bhartzer - 6:55 pm on Apr 23, 2012 (gmt 0)

There are a few directories that are "worth it", if in fact it's directories where you want to be listed. Yahoo! Directory, Best of the Web, and DMOZ are still "safe" directories, as well as Business.com (although it may be going away at some point).

When it comes to the Chamber of Commerce site(s), it's not necessarily the link directly from the Chamber of Commerce--it is the fact that the Chamber site(s) tend to have a lot of good authority sites pointing to them which makes the Chamber site(s) more trusted by Google.

Other "safer" sites, where you would expect to have a link or listing tend to be industry-related. Whatever industry you're in, most likely there are sites that have business directories with the companies in that industry.

Another option would be to start writing and providing some content to industry magazines or industry sites--in order to get a bio link back to your website and recognition in your industry.