I own a directory, and I get lots and lots of submissions, many of which aren't automated. If I had a path a user could take to get a free premium link without paying, do you think that many would bite? It would probably involve doing a little info submit to a sponsor or something.
Ew. Personally I wouldn't. I stay away from websites like that. Why make people sign up for things they aren't interested in? It's only a lose-lose situation for you and your "sponsers". Making people click ads for premium listings is wrong. But that's my opinion. It would be interesting to see how others respond.
Like Snowblind, I would stay away. Do you have in mind something along the lines of a paid survey, only the payment would be in the form of a premium link? Because there are lots of places people can go to get paid actual money for surveys (although the rate is usually peanuts).
Plus you'd get banned from the affiliate network if they didn't allow incentivised leads, and when the companies followed up on these they'd get no or little response.
I could be wrong but I think you guys are not understanding the question. I suspect the OP is suggesting something like "click here for a free premium link" as opposed to requiring folks to click on an affiliate or PPC ad. I think someone did this a few years ago. The funny part was how few people found the link. To get it to work, I think you would have to move the link from time to time otherwise folks might add the "trick" to their directory of directories lists. It's an interesting idea but I think you would have to place a limit on it otherwise you might find yourself with too many premium links. Depending upon the script, I would maybe set up a hierarchy that orders the listings something like - paid premium, the freebie premium and then the free submissions. You don't want to reward the real submitters at the expense of the paid ones.
No, I only use incentivizable offers and they're just email and address submit CPA's. I bet if I used one that just required email submit it'd be more attractive, they just pay less.
Heh that's true. I'm interested in outside the square thinking to make money from directories ilikenwf, but I think you're on the wrong track. Maybe there's other ways you can use premium links as incentives.