Actually it's strange for me too, traffic is same or even a little better with no major change in its type, but paid submissions are almost zero in September (Free submission has been improved)! This is a very popular niche directory with lots of organic traffic. I checked many issues but still I can't find out the reason. I thought, this just has happened to my directory!
I see submissions decline near the end of every year. The reason for the decline is many companies advertising budgets get low or run out. The mom and pop type businesses never seem to stop unless the economy takes a serious nose dive.
I have to go back over old numbers to see this. Yes I know budgets drop-off after Thanksgiving or so (late November) but I don't recall them dropping this early.
Same here, my records didn't show such a huge drop in September of previous years. I think something different happen this year!
Interesting, from about October through February is peak for arts and crafts. Just assumed it would be for product-oriented listings in general directories too.
@hotftuna - not only directories, I suppose... ad revenues to my blogs tend to decline this month (AdSense income goes up, though...) @edzachary - that is a cool niche directory!
When I worked for a toy company they pretty much had Christmas wrapped up around July and were starting Valentine's Day. Most small, cottage industries don't think that far ahead. Also, do it yourselfer's need stuff up to and even after the holidays. More and more families have to work through Christmas and New Year's and aren't traveling to see each other until Jan and Feb. Buying a downloadable pattern can be done Christmas Eve whereas buying a toy has to involve shipping. Guess it's like everything in business - knowing your audience and catering to it is the key to success.
Was a bit trite... For me, I think things have remained fairly consistent. We've bot a pretty loyal customer base and a lot of REPEAT business, so that much remains pretty constant and consistent. As to decline or increase? I see strange spurts where things are pretty normal for what we typically see with a few spikes here and there. The spikes generally tend to come from people that submit to directories for other people and use us and other directories to do so. So as an example where I might see 2-3 paid submissions one day, the next could be 15-20 but more than 1/2 from one source. Decline? No. Growing leaps and bounds... eh, no. Consistent and constant, yeah. We continue to update the directory and keep people happy. To that end I think the repeat business and word of mouth is what keeps it growing.
Business has been quite normal for us. In fact we are seeing a growth from holiday marketers and SEO agencies.
Thought it was just me, i had zero paid submissions during September from what im aware. Not sure why.
OK September is over so I can better evaluate. August was my best month ever by far. Compaired to that, Sept was slow. It was still my second best month ever. So far in Oct, biz is dead. About 50%+ of my paid subs come from UK, AU , and Canada. Could it be that biz was booming as the USD was falling, and now that the dollar has gained over the last month, biz is effected?
I'm wondering if this is happening to Dir biz or all internet marketing businesses. With knowing this perhaps we could find out the reason.