The paid submission has been raised in a couple of threads see
[webmasterworld.com...]
[webmasterworld.com...]
But we don't seem to have covered it in a thread of its own. So I thought I better create this thread to discuss the available options and implications in more detail.
The main option is the express inclusion at £105 for 1 years inclusion. This appears to provide the same service as the original inclusion with the aded bonus of the newest site going to the top of the directory category listing.
Then there is surf tip at £573 / year which gives you a thumbnail of the home page and top placing in a top level category.
They have also got index and bundle which appear to be a UK version of the Lycos InSite service from the .com engine (basically the FAST PFI service)
So do these services provide value for money?
Express for a 12 month inclusion seems to be a good target if you have an ecommerce site. Significantly less expensive than the hardcopy yellow pages in the UK, but on the other hand probably not as good value as Looksmart UKs current offering (how long this will remain the case is a matter of debate with the potential closure of MSN UK)
Surftip, potentially a real traffic generator for successful B2C websites - Lycos has a good home user base following its TV advertising. The top category placement is a new idea and could pay dividends if you are in a competitive market or have a wide product range.
Index and Bundle, do these provide anything new? FAST appears still to be indexing new sites for free when it finds them, so unless you are doing a really fast optimisation job on a site this is probably not an option.
This leaves a couple of questions open, will the directory listing still transfer to the standard SERPS? (it appears to be doing so at the moment)
Will the Express or Surftip inclusion give you benefit in the general search SERPS?
What will happen to the base of sites previously included for free in the directory?
Many of the older sites listed were 404s so a refresh won't do any harm ar all.
At least they don't take your money unless you get in unlike Y! (surftip package)
seems to be quite good value, but only time will tell.
Dazz
For a long time the free inclusion in the Lycos UK directory was the backdoor to top results in lycos.co.uk - unfortunately what we have all feared for sometime has happened Lycos has made it pay for inclusion. (There is still free submit but they say it can take up to 6 months to get a site in - if anyone sees any sites in via the free submit please let us know.)
ah ha ... i submitted a site to the lycos uk directory a few weeks ago and spent ages going round in circles trying to find the free submit. i didn't realise the paid option was for the lycos directory, i thought it was for the listings in FAST DB!
They appear to have been removed :(
Just been through some of mine and they are all there.
what cat was yours in ?
Dazz
to be honest i am a bit dissapointed that they have deliberately removed us in the hope that we will pay to be listed again.
not happy :(
Shak
They seem to have moved from UK sites to the Fast English index, they do it a few times but always revert back.
