12 replies to this topic

[collegeguy]

I just saw that Best of the Web has a sale on through the end of the year. I am debating on whether it would be worth it to submit my site. Site is a little less than 2 years old in what I think is a moderately competitive field. I currently have over 5,000 links according to Google webmaster and the ones I have sought are relevant to my topic. I am currently ranking in the 40's range for the primary keyword. The sites above me generally have much greater age but much fewer relevant links. Visible PR of home page is 4.

Any thoughts on whether this would be a worthwhile purchase?

Thanks in advance for your comments.

[Randy]

Well, if it helps any I've never submitted a single site of mine to botw. And I submit each of my sites to all of the places I think will help.

Personal opinion there, but you asked.

[cbp]

My opinion is the same as Yahoo! Directory. If you have a budget in the $1000's for link building, then it may be worth it; if you have a budget in the $100's, then spend your money somewhere else.

[ScottSalwolke]

Well, if it helps any I've never submitted a single site of mine to botw. And I submit each of my sites to all of the places I think will help.

Personal opinion there, but you asked.

I'm curios to know if there are some sites or directories you submit to regularly for your clients. Or if you do it on a case by case basis to niche sites.

[MaKa]

I do both, I've got a default list of UK directories that I submit sites to. After those I do a specific search for niche sites. I tend to resubmit once after a couple of months if the site hasn't been listed. Just in case the request ended up in the spam box. If it isn't listed then I forget about it.

[Jill]

I'm curios to know if there are some sites or directories you submit to regularly for your clients. Or if you do it on a case by case basis to niche sites.

Randy doesn't have clients.

[qwerty]

I've submitted a few sites to BOTW, but it's really hard to tell whether or not it's worth the money. I've never seen any direct traffic from the directory (but I don't track the traffic of all of those sites). It's impossible to say how much (or even whether) the link improved rankings. All I can say is that Google has always been pretty quick in picking up a listing there, so it seems they crawl it deeply and often.

By the way, isn't the sale they're currently running just on BOTW Local?

[collegeguy]

Thanks for all the comments. I am a small business owner so think I will spend my money elsewhere. As to the question of what the discount was for, it was my understanding that it was for the regular BOTW submission.

[Randy]

Offtopic

Randy doesn't have clients.

Thank God! Otherwise I'd have no sanity left at all!

[torka]

Offtopic

Thank God! Otherwise I'd have no sanity left at all!

Whaddaya mean, "left"? In order to have some left you have to have had some to start with...

--Torka

[oneofthe3lions]

Offtopic

Whaddaya mean, "left"? In order to have some left you have to have had some to start with...

--Torka

lol

Regards BOTW and many other 'directories' It often makes sense to simply see if BOTW (in this example) actually returns any relevant rankings for the terms that you (or more importantly your searchers are targeting). There are cases where a directory for that specific target phrase ranks highly, above your own website. Then it can definately make sense to be listed right?

Most 'generic' directories send very little traffic. Using something like  PPC[/hr] would 'guarantee' you relevant traffic and usually much more productive if done correctly for small businesses.

[freshpromo]

Any thoughts on whether this [BOTW] would be a worthwhile purchase?

It depends on what you're trying to achieve. If you're looking for IBL's simply for SEO purposes then I don't think BOTW is going to help much. If you're selling a product/service and are looking to drive potential customers to your site, then you'd have to find out if your target market uses directories like BOTW.

If you have money to burn, test it out. Hopefully you get some worthwhile traffic from it. But in my experience it's better to use your money at places where a higher percentage of web users are actually interested in your site topic. General web directories are usually very ineffective at that.

[Wezley]

It depends on what you're trying to achieve. If you're looking for IBL's simply for SEO purposes then I don't think BOTW is going to help much.

Actually, I think quite the opposite is true. If you're expecting traffic or looking to promote your brand I don't think you'll get much exposure there. However if you're looking for a little link-juice, it may be worth considering.