The Wave of the Future (Crashes on the Beach...)

Things have changed at Yahoo! for business sites. If you are already in their directory, great. But if not, it will now cost you US $199 for the privilege.

Unless your site is regionally specific, there are two categories under which Yahoo! lists business sites:

1. Business and Economy > Shopping and Services
2. Business and Economy > Business to Business

In each of these, you drill down to find exactly where your site belongs. Yahoo! does give you the opportunity to suggest a first and second choice for your category, and you should certainly take advantage of this feature.

For more information on the Yahoo! Business Express process, click the Suggest a Site link at the bottom of your Yahoo! category page, and on the next page youll find the how to suggest a site link. Read the instructions and terms and conditions of the Business Express submission process to ensure your site qualifies. Then, pull out your credit card.

You will note that there is still no guarantee of your placement in their directory - ONLY a guarantee that the good people at Yahoo! will review your site within 7 business days. So be sure you are 100% ready before you cough up the $199, which seems to be the dollar amount of choice these days among the top directories.

It is important for all of us to recognize that this pay-per-listing process is the wave of the future. There is no getting around the fact that more and more of the free listing services are moving into a pay-per-listing mode.

You now have to pay LookSmart for a listing (yes, US $199). And Inktomi, the mega-database that powers many search engines and directories, also offers a pay-per-listing process.

If you are not currently placing well in HotBot, AOL, iWon or MSN, we recommend you pay for Inktomi placement because their particular service is reasonably priced at $20 for the first page, and $10 for every other page on your site. Its a minor investment to ensure you can be found, and will keep you in their database for a year. Visit the link here for details:

http://www.positiontech.com/

To sum up, make listings in the top directories part of your marketing budget, and expect this budget line item to increase.

About the Author

Article by Scott T. Smith of Copywriting.Net Generate MORE sales with your Web site copy -For a free estimate visit copywriting.net or call 1.800.798.4471 (toll-free in the US).

scott@infowriter.com
http://www.copywriting.net