Which Directories Bring the Most Traffic?

Are the one-time fee directories worth it?

[wiskur]

I have a very small e-commerce site that I run as a part-time business out of my home as extra income from my "real" job.

I have very good placement on the search engines, including google, but am looking for other revenues to generate traffic.
I am in DMOZ and get 2-3 vistors a week from them. I went to go sign up for Joeant.com and saw they want a one time sign up fee of $39.

Does anyone know if it will it generate enough traffic to be worth it? Someone said that it helps with Google, but I'm already pretty high up. I just hate spending the money for maybe one visitor a week.

Other directories I'm considering are:
galaxy.com
goguides.com
Gimpsy.com
Are these recommended and how much traffic can I expect? (I don't think I'll get much). I haven't checked to see if they have sign-up fees.

Thanks for any info you have.

[gnikiv]

Hi,

I use Dmoz, GoGuides.org and JA, but not for their direct traffic. They are regularly spidered by the SE's and that makes them valuable.

If you have to choose between GG and JA, I'd lean towards GG as your listing would be immediately available after being reviewed. JA only updates I believe once a week.

...or, if you need to save. You can become an editor at them and submit for free. Just be sure to write objective descriptions and follow their guidelines.

[mrdch]

Hi,

> will it generate enough traffic to be worth it?

Noone can answer such a question fully, really. If a one time fee of 25 USD (Gimpsy) or 40 USD (Goguides/Joeant) will bring you 10 visitors / month, (or 30, or 100, or?) will you consider it a good investment? The variables for calculating your ROI are only known to you!

Significantly, you say that you are well positioned in Search Engines, which brings you a nice flow of traffic. It may surprise you but position is also highly relevant in directories too! For example, many companies tried very hard to get their name to start with 'a' so that they will appear first when sorted alphabetically in Yahoo.

Similarly, click-through stats published by Gimpsy show that 70% of all the clicks were made on the first 10 sites in each category, and 25% on the first two! Thus, your traffic level may be directly related to your position in that directory!

If you are asking about the GENERAL level of traffic, I guess your only yardstick is to examine the Alexa ranking. It's not perfect - but it's an indication.

Hope that helps

MC