Is Yahoo worth it?

Hey Guys,

I've been starting to do a bit of marketing for my site (for the first time in 7 years) - and I was absolutely flabbergasted when I saw how much Yahoo wants for a listing in their directory ($300) - and worse than that, they want that much every year! I remember when Yahoo was free - and $300 a year really seems like gouging. Is a link from them really worth that much? Opinions?

Thanks,

Bob

 

i wouldn't bother, getting listed in yahoo is pretty easy as it is, so no need to pay $300, useful backlinks should get u listed anyway.

over and out

 

the same question over and over again..
if your site is making thousands, then you could spend $300 for yahoo dir listing

 

I have several paid listings and this is the correct answer. If you only have $500 a year to spend, forget yahoo. If you're looking only for PR, a directory listing isn't for you. If you have a site generating thousands a month, then I think is should be something you should consider as it will help you with yahoo SERPS and it is one of the three directories Matt Cutts suggested (along with BOTW and DMOZ).

 

I don't think it is worth it. I know some people who paid to get listed and go not get much traffic from Yahoo directory.

 

You'll get very little traffic from the directory itself- the benefit is the gain in natural SERPS.

 

Thanks for all the input. MJ mentioned BOTW. I just checked - and they want $50 a year (or $150 lifetime). I didn't know they were prominent enough to be mentioned in the same breath as Yahoo and Dmoz. Would you suggest them over Yahoo?

I guess I should give you some background too... Basically, I shot one of the web's first viral videos. It sat on my site (it was virtually the only thing on my site) for years, with no advertising or adsense or anything. It was so popular that to this day (7 years later) I get 500-10,000 people a day downloading it. So, recently I thought I should start doing something with all this traffic - so added adsense and revver - and am slowly adding a lot more content (humor). It's going to take me all summer to build the site up to where I want it to go - and am starting to think about promotion now. I get top 1-3 serps on the title of my video (out of thousands and thousands of sites that have pirated it - when I discovered youtube, more than 40 different users had uploaded my video as their own) - but virtually nothing with any other keywords (obviously). And, since I never advertised the site before, I'm not listed in any directories, have very few links, etc...

I've been lurking here for a while and have picked up a ton of great tips (thank you everybody). After spending $3 on this board (and writing one article), my Alexa ranking went up 80% (and reach 700%) within days.

So, basically, I have a site that doesn't sell a product (will have to rely on advertising to make money). Obviously, adsense doesn't pay too well (there's really no way to target my visitors and they aren't looking to buy anything). So, I don't want to spend thousands of dollars just to get listed in a handful of directories - but, my traffic is good enough to afford some decent listings/links. Just trying to figure out what I should do....

Thanks everyone,

Bob

 

I don't think BOTW is in the same league as Yahoo or DMOZ, but its $150 vs. $300 a year. If you are already ranking well, I wouldn't look to a directory for traffic. You should submit your site to DMOZ, but it can take a long time before your submission even gets looked at. I have a dozen or so DMOZ listings and the traffic they bring, even from top level categories, is very, very small. Directory listings are more for helping you with your natural rankings rather than direct traffic. I think BOTW is offering a free two month sponsorship right now. You can give it a try and cancel if it isn't working out for you. Good luck.

 

http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=16255

http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=23429

http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=14719

http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=13321

http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=1532

 

I know it is a FAQ, but I am still undecided too!! If you do submit, do you think you will get more/better SE listings on Yahoo? If so considering the amount I spend on adwords it would be fairly inexpensive!! (I struggle on Yahoo )

 

If your category in the Yahoo! directory is ranking well in the SE's then I'd say it's definitely worth it.

If not, I think new sites might be able to spend $300 better.

A few of my sites see quite a bit of traffic from the directory. I actually get a 'sponsored listing' in some cases.

 

As a side note... How many visitors do you think a listing in Yahoo is worth (ie. how many clicks are they going to send your way)? Obviously, that will vary greatly, depending on what category, etc...

In my case, even with a popular category such as humor, unless they throw literally thousands and thousands of visitors my way each year, it probably wouldn't be worth the money. And, I can't imagine that they send that kind of traffic, just from a directory listing. Or, do they? I've been a pretty heavy internet user since the days of baud - and I haven't used a directory to find anything in years (although with all the search engines returning nothing but 99%-completely-useless results for the last year or two - thanks you all you people here ;o) - I may have to start again.

Thanks,

Bob