There are some directories which have sent me traffic, however the purpose of a directory is to give you backlinks and SEO benefits.
I get some traffics but not much as I get from social bookmark, however the directory submitting help about PR then PR gonna help your rank on Google so you can get traffic from search engine coz directories submitting. If you need traffic from directory u should submit directory that related content to your site. eg. if your site is adventure tour for somewhere you can submit world adventure directory that effectively, etc.
Can a directory send traffic, ? i doubt it. well almost but i wont open a can of worms and agree it could never happen.
If you have a bid directory then a high bid in an other bid directory will bring u that kind of traffic: example=bid on first page of webdirectorylinks.net will give 20 visitors per month to bidlink.eu and some conversions. If you have a polish site and u right a unique description to iozoo.com will bring 60 visits per month to your site. example=mediapl.com on iozoo.com at iozoo.com/detail/link-850.html ranks 2nd in google for teledyski mp3 . if you have a regional directory (iozoo.com) and you submit it to searchenginecolossus.com/EuropeanUnion.html you will get more than 20 visitors per month and some conversions. Thats are some examples from my own experence i bet many have more examles to post but at some times is like self promotion so i will not expand more.
Tell that to DMOZ. The bigger older directories and specialized directories send more traffic than others.
i have submitted to various directories and seen a lot of good return in terms of traffic - but you certainly have to be picky! paid or bidding directories from my experience are better for improving traffic flow
Don't expect direct traffic from directories. 10 visitors from every 1000 submissions However directories bring traffic indirectly - by boosting your SERP
I do get traffics from directories, and some of it not all of it. It also depend on how the directory's owner promote their directories.
I do so love these threads. They seem to bring out all the experts; none of whom seem to bother reading the original post prior to expressing an opinion. To address the original question about hits from directories for a web hosting company. I would suspect that the competitive nature of your market would greatly limit your likelihood of getting hits from any directory. I for one, would not look at a directory for a hosting solution. I would look at webmaster forums and blogs to see what others have to say about your service. Another problem is that much of your competition simply has limitless budgets and it would be highly unlikely for a general or niche directory web hosting category to rank well in the SERPs for any of the competitive terms. When it comes to directories providing traffic in general, general directories are mainly visited by submitters. The categories on general directories, at least in my opinion, are too broad to gain a great deal of visitors from the search engines. For example, if the category is gardening and it includes websites about vegetables, herbs, flowers, lawn mowers, garden furniture, etc; how exactly is a search engine supposed to categorize it? Rank for "gardening" - yeah sure, good luck with that. On the other hand, consider a niche directory. Keeping with our gardening example...each of the topics I mentioned above will have their own categories. Chances are much better to rank for something. The vegetable category could rank for things like 'great vegetable websites', 'how to plant vegetable gardens' and a whole host of things depending upon the quality of the sites listed and their descriptions.