The Pain of Paid Directory Submissions
Why do some directories charge for submissions? Doesn't charging limit the number of submissions, thus making the directory itself a less valuable resource? This is something I've been trying to figure out while submitting a few sites I manage to a large number of online directories.
Here are my two theories on why directories charge for submissions:
1. To make the directory owner some money. It takes time and money to host and manage a directory, so this makes sense.
2. Filters out spam. Webmasters of spammy sites are in the volume business, so even a small charge for submissions discourages them from submitting.
However, charging money may have side effects such as discouraging good quality sites from submitting. For example, I stumbled across a directory this morning that charges one dollar for directory submissions. At $1, they probably do manage to filter out spam, and they're probably not going to get rich from it. But do they realize how much of a pain it is for a business to spend one dollar? While it's easy for a hobbiest to spend a dollar through PayPal to promote their blog, it's enough of a pain from a business perspective to skip the submission. The directory limits great sites with corporate backing from inclusion and the great sites miss out on some potential click throughs and link popularity over one dollar.
Do directories hurt themselves by charging a nominal fee, or is it a necessary evil to prevent the overwhelming problems they'd otherwise have with spammers?
Directories charge for submissions because if done well they are damn hard work! You have to have had one to realize that for every worthwhile and correct submission there will be 10-100+ spammy sites, submissions to the wrong category, bad grammar etc. Someone has to sort this out and unless you have an army of volunteers like DMOZ you need to pay the people who do it, even if it is yourself :)
95% of the thousands of free general directories are not worth submitting to imo. I wrote a post on paid directories very recently which you may find interesting.
1. Posted by: Sameer Panjwani on November 3, 2006 3:06 AM:
To filter out spam is just an excuse, in my opinion, to start charging for submissions. If a directory really wanted to filter out spam, it could easily just implement a "Security Code" or "Verfication Code" system that needs to be entered by humans before submissions are made. Agreed, that you'll still get a lot of humans submitting spam sites but it's technologically possible to detect and eliminate certain kind of spam submissions.