The green pixels in Google's toolbar are not important to the average Joe. It's important that your website has high rankings for keywords that convert to sales. Website promotion is about getting leads and sales. It's not about getting green pixels. If I wanted to impress the average Joe I could write a 301 redirect and cloaking page, whats the point in that. Don't focus on the PageRank display in Google's toolbar but try to get good rankings for keywords that are relevant to your website. High rankings for relevant keywords that convert to sales are much better than having a lot of green pixels
Very true and good points. With the average Joe not even knowing what a Directory is most of the time, your time is better spent on trying to educate anyone who may use your directory as to why they may benefit from them, but in laymans terms, always be patient with people and forget that your a webmaster for a moment. Speak to them as a human, let them know that a human exists behind the directory.