Ajdee

[Se0]

I would also like to let people know about http://www.ajdee.com web directory. Again I'm not affiliated with them but I regularly submit my clients websites there. I think Ajdee is very often overlooked by people when they talk about top directories.

[smindsrt]

I often submit site there as well. It's a good directory. :)

[AussieWebmaster]

I have my doubts about this one.... they go straight for the recip and then are all about selling other services.
They may have been better served by letting people build it through free submissions (they have that old faithful subit to 18 free button) and once established started converting to sales of links etc.

[Se0]

I have my doubts about this one.... they go straight for the recip and then are all about selling other services.
They may have been better served by letting people build it through free submissions (they have that old faithful subit to 18 free button) and once established started converting to sales of links etc.

What do you mean recip? They ask a payment for a site submission. You can disagree with this, and that is ok, but they don't ask for any recip links. What I like about this one is that they offer $1 submission for noncommercial sites, and they have superb customer service. I think $25 one time fee for commercial sites is very reasonable and I submitted more then once. I also submit to other commercial directories I like. For example incrawler.com and linkopedia.com and many others. What do you mean by "and then are all about selling other services". As much as I know they offer just one other service, and that is site review. I used this service, and I think it has a value. What is wrong about offering people usable services?

Anyway I think many people will agree that many commercial web directories with a reasonable one time fee are good to submit to.

[AussieWebmaster]

First, though PR is not part of the anchor text, the directory pages have no PR - and the submissions do not seem to be done for anchor text per se.

Second, while I agree $25 is not too much for a directory listing - it should have some return value and at this point I do not see it from here - besides I trust you have submitted to all the free directories before getting to this one.

[Connie]

First, though PR is not part of the anchor text, the directory pages have no PR - and the submissions do not seem to be done for anchor text per se.

Second, while I agree $25 is not too much for a directory listing - it should have some return value and at this point I do not see it from here - besides I trust you have submitted to all the free directories before getting to this one.

Agreed. I won't even submit to a free directory if the page I'm going to be on has a gray TB. I don't mind a 0 PR page, but when its gray makes me wonder if that page is under some kinda penalty.

[seobook]

I dont like the services upsell on the directory listings and of course just like most directories it could find ways to be better. I usually do not look at most directories on a per link basis, but more upon a 50 links or 100 links for X price. as long as the site is decent I think the current Y! Search and MSN Search algorithms provide decent value for money in directory submission so long as you can afford to drop a few grand on them.

[Se0]

AussieWebmaster: First, though PR is not part of the anchor text, the directory pages have no PR

I just checked it out and it shows PR on almost all pages, are you sure your toolbar is ok? Maybe you need to reinstall it or something.

[Estrange]

also proper directories give you ibls as well, like mine ehem.
business.com standart inclusion $200 and you'll listed with dozens of other sites, to share pr4. umm that doesn't look like logical to me.
I would go for smaller, well-organized directories with lower prs to spend my $200.

[seobook]

also proper directories give you ibls as well, like mine ehem.
business.com standart inclusion $200 and you'll listed with dozens of other sites, to share pr4. umm that doesn't look like logical to me.
I would go for smaller, well-organized directories with lower prs to spend my $200.
keep in mind that Business.com also spends $$$ on PPC ads (such as AdWords) and tends to rank for a good # of search queries.

with Business.com you are not just buying the link for links sake...you could also make decent sales from the listing itself.

[AussieWebmaster]

I have ahd this argument with business.com for close to 2 years... but ultimately they provide profitable traffic for me and what the hell.... that and a cool rep has made me realize that fair exchange is no robbery...

[Estrange]

keep in mind that Business.com also spends $$$ on PPC ads (such as AdWords) and tends to rank for a good # of search queries.

with Business.com you are not just buying the link for links sake...you could also make decent sales from the listing itself.
well if you get good trafic, fair enough. So people use "some" directories to find company websites...
This might be a good answer for people who doesn't believe directory traffic.

[seobook]

well if you get good trafic, fair enough. So people use "some" directories to find company websites...
This might be a good answer for people who doesn't believe directory traffic.
search algorithms have turned links into a commodity / currency.

the more traffic search engines control the more value things which manipulate their search relevancy have.

many links which drive nill traffic still have value based on what they do to search engines.

I think where people run into problems is when they simply let a category type or classification dictate where value is.

some people think "well it is a directory so it has to be good" or "well it is a directory so it should be a one off fee" or "well it is a directory so its not that important"

the directory business model works well for many people but as it has got more popular you run into lots of things like
- people redirecting a directory at a high pagerank site to fake those linkage details to sell fake value
- people creating directories that sell links to anyone who wants to list with no regard to clasification or relevancy. moreless paid free for alls.
- people creating reciprocal link directories which have many of their own high margin sites easter egged throughout
- rubbish directories created just for adsense
- directories which are just a list of client websites clustered in with other authority sites
- people creating general reciprocal directories which require you to link back to some sponsor website

to counteract these things (and other ones I may have forgot to post or have not yet recognized them for what they are) search engines adjust their algorithms or penalize some of the directories just like they penalize any other site.

to see the value of any particular link you need to consider both its direct and indirect value and how that may change over time.

blogs or directories or blah blah blah are not inherantly good or bad, they are just different content management systems or ways to clasify / dissiminate information.

as time passes more and more various publishing systems and information retrieval systems will come about.

as each of them gains perceived value people will follow the market and create leeching systems which extract profits off them. (guestbook or blog comment bots, directory links to rubbish sites, fake directories, etc)

some ads will be short term buys and some will be long time buys. amongst the noise in any system there will be underpriced and overpriced ad buys. you have to look at a lot more than just price to figure out what you are buying though.