Paid directory listings

[monaghan]

Naturally Brian will say his directory is worth every penny

How do people generally find the result of being in directories like the Platinax one ? Do you get much passing trade from these sort of directories or is it mainly for SEO benefit ?

My main market is web hosting, ADSL & web related IT & SQL database consultancy.

[Ian W]

The limited experience I have with a paid directory showed that it is worthwhile to start getting visitors to your site.

As the number of vistors has grown, so the percentage of traffic from this directory has dwindled. It is now at the point where I may remove it when next years bill comes in.

Ian

[garyk]

I think they are a waste of time, why? One word 'google' people dont want to trawl directories looking for stuff. They want quick and simple results. The other problem is that there are literally thousands out there all diluting the efforts of each other.

Gary

[Brian Turner]

I think directories have their place as part of a general link building campaign - by which you can get search engine friendly links from a variety of IP ranges, and on pages that not only are topically related, but also will help raise the PageRank value of your website.

And, of course, it's also worth pointing out that some directories may generate real human user traffic in themselves, either from being used directly, or else from the directory ages ranking well in a search engine.

However, I certainly wouldn't advise using a single directory and hoping that this will alone do the trick for you - much as I like the Platinax Directory, I would never suggest someone spend £10 for a listing and then expect that to work as a panacea for an actual marketing/advertising/seo campaign.

Really, directories are something I think need to be done in volume, and as an SEO I can assure you that volume directory listings form an important element in my SEO campaign for larger paying clients.

I would also caution to look for a middle-ground - finding a way between simply submitting to free directories, and spending thousands on paid directories - neither extreme of which may generate returns.

A general mix of both a limited number of free directories, and a limited number of paid directories, in my opinion, can offer real and useful advantages as part of an overall SEO campaign, and this is precisely what I provide for clients.

So, submit to the Platinax Directory by all means - but try and get other directory listings as well.

I've written up a general piece on directories here:
http://www.platinax.co.uk/18-web-directories/

Hope that helps.

[monaghan]

Originally Posted by Brian Turner

However, I certainly wouldn't advise using a single directory and hoping that this will alone do the trick for you - much as I like the Platinax Directory, I would never suggest someone spend £10 for a listing and then expect that to work as a panacea for an actual marketing/advertising/seo campaign.

So I can't pay you £10 and then retire on the residual income then

I'll have a read and try and find a bit of time to walk round the directories adding myself here & there.

I currently have a PR4 on my 2 main hosting sites, am I likely to get much better than this with directories ?

What about the "passing trade" aspect ? Do directories tend to generate many non search engine customers ?

[Brian Turner]

I think it's fair to say that directories are a limited source of human traffic, but my viewpoint is principally one of an approach via SEO.

Speaking of which, I think it's fair to say there's an opportunity for some SEO work on your site as well.

[monaghan]

Brian,

Plenty of opportunity for some SEO, along with a nice tidy up of the design as well. I don't have the time or the funds at present (unless you want to do a freebie ) I did have a PR5 on monaghan.co.uk, but this appears to have dropped to PR4 now, but I guess that's partly to do with the content being static for quite a while.

So in summary, the most important benefit of directories is for SEO rather than direct leads, but there are still some who will find you from a directory listing.

[bizal]

Why pay when there are so many free ones unless it is very specific to your market i.e. if you sell pet food, being in a directory about pets would be good. This is why having an advert on here works great for us but not on other websites.