Free Web Directories Vs Paid Web Directories - Is There Any Difference?
By: Popescu Ion
What Is A Web Directory?
A web directory is basically a listing of websites that are categorized by the type of website and not by keywords. Site owners will generally submit their website for inclusion in the directory, and then a human editor will review the site and decide if it is to be approved or rejected. Most web directories are made up of a huge range of categories and will accept submissions from mainly any type of website. There are also niche directories, which will only accept submissions from a particular niche. Some of the more popular types of niche directories include shopping, health, pets, and finance.
Paid Directories vs. Free Directories
There are many differences between a directory that will accept free submissions, and a directory that requires payment to be included. Free web directories have been exploited over the past few years by spammers and automated submitters that can submit a website automatically to thousands of directories in a matter of minutes. This makes it almost impossible for a directory owner to manually go through all of these submissions and review them in a timely fashion. The majority of the sites that are submitted are of extremely low quality, and are simply trying to get a link back to their site for free. At the present time, most submissions to free directories never get reviewed at all.
Another problem with a free directory is that after submission, many webmasters are hit with spam. The owners of these directories will oftentimes just try to get a valid email address, and then proceed to spam the person with junk mail and offers.
Paid directories are able to have a team of employees that will be able to manually review every website submitted. Most of the time, approval is extremely fast and you will be notified if your website is included. Because site owners are paying for inclusion, these directories are of much higher quality than free directories and will give your website a much more valuable link. Keep in mind that just because you are paying for inclusion, there is no guarantee that your website will be approved. Every directory has established quality guidelines that must be met, before a website can be listed. Most directories will provide a refund if a site is rejected, but sometimes this fee is non-refundable. Be sure you understand the policies before paying any money to a directory.
A great benefit to a paid directory is that many of the sites will have very high page rank. This means that they have a high trust factor with the search engines, and will give your website a major boost in rankings. A website can also get significant direct traffic that comes from a paid directory. People will often times search these directories looking for a particular type of website to visit. This can give you much more exposure and bring a number of potential customers to your site.
Paid web directories are still a valuable tool for the website owner. Of course, certain directories will give more "bang for the buck", but any type of additional exposure one can get will make a difference. The internet continues to evolve and competition grows each day, which is why paid directory submissions will continue to be utilized for many years to come.
About the Author:
Popescu Ion is an editor at jasminedirectory.com, a business web directory created to advertise companies, products and services.
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