Paid $300 for Yahoo Directory, and got REJECTED :(

[fello]

I paid $300 to get listed into the Yahoo directory. Now 7 days later they get back to me that my site was rejected :( because "The site must contain substantively unique content that is not already accessible in the Yahoo! directory".

What should I do now? Those replying and begging them help or should I try to dispute the charges?

[NFFC]

"The site must contain substantively unique content that is not already accessible in the Yahoo! directory"

Are you saying that it contains substantively unique content that is not already accessible in the Yahoo! directory?

[kevinpate]

Uh, what would be your basis to the dispute the charges.
A mere glance at Yahoo paid submission information makes it clear the payment is for express consideration, not a promise to include the site.

Just two examples:
===
Yahoo! Express does not guarantee a listing in the Yahoo! directory, nor does it guarantee the type of placement or description that your site will receive if accepted.
....
I understand that there is no guarantee my site will be added to Yahoo!
===

It looks to me like you received exactly what they promised to deliver for their fee, a guarantee they would consider your site within a week.

[PatrickDeese]

I believe you now have 30 days to resubmit the site. I would suggest that you spend 28 days or so creating substantially unique content that is not otherwise present in the Yahoo directory.

[Loki99]

Every site that I've had to resubmit (but 1) was accepted.

Follow the clues from their letter to you.

[Fruit and Veg]

Do what PatrickDeese said for the next 28 days.

It's your only hope.

[caine]

twist the wording, and politely point how useful your site is too searchers, and the benefits it will have for searchers.

unique - unique - unique.

[ScottM]

Listen to the above advice. I had two sites rejected...and then added after I added what they requested.

[BaseVinyl]

"""twist the wording, and politely point how useful your site is too searchers, and the benefits it will have for searchers."""

But if it's NOT usefull to searchers and will have NO benfeits to searchers then twisting the wording and politely pointing out benefits is like pointing out a goat in a dress and saying it's cinderella.

[caine]

why would you submit then if its not beneficial to searchers - waste $300.00 USD - you must be incredibly Rich or Stupid to through away £300 for absolutely no reason.

Unless you think offering products to potential customers is only beneficial too the seller, no - no - no - no. Customers are the most important aspect of any commercial activity, everything else is second.

[Fruit and Veg]

BaseVinyl - don't even go there - she said her sisters were horrible, I took pity, I was drunk...the judge was lenient..I'm now banned from going to Wales ever again.

[Hawkgirl]

I've had sites rejected, too - spent about 10 hours tweaking for unique content and every site that has been rejected was ultimately accepted.

Their editors are pretty reasonable - so be sure to follow the guidelines as you tweak and you ought to be pleasantly surprised.

[PatrickDeese]

Judging from his profile, i think his site was an affiliate site.

Depending on the nature of the affiliate those can be tough to get into a directory with standards.

[BaseVinyl]

:)) Fruit and Veg!

[rogerd]

Fello, your options boil down to two major ones: if your site DOES have valuable and unique content not easily found elsewhere, then you need to be sure this content is easy to find and request a new review.

If your site doesn't contain unique and useful content, then you should probably create some in the window of time available to you. Otherwise, your $300 is down the sink.

As others have noted, Yahoo's standards aren't incredibly high, so a modest effort will most likely pay off with an inclusion.

[Hawkgirl]

> Yahoo's standards aren't incredibly high, so a modest effort will most likely pay off with an inclusion.

Very true. I've seen four sites with pretty much straight-up duplicate content getting included with very little problem. If they look different and have some unique content, that improves the chances considerably.

[caine]

I'm obviously from a different school than most. I've always respected the submission process to Yahoo - maybe why i have never been refused. I don't sweat about any other directory they are easy, yahoo i take my time and do it right.

[James_Dale]

>their editors are pretty reasonable.

Hmm, I've never had a site rejected, but I sometimes think the moral high hand goes a little too far with some directories. DMOZ is just plain ridiculous. And what is this insistence on 'Title must contain company name only' that so many directories seem to just love enforcing?

Imagine if I was looking for a jobs website. What the *@! would 'monster' tell me? It's just stupid. This is particularly a problem with Yahoo showing their directory title descriptions in their main SERPs. Next time, save your cash - I can't imagine spending a more futile $300. Yahoo is a directory listing which sends no actual traffic of its own, and can even have a negative effect on your primary SERPs (at Yahoo).

[JuniorOptimizer]

James_Dale, you're mistaken to claim that the Yahoo directory sends no traffic of its own. Depending on your category you may receive very decent traffic. Certainly a lot more than DMOZ or some minor directories.

[fello]

I emailed Yahoo to re-evaluate their decision but haven't gotten a reply yet. (It has been 6 days since I emailed them.)

$299 down the drain. :(

[rfgdxm1]

>Imagine if I was looking for a jobs website. What the *@! would 'monster' tell me?

The category that was listed in should make it obvious it is a jobs website.