Add URL to directory - pay for this??

I have been working on getting more backlinks for my site.
So I put into google keyword +add url

As I am checking out the possible places to add my listing, I notice one of my competitors seems to be on every one I have hit.

Some of these say $39.99 to add to listing, like Joeant

I find it hard to believe that my competitor spent $39.99 to add to each one of these directories.

Is there like a good one to pay for that most of these use or maybe two or three.

I don't like the idea of paying for some of these considering some don't have any PR or are PR2 like joeant.

Thanks for any advice

I think you can join joeant and the other lesser quality directories free as a moderator. The only directory worth paying for is probably yahoo.

There are plenty of free directories too...I wouldn't pay for a directry listing in anything except for Yahoo, and I haven't even pulled the trigger on that one yet.

I have paid for none... would only consider Yahoo if I needed them. Try some of these on this thread: http://forums.seochat.com/f55/s good luck.

I think you will find that Joe Ant is not huge and may not have a great PR, but it should send you some traffic. We got in way before they were charging and I think it's a pretty well run system and I see hits from them every month.

Someone from Joe Ant may have added your competitor....

We too have never paid for submissions and we submit to about 180 places for every client project, and that's by hand. Yes, many are very small and we are now working to weed out the ones that will never amount to much. But with so many submissons the traffic does add up, and we also get better PR, but that's not why we do it, just the traffic.

Where can I get a list of the 180 to add my site to?

Thanks for any advice.

There is a link to the Best Free Search Engine List in my signature. There is over 1,000 links to search engines, directories, and other resources.

[Edit} Looks like the sig is not working, but you can send me a PM and I'll let you know what the URL is... [Edit]

what wrongs with paying for a good directory that drives traffic and passes good pr and backlinks which are related... im lost,

I run a directory that charge £35.00 a year.... The directory is themed no listed which shouldn't be there.... so what wrong with that...

Yahoo directory listing gave on of my sites 30 visitor in a month. I'm giving some of my clients 200 + a month. off a pr 4/3 with a max 15 external links....

I think that a great deal so why oh why so bad....

thx

G

There is not a thing wrong with paying to be in a directory.

It's certainly part of MY ad budget.

I strongly believe paying for certain directory placement is a good idea.

There's nothing wrong for paying for a listing, but doesn't the listing have some value also? I prefer places that don't charge, just as we don't charge to be listed in our directory, becuase we feel we are providing good content and that adds value for the directories. I think offering premium listings for a fee is great, but not a regular listing.

Don't think I am down on any site that charges a fee, because I'm not, it's just not something I choose for myself (in general) and our clients. If everyone charged a fee, then what I do would be 2-3 times as expensive, or not even needed. Most small sites are not going to have that kind of budget to spend on their site. That's why free search is so great, it levels the playing field for small and large companies.

We make a bit of money from our directory, but just not off listing fees.

A good free directory is Dmoz.org ... Anyone know other good free directories ?

if you can find a directory that can bring enough targeted traffic to make it worth the fee, then it would be worth paying for. if you're just trying to get listed in the directory for the pagerank, then it probably wouldn't be worth it unless you were considering yahoo. even yahoo at $299 a year may not be worth it, though.

There are some small directories out there that give life time listings for a small fee and pass good PR. You just have to search for them. I have used them and will continue to do so.