Can Kelly Walk the Walk?

Do You Know Where my VisionPoints?

Today at IttyBiz (an inspiration and a guilty pleasure in my blog-reading schedule) author Naomi Dunford issued a challenge to her readers based on a recent email and the anxiety it aroused in her:

“So what do you actually do for a living?”

After some initial irritation, she homed in on the perfect Maximum Customer Experience pain point:

If they don’t know what I do for a living, it’s not exactly their fault, is it?

You know how you began with a Vision, then you get so involved in day-to-day stuff, you lose track of the Vision?

(Read the full post about ‘Naomi Dunford’s “I Never Called It a Meme,” Meme’…)

… And Finds Herself Inspired to Whip Off a Huge Email Response

 (Anybody surprised?)

Kelly,

I just recently found your blog via Big Bright Bulb. Your success and exceptional blog content are an inspiration for me.

[Dear Kristen. I am stealing the foregoing sentence for unabashed flattery in every email I ever write from this moment forward. Regards, Kelly.]

I’ve been looking for someone who’ll let me pick their brain along the bumpy road, as I launch my freelance/entrepreneurial journey and try to make my blog more visible…. [I’m] looking for a mentor of sorts…. who might be suitable and willing to put up with me.

(Read the full post about ‘Chapter the Next, Wherein the Author Gets Fan Mail’…)

Submitting to quality web directories is a great way to establish your web site in a number of ways. Below you will find a number of tips that will lead to better success and results from web directory submissions. Some of the information provided has been mentioned repeatedly elsewhere, some is obvious, and others may be useful to everyone with any experience level. Some of the tips are geared more towards submission to free directories and others are specifically for paid web directories, but all of the information can be useful for both types of web directories.

(Read the full post about ‘Comprehensive Tips and Guide for Web Directory Submitters’…)

Mystik Media has recently launched the Blaze Bidding Web Directory.  The directory is built on the established, trusted, and highly promoted Blaze web site, and offers permanent, high PR listings for reviewed web sites. The directory is based on a bidding system that provides submitters complete control over listing placement in the resource.  Bidding is quick, easy, and affordable for a permanent, high quality listing.  The main Blaze web site is very high traffic with nearly 25,000 uniques per day, and this traffic is leveraged to directly benefit the directory and its listings.  All listings are reviewed to ensure quality content for the directory.

Aviva Directory has posted a great article charting the web directories that have increased the most in promotion over the past month.  This is very useful to know as it provides insight into which directories are worthy for submission (the ones that are actually being promoted day-by-day).  Special thanks to Jeff for working on preparing and presenting the data.

Offering a special promotion/discount is a great way to encourage new business and further establish a project.  However, like many things, doing it in excess can produce unfavorable results.  Firstly, having a discount offer too often will deplete its effectiveness.  If something is too common or predictable, it’s no longer special, and has little meaning.  However, more importantly, offering excessive or regular discounts makes a company seem desperate.  Whether it is true or not, the perception is very damaging for business, and can lead to numerous problems and revenue loss.  It can even result in customers believing that you are charging too much to begin with.  One tip is to offer a special promotion over a longer period of time rather than repeating it.  After that period, do not duplicate the discount in the immediate future.

There are several measurements that can be used to determine the best web directories.  A list of the top resources for high quality web directories is listed below, each with a unique method of justifying which directories are included.

Aviva Directory provides an excellent list of the strongest web directories that is sorted by PageStrength.  PageStrength was previously plagued with accuracy issues as it usually did not return one or more bits of data used to calculate the rating.  However, as of late, the system has been drastically improved and is consistently returning much better results.  The Aviva list is built on statistical data that takes the guess-work out of list sorting.

Best-Web-Directories.com offers a list that has more of a "human element".  Each directory listed has an editorial rating by which the list is sorted as well as a review.  Other information provided with each listing includes the directory’s Google PR, average PR for category pages, and pricing information.

Web Directory List offers listings that are sorted by bid amount.  The directories that are the most promoted are therefore shown at the top of the list.  Web directory listings are categorized by type, and each listing features stats for the directory, including Google PR, Yahoo backlinks, and Google backlinks.  The top 10 web directories are shown on the homepage for maximum exposure and quick reference.

PaidDirectories.info provides a useful selection of categories for web directories, including highest PageRank directories, top 25 directories (based on numerous valuable factors), cheap web directories, paid directories that have free listing options, paid directories that include options for deep links, and directories with the strongest backlinks.  Each category offers quick access to a lot of useful information for the directory listings.  Another section of the site provides web directories from all of the categories sorted by PR.

Text Link Sellers has compiled a list of web directories ranked by trust.  A comprehensive poll was conducted, and this list is the result of all the votes.  The resource is useful as a reference for web directories that are managed with integrity.

Forplex offers a directory list that includes names for web directory owners.  If you’re interested to know a specific web directory owner’s name, this resource will be very useful.

The Ventedoy strongest bid directories list is very much like the strongest directories list from Aviva Directory, except that it is only for bid directories.  It is a very useful quick reference to see how the bid directories are progressing and which are the strongest and most beneficial for bidding.

Submission4u features a list of unique web directories.  The list is refreshing when so many web directories look the same with no unique features.  The resource outlines the innovations provided with some web directories as well as other factors that make certain directories unique and stand out from the crowd.

 Last, but not least, Info Vilesilencer presents one of the most comprehensive lists available for search engine friendly web directories.  The only reason it was not included earlier in this post is because it does not rank or rate directories.  However, this post would not be complete without mention of the resource as it is certainly among the best sources for finding web directories, especially free web directories.  The lists are very well maintained, and therefore preset up-to-date information and links.

The short answer is yes, with some qualifications.  Not all free directories should be considered for submission, especially those that accept any web site submitted, with no editorial review.  However, if you have the time to submit to the free web directories or can assign the task to someone, it is a worthwhile endeavor. 

The most significant factor to keep in mind, though, is that most free directories are not well maintained or promoted.  Therefore, a link in one well-promoted paid directory can be worth the same as a link in 100 free directories.  Another consideration is approval time.  Free directories receive a massive volume of submissions.  Unless the web directory owner simply approves all submissions without review (which is not a favorable solution for you since your web site would be listed alongside a lot of spam submissions), the time it can take for a web site submission to be approved can be substantial, even as much as a year later.  The reason free web directories have gotten the reputation of not being worth the time is because with most companies, time is money, and since results can be more quickly and efficiently achieved with quality paid directories, that is the direction most firms and SEO companies choose.  With all that being said, there are some really good free web directories that are well maintained and provide valuable listings.  Two popular paths have been formed when dealing with free web directories.

1. Submit to as many as you can as they are released.  The benefits for this method are that approval time is usually much less when a free directory is first announced, it takes less time all at once to submit to only the new directories each day, and free directories often later convert to paid directories.
2. Hire a third-party company to submit to all the free web directories for you.  The advantage for this direction is obviously that the massive time it would take you to submit to all of the free web directories can be saved.  The disadvantages for this route are that new free directories that are launched daily will not be covered and the expense involved (especially if you have numerous projects you’d like to submit to each directory).

Both of the above directions are similar to mining for diamonds - you have to sort through a lot of worthless dirt and rock to find the treasure!  That is, you will end up submitting to a lot of low quality directories that will do you very little to no good, but since you don’t know which ones will develop into high quality directories (aside from the reputation of the owner in some cases), the process involves submitting to many free directories to get listed in a few valuable ones.

The overall best solution seems to be seeking the top quality free web directories, and building a list for them (or using a list that can be found online).  You can then submit your sites only to the free web directories that offer value and timely approval for your listings.  When you discover a new top-quality free web directory, add it to your list and continue with submissions.  Ironically, the best submission option for the quality free web directories is featured listings (which are not free) as they yield faster approvals and better placement (since free web directories are typically quite crowded).

In the past 30 minutes I have gotten two calls from two very different companies offering me a Gas Rebate for trying their products.

The first was a $15 gas rebate for trying a new accident and hospital policy. The company got my name from my life insurance carrier. The gist of the conversation was I could try the accidental policy for 30 days and if I didn’t like it could cancel the policy and keep the $15 gas rebate.

About 15 minutes later, I got a call from a company associated with American Express offering me a $60 rebate for joining a new discount shopping program.

Can I hear 100? $200? How about a year of free gas. Then you’ll have my attention.

A couple of months ago my garage door stopped working properly. I could open it, but every time I tried to  close it the door would lower to within six inches of the floor and then open again.

There was a fix…I just had to hold down the keypad until the door hit the ground. The big exception was the  remote door opener in my car— no matter how long I held it down, the door would not close.

So to get out of my garage I had to open the door, drive the car into the driveway, get out of the car, punch in my security code into the garage door’s  "keyless entry pad", press down the keypad until the garage door closes completely, get back in my car, slam the door and drive away.

Two weeks ago I went on Craig’s List in search of a garage door opener fixer.The repair guy answered in inquiry but when he found out where I lived, he opted not to continue the correspondence.

(Read the full post about ‘The Disappearing Workload’…)