When advertising for a directory, do you think its better to target business owners directly or SEO company reps?
I agree that the answer is both, for general directories. However, when marketing to site owners directly; it requires a bit of education on SEO, back links, the purpose of directories, etc. As a niche directory owner, I get very few valid submissions form SEO companies. Most use automated tools and don't fill out the extra fields I require and/or the submissions are for unrelated sites.
Well, I don't know that's what they are doing but it does seem that the special fields are most often filled with keyword lists. Of course, it is a bit of text that's easily available for most submission companies.
I remember back in the day I used to Auto fill tools as a Chrome or Firefox extension. So I guess they might still be around (and that's not spammy cause its done on a site to site basis). But i figured Free Submission era is pretty much over
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Personally I prefer SEO/Web Professionals, marketing/website designers, etc.. People who have not only built quality web sites for their clients, but do NOT use automated submission tools and take their time to ensure they are categorically listing their clients web sites in the proper location. The extra time and care is noticeable, particularly when you look at the descriptions and keyword choices used when listing.
Extra time and care? Can't say as that has been my experience. It's the so-called web professionals who keep submitting real estate, dental and other unrelated sites to my niche directory.
I guess I should have added YMMV (your mileage may vary). It's not 100%, but its about 99.9% better than an automated DUMP. And that is what I was referring too. I also find that we tend to see a better quality submission because we have a fee structure. Without it, (and I know many will argue), you get spammed with 1000's of MFA, landing pages and other crap sites on a daily basis. People spending money tend to (not always) ... more often than not take time and care in the submission process. That's just been my experience the last decade. Again, YMMV.