Should I pay to be in the Yahoo directory?

[foxdev]

I have a site that sells a product. By spending $30 on Inktomi and by carefully constructing and tuning my main page, I'm getting good placement by most search engines (for example, the search on "cheap paintings" brings me up as #2 in Google).

Since Yahoo now uses the Google index for searches that are not satisfied by the Yahoo directory, that same search term also pulls me up as #2, and pulls that page up immediately because there are no Yahoo directory matches at all. However, searching on "cheap prints" brings up only a couple of hits from the Yahoo directory, and the user must click on Show Web Pages in order to see the Google results (I come up #1 in the Web Pages group).

Obviously, some users wouldn't bother to click on the Show Web Pages link to view the results from Google.

The bottom line question: would it be advisable to pay the $199 for consideration of inclusion in the Yahoo directory?

It seems that searches of the Yahoo directory are made strictly by the one or two line description the site provides, rather than a full-page or full-site search, meaning that the odds of hitting on a particular term are pretty slim.

Advice, insight, and experience would be most appreciated. Robert Bradley

http://www.agrainofhope.org

http://www.lowcostprints.com

http://www.foxdev.com

 

[Bananas]

Yes, I would definitely try to get listed in Yahoo!
I am still waiting to hear if I got my own site in but mine is non-commercial so I tried through the free submit option.

http://searchengineforums.com

is the place to go, read lots in the Yahoo! folder about what to do and what not to do. It is best to make sure your site is as good as possible beforehand otherwise you might lose your money (although there is an appeal process).
Yahoo! is guaranteed to put prospective customers your way so it makes good business sense. Joe Bananas

http://www.therealperth.com

An independent guide to Perth, Scotland

 

[foxdev]

Shortly after making the original post, I swallowed hard and submitted my site to one of the Shopping categories in Yahoo, and giving them $199.

After reading numerous posts from others where Yahoo had declined to list their sites (for various reasons), I was initially worried that they would refuse me.

Fortunately, I was listed 4 days later.

Its been less than a week, but the results thus far:
both traffic and number of orders has doubled. It will take a couple more weeks to see if the trend continues. Robert Bradley

http://www.agrainofhope.org

http://www.lowcostprints.com

http://www.foxdev.com