You said it. On another note, lots of people are actually into free stuff, so, they'd rather stick with websites that submit their sites for free. Although, there are a few or maybe big number of people who actually pay these directories to do the job. With paid directories or submissions, the sites promise to review your submission a lot faster than that of free submissions.
I still believe in the power of directory submissions because they are the basic forms of link building as well as not all directories are link farms. I still do directory submission because it's part of link building and through this method.
I prefer to submit mine in Google first, then everything else will follow, submit your site that's related to your niche and has a higher page rank.
A lot of times I will submit to 5-10 directories for $10-$15 each as part of my link scheme. I just won't spend more then that for a directory link.
If directory is claiming for payment inclusion than there will be something in it which the free will not have provided the directory have some pr,age,good design,and its walls are not made of spammy keywords ...
I don't understand why I will pay for directories submission while I can get free submission, and ofcourse, Approved
@xavier 2012... Compare the link from both and than ask this question again from your self.. And yes off ourse still there are some free directories out there which are really worth some quality but the problem is will they approve you if they have thousands of pendings sites already ??? On the other hand paid directory will charge you some $$ but will approve you 100% as long as you stick to ther e submission criterion, and the link will also be worth something ... PLUS I have seen that links of paid directories get index quickly in search engines.
There is no comparison between free and paid directories. Obviously paid directories charge for their top quality. Free directories are mostly rubbish, no custom template, just the standard phpld template, with millions of pending links and only few active. Yes I know some of u r going to ask me what custom templates have got to do with anything, well it basically shows u how much serious the directory owner is. First thing I check in a web directory is it's Page Rank, because without PR or low PR means low quality directory in most cases. Then I check the directory's backlinks. If that directory has high pr and excellent quality backlinks then it's worth submitting ur link there. Even if a directory is new and has no PR but has high PR backlinks, like PR7 or PR8 backlinks. Then u should hurry up and submit ur site asap.
I'd rather pay to post on press release sites than just directories.. why? can you still see many web directories in the SERPs??? and by the way, it is so easy to get your site to PR 4 in less than 6 months these days...
Ah , Yeah... And no one cares about PR anymore.. PR alone is not, nor should it ever have been the purpose of a directory.
least people submit in paid directories... as a beginer and unless you get adds frm google you should do free directorty submission.. Dmoz directory smartwebby.com alltheweb.com homerweb.com addurltodirectories.com lycos.com scrubtheweb.com are some popular free directories... To rank your website on google first page generate the organic traffic via forum posting,directory submision,blog commenting,socail bookmark sharing site.. happy blogging...hope it helps you...
I think it also depends of the budget reserved for Search Engine Optimisation [TABLE="width: 266"] [TR] [TD="class: xl65, width: 266"][/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]
If you have a good budget, paid directory submissions are the way to go. These type of submissions are usually high ranked and maintained.