As you might now i am relatively very new member and want to know what you check before paying for listing in directory ? What are the main points to keep in mind before paying ?
By far the biggest thing to check is if the directory uses redirects or not. Redirects are when you hover your mouse over the directory listings links and get something other than www.mysite.com. You'll get something like www.directoryname.com/whatever.asp?id=124453w. That's bad. Google doesn't count these as links to your site. I also tend to stay away from the directories that are using the default layout of whatever script they are using. If someone can't take the time to customize their site with its own look and feel, then it probably won't last too long (maybe someone just playing around with the idea of owning a directory than taking it seriously).
1. Redirects or not 2. PR of the page (where the link will be placed) 3. No. of links on that perticular page. 4. No of pages indexed in major search engines 5. Alexa ranking (sometimes)
I agree with "maldives" + I have found some other features which should be in a directory. 1) navigation friendliness 2) categories don't have toooo much sub directories (it confuses people while submitting). Specific bt not category spam. 3) Don't submit your site to toooo many paid directories at a time. After submitting your site to 2-3 paid ones wait for 15-30 days , check visitors log and see whether you are getting any hits from there or not.
Is listing less than $1? Check. Most paid directories are worth two piles of feces in the face--oh and a minor PR boost. Traffic is usually non-existent. Take Uncoverthenet. $40 for? Some PR boost. In one year, I think I received two clicks from them. The category has about 10 listings so competition is fierce.
I seemed to get a bigger search engine boost from a couple choice links on other people sites than from a whole mess of directories.
Same practices as those abovementioned by maldives. Also : Has the category several pages? (the first page may have a PR, the last pages none)
Just one word more: if no Pr, I don't pay, but I may agree to exchange links if the link page has a google's cache
You got no boost from UncoverTheNet. Google banned them and their PR sent from 7 or 8 to 0. Precisely my point above about not worrying too much about the PR of some of these directories.
a3169 is selling his directory website http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=47934 PR 5 main page / PR4 on category page and then PR2 on submission pages. But bid is going to be around $3000
1. SE friendly nature 2. design & navigation of site 3. no. of link on page 4. link placemnet and inline addtional links (deep linking to other pages of site) 5. if detailed description page available (apart from normal category list) 6. time period for which listing is available 7. any other benifit or disscount offers i prefer not to worry much about traffic from directory. even its couple of refrals from it, they can be very potential and conversion rate to thease visitors is high.
PR is definitely a factor in submitting to a directory. Another thing to check is the "future pagerank" tool and see where the directory is going to "be" a few months from now. I submitted to several PR0 directories with introductory specials (ie: free submit or $5 lifetime and under submit), that were showing future pagerank. Once they get to PR3 or higher they will want $15-$50 per year or more, but when they're new, you can get in cheaper, also less listings to compete with... On the other hand, uncoverthenet, sitesift and others with PR4-5+ that charge $40 per year are not worth it to me when I can get 8-10 links for the same price, but just have to have a little patience while they grow. Just like in the MLM world, the only ones who prosper with little cash outlay are the ones who take chances on getting in at the beginning...
Like everyone said, I think the big points are first whether the directory is SEO friendly (meaning the pages are static). Next i'd look for the price, submission review time period, traffic, page rank, etc. As for people not wanting to pay for a listing, it all depends what type of website you run. All it takes is one sales through a directory to make your money back. The price for inclussion is pretty minimal when you compare it to how much people charge for advertising on website and how much link brokerage sites sell links for.