Forum Moderators: martinibuster
[edited by: martinibuster at 4:08 am (utc) on April 26, 2006]
[edit reason] Removed commercial request. See Charter. Thanks. [/edit]
At the same time, it sure doesn't hurt to link out to other sites - the SE's seem to like it, if it's done in a natural, non-spammy way.
Dmoz takes too long, by the time they get around to listing you, you could have 3000 links to your site by other means.
Yahoo is expensive, and there's no guarantee of getting in. $200 is a LOT to spend on a basic directory listing, which would be better spent else where.
Forget 'mass mailings' - that's Direct Mail, and you need so many addresses for any decent success, it's a joke. Your ad will need to be so perfect to get major response it's hardly worth doing - unless you have 1 million contact details at hand......
I send out 1000 direct mail sales letters about every 2 months, and response is very low. 1000 emails will get you about 10 to 20 replies, and maybe only 6 will actually convert to a sale from that. It's different if you have 50'000 addresses to mail out to - but to be honest who has that many?
I know someone that has a list of 5000, and that's the largest list I know of. But that's direct mail for you. Your better of using a combination of techniques eg:
Link buying (2 links on 2 different major SE's)
Advert buying on targeted web sites
Telesales
Newsletter ads
Adwords
Yahoo is expensive, and there's no guarantee of getting in. $200 is a LOT to spend on a basic directory listing
Yahoo is $300 - annually recurring. and you can't just dismiss it as "expensive". what may be too expensive for a hobby site, may not be too expensive for a diamond wholesaler. it's all relative. what is the value of that listing to your site?
moreover, while the value may not be as high for a site that has existing traffic, it may be much more valuable for a site trying to get on the map. how much would you pay for a glass of water if you were dying of thirst?
I thought I just did.
Just because it's Yahoo, doesn't make their charges suddenly become reasonable. I'm not saying the link can't be useful - Yahoo is just a little pricey for me and there are levels and budgets that people have in mind and sometimes have to stick to or they overspend.
What I spend on Yahoo would easily get me 5 or 6 listings elsewhere and increase my number of quality links from the 1 yahoo link to 6. That's 6 times the link for the same price, and that's better value.
At this time, I'll take the 6 links over the 1. Never ever blow your ad budget on 1 thing, that's bad judgement and you'll pay the price in terms of traffic.
People forget (or just don't think) that Yahoo, Google etc aren't for the likes of start ups or small 1 page sites - Yahoo is for the large, er correction, massive multinationals that spend millions per year on ad campaigns and can afford to dump a few hundred on a listing.
Many don't have that luxury. I know the value of money, therefore I'm not stupid with it.
Just because it's Yahoo, doesn't make their charges suddenly become reasonable
uhhh.. yes it does. yahoo brings authority, credibility, and traffic. much moreso than most places online.
Never ever blow your ad budget on 1 thing
is your annual ad budget $300?
Yahoo is for the large, er correction, massive multinationals that spend millions per year on ad campaigns and can afford to dump a few hundred on a listing.
i would argue the validity of that claim. yahoo became a multi billion dollar company off of the small business owner. my guess would be that more than 95% of the paid listings submitted were not done by "multinationals that spend millions per year".
So, you don't necessarily have to pay to be in the Yahoo Directory - it depends on the category more than anything else, I suppose.
Anyway, you can still rank for things without incoming links! It's about the text on your site more than the links. If you are a brand new site you will probably not see rankings in G for about 9-12 months.
For example, I have an abandoned blog with NO incoming links. It's fun to check my stats and see what search queries are sending visitors to my site.
I think if you are a new site, focus on creating content and discovering what keyword phrases you want to compete in. This involves keyword research and competition analysis, and lots of time and effort -- or money if writing is not your forte.
As for linking, once you have a site that is full of content, you'll have a better chance of winning a backlink, whether that comes naturally or you request them.
That's 6 times the link for the same price, and that's better value.
