Which of the hosting directories are the major players and therefore the ones that I should concentrate on?

I'm thinking FindSP, HostSearch, WebHostDir(?) and TopHosts. Is that about right?

webhostdir no longer Major .. at all .......

i spent $350 in first position in search results

from 3 July tell this moment i got only 1 sign up and 2 presales requests

HostSearch.com is much much better

Okay, I don't think I'll be sending any money their way in the near future :eek:

I was actually thinking more along the lines of free listings - which of the directories should I concentrate on (obviously I will submit to as many as possible but which are most important is what i meant).

Thanks.

You may want to have a look at this thread: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62250

I think it's fair to say that WebHostDir is a major directory. Interestingly - none of those listed in the 1st post have a place in Google worth talking about, but WebHostDir & TopHosts have presence on other engines. They have been around a while so they have a brand that drives a lot of traffic I am sure.

WebHostDir seems to have a lot more substance to it than TopHosts & in my opinion only - seems to be a far more valuable resource to the consumer.

I made a point in the other thread to consider the cost per click of a large directory vs cost per click of multiple smaller directories - taking into consideration - to assess the best spend.

1. Quality of the traffic (where does it originate - is it highly targeted people actually looking to buy?)
2. Volume of such traffic
3. Cost per impression

You may find that FindSP offers the highest value, then repeat that with other sites like FindSP to maximise the direct & in-direct value of the budget.

just my 2 cents

O.k., I'll chime in... Andrew has the only, truly useful, directory that we've found (FindMyHosting). Many of our resellers have done far better than we have, but we have managed to snag a few sign-ups and it's unbiased and free. Most of the directories are trash, they irritate me. :angry:

Thanks for good replies :)


Originally posted by Rotifer
O.k., I'll chime in... Andrew has the only, truly useful, directory that we've found (FindMyHosting). Many of our resellers have done far better than we have, but we have managed to snag a few sign-ups and it's unbiased and free. Most of the directories are trash, they irritate me. :angry:

Most? Which ones aren't trash in your opinion?

What about Find SP? It looks good from what I've seen and I haven't heard any complaints about it yet...

Here is a list of most of the directories I found (i quite adding them after a while). As for which are good, we have paid for some spots but, as a previous post mentioned, we found that the traffic didn't justify it. Even including those we have paid for, FindMyHosting seems to be the most effective.

www.webhostingratings.com
www.tophosts.com
www.powersourcing.com
www.webhostdir.com
www.all-hosts.com
www.hostpulse.com
www.findmyhosting.com
www.hostingrepository.com
www.webhosters.com
www.webhostmagazine.com
www.thelist.internet.com
www.webhostyellowpages.com
www.hostingreseller.com
www.**************.com
www.webserverindex.com
www.webhosts.thelist.com
www.colosource.com
www.comparewebhosts.com
www.inghost.com
www.findwebspace.com
www.hostbuddies.com
www.findahost.com
www.webhostexplorer.com
www.adovis.com
www.webserverindex.com
www.gethosted.com
www.webhostingring.com
www.rateahost.com
www.hostchart.com
www.allcheaphosting.com
www.aaronregister.com
www.aceshosting.com
www.hostfinder.com
www.hostingguide.com
www.AAAhostlist.com
www.alanward.net
www.ihostcafe.com
www.hostrecord.com
www.cyberwiser.com
www.budgetweb.com
www.hostfinders.com
www.hosts.php.net

I can't guarantee that all of these exist anymore, just a cut and pasted list. FindSP isn't one that I am familiar with, I'll have to check it out. Were I you, I would register with all of them ... should you get a couple sign-ups a month, great.

Yeah findmyhosting is definately a breeze of fresh air outthere. I like pay for results model better.

Originally posted by NovaW

You may find that FindSP offers the highest value, then repeat that with other sites like FindSP to maximise the direct & in-direct value of the budget.

just my 2 cents

I agree this a great way of driving value from you advertising dollars, if youve got the time or resource to throw at it.

In the past we've found that most of the smaller directories are run as a part time business, which can mean longer lead times for reposnse to changes to campaigns and in some cases even getting rate cards.

Generally speaking though, they are more than willing to work with advertisers to get the best results, so you should be able to get a pretty good personalized service.

Originally posted by NovaW
I think it's fair to say that WebHostDir is a major directory. Interestingly - none of those listed in the 1st post have a place in Google worth talking about, but WebHostDir & TopHosts have presence on other engines. They have been around a while so they have a brand that drives a lot of traffic I am sure.


I cant speak for the other directories mentioned in the first post, but i can speak for ours. We dont focus on single key word placements withing google we chose to spread the risk so to speak across several related keywords. This means that we are not vulnerable to ranking changes made against specific industry keywords such as "web hosting" which occurred a couple of months ago. We are currently ranked highly in over 200 web hosting keywords across google.

If your looking for an indication on where to invest your time you might want to look somewhere like yahoo's most popular (unpaid listing which ranks sites on how many clicks they recieve from yahoo)

http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Business_to_Business/Communications_and_Networking/Internet_and_World_Wide_Web/Network_Service_Providers/Hosting/Web_Site_Hosting/Directories/

Back on the subject of google (which does provide the bulk of yahoos unpaid results) The "google dance" as it is now commonly called happens once a month and can result in ranking changes being dramatically effected without reason. I would advise anyone to steer clear from any kind of scheme that claims to be able to target very specific key words, it is achievable but only for a short period of time. Better to work on a long term strategy that raises your profile in many key words than in just one.

We are currently ranked highly in over 200 web hosting keywords across google

Couldn't find you in the top 20 for any web hosting related searches. But I only checked the ones that generate traffic.

I would advise anyone to steer clear from any kind of scheme that claims to be able to target very specific key words, it is achievable but only for a short period of time. Better to work on a long term strategy that raises your profile in many key words than in just one.

Agree - but this thread is not about Search Engine Optimization.

The only value of a directory to a host is its supply of targeted traffic, not it's overall traffic number which may or may not be people actually wanting to buy. Search engines are the only massive source of that kind of traffic & Google is the biggest SE.

Originally posted by NovaW


Couldn't find you in the top 20 for any web hosting related searches. But I only checked the ones that generate traffic.


Hmm interesting maybe your google generates different results from everyone else because we get several thousand visitors a day from search engines and google drives over 50% of those visitors. I think you need to have experienced traffic from more than a couple of search terms to determine whether they drive any traffic or not.

Originally posted by NovaW

But this thread is not about Search Engine Optimization.



This thread was about which directories get traffic, i was only qulifying a reply posted about key words and their relevance to traffic volumes and quality. In our minds the more specific the key word the more targered the traffic. We're not advocates for people paying for traffic searching for generic product descriptions such as "web hosting" we'd rather deliver targeted buyers against specific products such as "dedicated servers" or "shared web hosting"

i meant nothing more than that, no offence was intended to you or your site, if anything i was agreeing with you.

Hmm interesting maybe your google generates different results

I guess that must be it! I do see you for "shared web hosting" - but using overture numbers - that only gets 1000 searches a month vs 316,000 for "Web Hosting". I don't really agree that focusing on terms with a low number of searches is better than focusing on the terms that people actually type in when they want to buy hosting ('web hosting' being only 1 of many highly searched terms that we focus on)

Sorry if my reply came across as if I was offended about something? - that wasn't the case at all. Just stating facts.

It's a healty discussion, as I mentioned in an earlier post - i think you have built a great resource.

All i can say to that is thank god overture is only a very small proportion of the search engine market. If their stats were represntative of the whole market we would all be in trouble.

I can assure you that your stats are way out! Believe me we drive far more traffic from multiple terms than we ever did from "web Hosting" and i can speak from experience, we used to be number one....in google.

I think you guys are missing a major point in marketing your hosting through hosting directories. If you take a look at some of the biggest web hosting companies you will find that they almost always feature in the spotlight or featured sections in hosting directories. Obviously it hasnt done them any harm and they continue to advertise month after month.

What they realise which you have are missed is the basis for marketing web hosting and what works.
You can't say because you spent $350 dollars advertising on one directory and recieved 1 client that it was not effective.

For example: How many potential clients saw your advert and then signed up at a later date?
Research will tell you that most people don't sign up for hosting when first clicking through to a host because hosting is very important. They will research and study and then come back at a later date when they make their decision.
The reason the big companies have grown so well is that they have branded their companies - people get to know them and come back at later dates and then sign up with them.

Even if you only got 1 client - well if that client stayed with you for 3 years then you would have got your money back for the advertising. Most people have hosting for atleast 1 or 2 years.

If your service is good that person may recommend other people to use your services and they in turn may recommend other people. 1 sign up can become 5-10 sign ups over a few years - that easily covers your advertising costs of $350.

Links from web hosting directories can boost your own search engine listings - leading to new clients that were an indirect result of your advertising.

Think about it - why do the big companies bother if it is not effective - they don't throw away their money just because they make a good profit.

This is the reason that the larger companies continue to grow day by day while the smaller ones argue about the effectivness of advertising in various places and stuggle to make an impact.

very good point.... I have a friend that used google for dedicated servers... and he spends 1-2 grand a month... he usually gets about 5 servers per month... the last 1 or 2 months he didnt do anything... and i dont think he has even gotton one! Just shows that it really does pay... sometimes you have to spend a lot to earn a lot.

Send your friend my way... my directory will be finished soon and i can give him a sponsor link on all pages for a reasonable price.

Let me know when you're ready... I have not started advertising yet and I would like to try a few things out. I have a very very tight budget.... I want to try some adwords, some banners, and so on... So pretty much I'm just goign to test the different waters and see which has the best return.