Well according to UK250 it's now £269 per annum.
OUCH - that's a serious amount to pay - in fact even Yahoo directory doesn't charge that much (incedentally a £199 one off fee)
So what do you get:
1. Well it gets a fair bit of traffic agreed - but I doubt it's much more than a million page impressions a month (anyone got hitwise to run a check?)
2. No direct link! I just checked a number of sites and they either feed through a jumppage or are linked to a UK250 frame (see next)
3. A delightful frame around the page that users click through to.... if not through a jumppage
4. A directory that is not exactly cutting edge design or in fact a design that is even recent (see [web.archive.org...] for May 16th 2001!)
All in all there are better deals out there in webland and I for one will not pay more than Yahoo for points 1 to 4 and for an annual fee.
I still believe directory links are very important, not just to users but also in the ranking algorithms of search engines.
£269 a serious amount to pay - that depends on the ROI that the spend will give you. Afterall its a marketing expense and like any type of marketing there is no guarantee of success - but if that £269 leads to £10,000 net profit - then it's not all bad is it?
Unlike you stated, I would definately pay more for directory links greater than the £199 at Yahoo! Why? Well, If I have a site selling widgets and there is an authority widget directory that gets a great deal of traffic - probably more targetted traffic than a Yahoo link - then it would be worth the marketing expense in my opinion.
In comparison to offline marketing such as newspaper and magazine ads which can run into many thousands per annum a £200 plus annual fee is not a bad deal at all.
There are a number of good new UK directories appearing that I have recently come across. New directory sites tend to offer free or cheaper inclusion fees whilst they build up their database.
If you are looking for directories and not wanting to spend more than £269 I would check out these directories.
UK Based
intaTown
Splut
Global
JoeAnt
Skaffe
As well as the old familiar directories:
Yahoo!
DMOZ
Whatever the price of inclusion into directories the expense needs to be looked at from a marketing and ROI point of view and not just a "Im not paying more than Yahoo!" approach.
Welcome to WebmasterWorld.
I still believe directory links are very important
So do I - very much so. But as any good business, I look at the commerical outlay for my return. I therefore need to get evidence that the spend will ensure a profitable return.
and like any type of marketing there is no guarantee of success
Exactly my point. Spending £199, at least on Yahoo I know that I am gong to be listed on one of the world's three largest brand websites, am very likely to get some traffic and will also benefit from the backlink that most search engines use to measure the importance of my website.
Likewise, with say UKnetguide, I know it probably doesn't have the reach or the virtually guaranteed traffic, but then I am only paying £45 for a one off submission.
an authority widget directory
if it's that authorative, I would question whether it gets the traffic, but yes the link would be worth paying more for. This is not UK250's USP.
Skaffe
I thought these guys were under an investigation for having stripped data and passing off in the States?
the expense needs to be looked at from a marketing and ROI
Sure does - but how do you or I quantify a £269 spend as value for money when you can't find the stats to prove their long-term traffic. In addition their traffic does have a very heavy component of SERPS to bring the punters in so could be wiped anytime Google dances.
I think my point in this thread is that increasingly I see websites charging fees for listings. This is completely acceptable for a service that gives you an edge online. My surprise is that with no track record, there is very little evidence to prove that it is going to provide you with value for money.
Unfortunately until ABCE auditing becomes cheap enough for most sites to afford to measure traffic, it is either a brave company or a foolish Man that would part with that sort of money without more information - IMHO.
If you want to keep on top of the best directories / search engines in the UK, [all-uk-search-engines.co.uk...] is a great barometer.
Hopefully I will be proved wrong and someone can provide me with proof that £269 is a great deal for UK250. :)
The way I value this kind of thing is to compare it to an equivalent minimum price PPC campaign. Could someone submitting be certain of 2690 qualified clicks per year?
That's 7 clicks from UK250 per day at least. Off the top of my head I would say that it is an unlikely quantity for an average site, but not unachievable.
I know that for the directory that I run, it can take anything from a few hours to three weeks depending upon how many submissions there are. They often come in batches, which causes a build up.
I would imagine that at £269, they get a lot less submissions, but this will also mean that they probably get the sites reviewed a lot faster.
