$299 Yahoo directory listening fee. Worth it?

[Ringr]

Hello everyone,

I have a question for you guys. Do you think it would be worth it to pay the $299 annual fee to Yahoo to have a developed website I own (gets about 2k hits a day) listed in their directory? Have any of you ever did it or know anyone who has, did the traffic go up much?

I'm really debating if I should or not. $300 is a lot of money out of my paycheck (actually it's my whole weekly paycheck. )

Thanks,
Andy

 

[blue^ray]

sorry newbie here but is this just the search engine?? yahoo.com?

am i missing something cause $299 for a insert seems alot.

 

[peter phillips]

I think it depends on the category that you'll be listed in. Some don't get any traffic and those that do are often overpopulated with other web sites.

 

[photoshopfreak]

If it were a weeks paycheck then i wouldn't bother with the Yahoo directory...

It may turn out to be worth it in the long run but exactly how long, 1-5 years?

 

[vslevin]

sorry newbie here but is this just the search engine?? yahoo.com?

am i missing something cause $299 for a insert seems alot.

No, the Yahoo search engine is free, we are talking about the directory.

I would not recommend paying $299 for inclusion. If you can get your site listed into DMOZ, which is free, then you will automatically get into the Yahoo and Google directory. DMOZ can be hard to get into, but I don't think its worth it to shell out the big bucks for Yahoo.

 

[nicholas]

Put good content on your site and run it off at dmoz.org then wait and continue keeping good content, all the while working to get links from other relevant websites.

That'd more likely bring you a lot more benefits than coughing up a week's paycheck.

In fact, talking about a week, you're better off working several days to promote and get links for your site.

 

[Ringr]

That's the funny thing, I royally hate DMOZ with a passion. I'm not going to give the URL of my site for privacy reasons, but it's been around for over one and a half years now, it is a network that covers a certain game and each game in the series has its own website, it gets thousands of hits every day, and last but not least: apparently out of all the fansites for this certain game - mine is one of the lucky few that is "good enough" that the publisher/designers of the actual game acknowledge my network about this game and send me private updates like they do to Gamespot, IGN, etc. I also get goodies once in a while from the company.

With that being said, I've been trying to submit the freaking site to DMOZ for the last one and a half years as well. They refuse to accept it, I don't know why. It certainly should meet any quality standards they have, it's chock-full of information, it's regularily updated, and DMOZ refuses to accept it into their directory. I have tried every which-way possible to get it listed in DMOZ, I bet I try once every two months to get in there. They never give me any valid reasons, they just ignore me.

So err, there's my scoop about DMOZ.

Can you guys add or suggest I do anything else?

Thanks,
Andy

 

[sbweb]

Hi Andy,

If you are expecting any significant traffic from Yahoo directory, I would not spend the $299. Most searches are made via the search engine.

I have submitted my site to Yahoo directory for $299, but have not seen any noticeable increase in traffic. However, I will tell you that a link from the Yahoo directory is quite powerful in an indirect way. What I mean by this is that you won't see much direct traffic from it, but simply having the link from Yahoo will help your search engine rank positioning.

If you decide to spend the $299, try to obtain a link in a category with a high PR. But be careful. The $299 is only a review fee, and Yahoo doesn't guarantee that your site will be included in the directory.

If you want a more affordable option, you may want to try listing your business in Business.com ($199). Again, you won't see much direct traffic, but the indirect affects are beneficial. I have seen my listing included in their partner sites as well, such as inc.com and businessweek. This was something I didn't expect, but having strong PR links pointing to your site are best for natural search listings.

Best regards,
Steve

 

[Richieboy67]

The only way to get a decent listing in the yahoo directory is by paying..... If I had the money I would do it. I did so on one of my sites a couple years ago and it worked wonders actually.....

I think the major diffrence is the time factor....

I disagree with those who think the big engines are over rated.... Most of my sites stats come from the big ones... yahoo, google and ask now or whatever that one is called.. Can't think of it right now but those are the major referring sites for me....

 

[vslevin]

Most of my sites stats come from the big ones... yahoo, google and ask now or whatever that one is called.. Can't think of it right now but those are the major referring sites for me....

Are you thinking about MSN?

 

[peaudecastor]

If you doesn't care that much about money.
A link from Yahoo is always worth it. It's not the best bang for your bucks though. I could build you a list of smaller paying directory that could add up to 299$ and give you far better results.

You get a good backlink. Some decent traffic (depending on the category and your position on it).

One thing to keep in mind though, that made several people not renew their subscriptions.

Yahoo will use your directory description in their search engine. Which is shorter than the description snippet they would otherwise pick.

 

[Richieboy67]

Yahoo will use your directory description in their search engine. Which is shorter than the description snippet they would otherwise pick.

Right... That makes it worth it right there...

David --- ask.com -- I don't know much about them but these are my stats just for today.. ask.com is on top.. Usually they are number 3..

www.ask.com 241 35.03%
search.yahoo.com 194 28.20%
www.google.com 145 21.08%
uk.ask.com 24 3.49%
www.google.de 11 1.60%
www.google.ca 9 1.31%
search.ask.com 5 0.73%
iwon.ask.com 4 0.58%
google.co.uk 4 0.58%
www.google.nl 3 0.44%



Not a single hit from msn.....

 

[drifta]

weird richieboy...
ask.com is a shitter for me
all my sites get close to 0 hits from ask

Google 401 50.9 % 401 50.9 %
Yahoo 244 31 % 244 31 %
MSN 115 14.6 % 115 14.6 %
Unknown search engines 6 0.7 % 6 0.7 %
AOL 5 0.6 % 5 0.6 %
Dogpile 5 0.6 % 5 0.6 %
Netscape 3 0.3 % 3 0.3 %
AllTheWeb 2 0.2 % 2 0.2 %
AltaVista 2 0.2 % 2 0.2 %
Excite 1 0.1 % 1 0.1 %
WebCrawler 1 0.1 % 1 0.1 %
Baidu 1 0.1 % 1 0.1 %
Search.com 1 0.1 % 1 0.1 %


msn is always first to index my sites and start sending traffic

with yahoo dir you gotta make a decision weather that backlink and the traffic from it is going to earn you back the $299 over the next year. its alot of money tho...

 

[Amnezia]

It would depend upon the revenue model of your site. Getting listed in yahoo will improve your trafiic from yahoo, if the boost in traffic results in a increase in yearly revenue greater than $299 then it is worth it, if it doesn't then it is not worth it. Business 101

 

[dan_Vt]

That's the funny thing, I royally hate DMOZ with a passion. I'm not going to give the URL of my site for privacy reasons, but it's been around for over one and a half years now, it is a network that covers a certain game and each game in the series has its own website, it gets thousands of hits every day, and last but not least: apparently out of all the fansites for this certain game - mine is one of the lucky few that is "good enough" that the publisher/designers of the actual game acknowledge my network about this game and send me private updates like they do to Gamespot, IGN, etc. I also get goodies once in a while from the company.

With that being said, I've been trying to submit the freaking site to DMOZ for the last one and a half years as well. They refuse to accept it, I don't know why. It certainly should meet any quality standards they have, it's chock-full of information, it's regularily updated, and DMOZ refuses to accept it into their directory. I have tried every which-way possible to get it listed in DMOZ, I bet I try once every two months to get in there. They never give me any valid reasons, they just ignore me.

So err, there's my scoop about DMOZ.

Can you guys add or suggest I do anything else?

Thanks,
Andy

I know it can take longer than a couple months to get listed in DMOZ (sometimes a lot longer), and, I believe, every time you submit a site to the directory it gets placed at the back of the queue. So if you submit a site, and two months later do it again, your back where you started.

Try just waiting. All I can suggest.

Dan