21 replies to this topic

[Dwain Dibley]

Hi Guys! Long time no post but I thought I'd better make a start and get back into chatting with you all.

My question is, is the Microsoft Small Business Directory worth joining and are the SEO and small business tools they offer any good?

The link to the directory is here http://sbd.bcentral.com/ but if any of you are using it then your comments on the service and what you can do with it would be welcome.

Thanks

BBB

It's good to be back

[discountdomains]

I submitted and got a very rapid boost in my ranking on MSN, I am guessing but I think it has a similar effect as the Google Directory to Google.

Ie its used to help categorise etc.

Its also only $99 for 3 URL's

Clare

[Dwain Dibley]

Thanks Clare, do you find the SEO tools useful or does it conflict with what may be suggested on sites like this forum? e.g. do's and don'ts of SEO (I would have thought it didnt but interested)

Also can you use it to quickly look at other sites e.g. you have 3 urls but you have 4 or 5 other ones that you could run through the reporting software just to give you a few hints and tips.

e.g. in Google you can use the keyword tool to help you with keywords for any site, even though you may only use Adwords for one url.

Hope this makes sense

Thanks


BBB

[Jill]

If they're still using auto-submitting tools, then I would run far away.

Jill

[dmart]

Clare,

When you submited your site, could you have just submitted to the bcentral directory (without using the auto-submit features), or do they make you do auto-submit, which Jill suggests to stay away from?

thanks.

[discountdomains]

I would never touch any auto-submit type product or site.

The MSN Small Business Directory uses a conventional category selection process, then add url routine.

Not tried any of the tools.

I like their directory because they allow 9 anchor text links to pages in your site for each listing.

Clare

[SearchRank]

I thought about suggesting this for a client and then seen all the auto submit crap. So, Clare, it sounds like the tools are available to auto submit but if a person doesn't want to use them and only wants to be listed in the directory, they have that option. Is this correct?

[Dwain Dibley]

The pages have good PR though! Check out the demo flash movie that explains the tools and see what you all think.

Not going to apply just yet anyway...off to Mongolia for three weeks!!

[dmart]

I would never touch any auto-submit type product or site.

The MSN Small Business Directory uses a conventional category selection process, then add url routine.

Not tried any of the tools.

I like their directory because they allow 9 anchor text links to pages in your site for each listing.

Clare

Thanks for the info Clare. It sounds worthwhile to try them out.

[discountdomains]

http://sbd.bcentral.com/

select your category then add site from the footer.

Clare

[Extranet Guy]

I had never heard before that bCentral did anything for rankings in Google, Yahoo, etc. (like listings in Google and Yahoo directories do). Has anyone else found this worthwhile, just for the increase in rankings or for the traffic it brings (I'm not real interested in the tools).

[Jill]

Any directory link is certainly worthwhile to get.

[vmills]

I just called bCentral and was told there is no way to get the directory listing and shut off the automatic submission service. It kicks out submissions every 30 days. When I told the sales rep I thought it was odd that they were offering a service that was in direct violation of most major search engines terms and conditions and that they were asking people to pay for a service that could actually hurt them, he said "We've been getting great results, and no one has been kicked out of a search engine because of us." Maybe this is just a way for Microsoft to pester Google.

[SearchRank]

Count me out then. I don't need a service that is going to automatically submit my site to a bunch of places on an ongoing basis.

[bardsmaid]

I had a client recently who decided to submit her site through bCentral (because she didn't believe me when I told her she didn't need to resubmit--that the SE spiders would find the new pages.) She mailed me, disgruntled, to say that when she ran her site through their 'optimize for submission' software, it told her every page needed work. When I went in and looked at what they'd said, and ran a scan on a page myself, it told me that a) that there were no title tags (there were, big as day), and that the title tags needed keywords in them (yep, they were there, too.) Their program also said the keyword phrase appeared only once on the page, but I counted 17 instances of it (this was a very long FAQ page, not keyword-stuffed.)

So.

I told her what I'd found, and she contacted them to get an explanation for the (multiple) glitches. I haven't heard back from her, but I assume she'd already shelled out some money to Microsoft for this, and she definitely wasn't pleased.