Design c. Web Design UK d. Quick Web Design etc. you're not really helping the user too much. The user already knows that they are dealing with web design firms - that's why they're in the web design category. 2. IMHO, the biggest benefit from submitting to a directory is co-citation data. That is, if you're a web design firm, and you get a listing on a page full of other *quality* web design firms, that's going to put you in the right neighborhood, which will help you rank better in Google. 3. Traffic from a directory is important too. In Steve's case, I can see that his listing has been there for about 2 1/2 months and already he has had 21 click throughs. The maximum bid on overture for the anchor text Steve used is $0.54. So, that's about $10 of traffic in 2 1/2 months, on a $35 listing. IMHO, that's a pretty good ROI. Give it a year, and this listing should more than pay for itself in terms of traffic alone. Sure, anchor text is important, but it's declining in importance. And, as I stated in my previous post, there are still ways to get a listing with anchor text if that's important to you.
One last comment and then I hope I've addressed everything. Aviva Directory does (eventually) rewrite all listings. This is just good directory practice, as most submitters use the same listing information for all their directory submissions. If a directory can't offer something unique to the search engines, the search engines are going to deindex the directory eventually. It does take us time to rewrite a listing - anything from a few days to a few weeks to a few months, depending on the category.
and my post was about you. glad you realize your stance now. the rule was there since summer, it's being strickly enforced now. do you not realize how long it takes to modify and rewrite the amount of links aviva has in it just for certain categories? see previous response and then check first quoted response. see the correlation? opinions and a$$holes.. one in the same, but you need to learn how to read regardless fo the fact, because guidelines are guidelines, period. accepting defeat is the first step to your recovery. good luck. Rob
Jeff, sounds like a good wheez to extract extra income from listings, which is fair enough though. Reason I say that is because a companys domain or company name is usually no more enlightening and usually less informative than what that company would select for anchor text. And that is assuming directory owners build directories for visitors rather than what I expect is the case which is to make money, pass PR, provide sites with good quality one way content relevant back links etc. Anyway my new friend, I would like to accept your option 2 and find out how I may edit my listing page to include these additional links and content. Cheers, Steve
Steve, You can just PM me the details and I'll get them added for you. Regular links can have 3 additional links on the listings page, so if you want to send me 3 links, that's fine too. Jeff
I flowcharted it out yesterday and it's going to be a pain in the butt to accomplish it based on non-registration requirements, but it'll happen. I have a plan (Jeff didn't know about it, well, until now hahaha)
Sorted thanks, will do. Steve P.S Good luck with your directory, like you need it, Alexa ranking 10.000 indeed!!! Way to go. P.S I adore the new design, the red in the hair looks 3d to me as does the butterfly, credit to balkanboy, even though he keeps taking a pop at me for some reason.
Great directory and I understand but here's another perspective. The target keywords are helping the end user. You're really saying that; a. Sally's Design b. Green tooth web design c. Borat's Design guild d. Zinkie's Lovable Design Firm Helps MORE?! The description is the description and that helps the user. As far as targeted anchortext....the exact anchor text that the user is typing into search engines in the first place to look for isn't what they're looking for? That's just not correct. It's the exact anchortext they're looking for. If you want to make it look cleaner I understand, but this analogy doesn't make sense IMHO. I'm going to have to upgrade or change up some listings myself. Again great directory, great service, but not a good argument especially when for more money the anchor text is allowed. Just say it cost more, and that it's worth the money. Thanks.
donttrustthisposter, I see several sides of it. So many variables to consider (well, at least in my mind, because I know how much stuff I can modify to get precision based results) Honestly, it's too overwhelming to even post. I don't know what level of search aviva has in it. what gets more importance. I mean, i can set up the search to emphasize the title over the url over the description, or any mixture of variables that are accessible. I can place emphasis on the first word over the second word, and order by placement. I worked on something that was suggested a long while back regarding search. I've just yet to finish it, and don't know if i ever will.
Oh I agree 100% but if the argument is for the best content possible ( as it should be ) But then for an extra fee we'll overlook it, it kills the argument and I think that a simple explaination that more money = better placement/wording would suffice. I personally would have rethought a few links I have there knowing this. That said the 3 links on the subpage helps quite a bit.
Don't forget, a featured link gets you 5 additional links on the subpage along with your wanted anchor text
I'm sorry, but this is wrong. If a directory is to have any value at all, it must stick to its editorial integrity. If we approved every submission as is, the entire "Search Engine Optimization" category of a directory would be filled with links titled "Search Engine Optimization". Quality directories require the anchor text (title) reflect the official company name of website name.
It becomes a guessing game when there are 50 Sites with "Search Engine Optimization" as the Anchor Text. Apparently, somehow people believe this is more fun than actually providing a quality resource. Read the Guidelines and Bitch elsewhere. Directory owners aren't going to lower their standards for "Free Pony Riding Lessons"
I think we all agree. The issue here was that "Free Pony Riding Lessons" was approved for a sum and then changed at a later date. Of course a directory has a right to not accept 50 Sites with "Search Engine Optimization" as the Anchor Text, but when it does then changes the rules thus the argument. I personally side with The aviva directory and an0n, and as stated earlier feel as long as the link is valid everything else can be changed. BUT to dismiss honest questions on these practices by this thread is wrong. Anon; Yeah I'd say this makes up for everything SEOwise , 3 links to regulars I believe. It should all be smoothed over by this. What initially seemed like whining turned out to be a vaild question and concern that effects a lot of (most?) people on this forum whom are serious about SEO and have obviously purchased from this directory. The; is a bit harsh and I believe unwarranted if the entire thread was read. Well all in all this was resolved and new policies are being enforced at aviva. Great directory, best of luck to all. The extra links might more than make up for this or even it out. My guess is more.
Hey Rob, just a thought (I am not a coder and I definetely don't know how phpld works). If phpld stores the transaction id wouldn't that be a good way to verify that it is the owner of the link that is trying to update? Also it may be a way to allow people to upgrade their links from regular to featured by paying the difference. Just to complete my most likely not feasible thoughts. Create a users table with the links url as the user name and the transaction id as the password. When the user clicks edit then autofill the "user name" (aka URL) and ask for the password (aka transaction id) if they are filled correctly forward them to the edit page of that URL. Just thinking out loud