Curious to know if people think that the directories who offer a premium/paid listing feature should at least show us what sort of daily visitors they are offering? i mean what's the point in paying money if no one can do their homework on the site metrics. i'm not looking for full disclosure of everything but even some disclosure of unique visitors would be nice to help us make a decision as to pay or not to pay.
I guess if you are paying to be listed, some sort of information on the number of daily visitors is not unreasonable. But if the directory says "NO", then what can you do? Sometimes, it is not in the directories' best interest to disclose these types of information.
Yeah- I know some are leary of such disclosure. BUT, for those who disclose, it might result in a few more sales for them because they are open and honest about this. what do you think? does transaprency work in this case?
Umm... how many people actually expect traffic from directories? Anything more than a handful of referrals / month is unusual from my experience. Also, traffic constantly changes, and that won't let you know how many people actually click through to your category and then on your listing.
BINGO! When you pay for a premium listing, you are paying for visibility, and position not traffic. If the directory owner does the same, your chances of being seen by someone else posting a listing in that same directory or category are improved greatly. Traffic though?... Naaaahhhh!
If the stats are good, then maybe they could be displayed automatically, not upon request. If they are bad, better find an excuse...
Driven, I've seen in a few of your posts in other threads that you are concerned about the traffic a directory gets. Forget about it, seriously. Directories are not about traffic. At least not directly from the directory. There are a few that get some decent traffic. But really, 90% of that traffic, if not 99%, is simply other webmasters going there to submit a link. So even if the directory was stating its traffic stats, it still does not tell you much. Unless you are targeting webmasters, then you should probably pay for sponsored placement in order to be seen. Directories are PRIMARILY (almost soley) about back links. Submit to lots of them. Free and Paid. Lots of them! Lots and lots, hundred's. Get lots of back links. Place the keyphrases you are targeting in the title (anchor text) of your submission. With paid directories you are paying for higer PR links. To determine if paying for a listing is worth while, look at the page your listing will be landing on. Is the directory passing PR to internal pages? Often these paid directories are also long established domains with lots of trust factor. So even if you land on a deep PR0 or PR1 page, the link still has lots of value. It takes a fair bit of time, but after you are in lots of directories, a bunch of smaller ones and a few biggies, those links should start to translate into better search engine rankings for the keywords/phrases you are tageting. This is where the traffic will realy be comming from. Dont forget to combine this with getting back links from other websites, paid links and reciprocal links. Did i mention you should submit to lots of directories. Set aside a small portion of your day and just submit to a few each day.
Well, I don't know what your main business is but I'm web designer. So if I was to get one client a month from a directory, then I've made my money back for the entire year of the directory. It can cost anywhere b/w $5 to $75 for a year of premium listing. If I knew the traffic was decent, I would do it. That's true. Though, I'm sure if the directory owner truly wished, they could provide some level of metrics for certain meta categories [ie; business services, internet, etc...] Any good directory owner worth his salt wouldn't be bashful about disclosing their site stats...it only makes them look better in front of their competition.