bjmason32 said:
Rondey,
I'm going to risk pissing off the puppet master and call BS on this one
Let's stick to discussing the topic and not the
person posting (that includes name calling

)
I noticed that you're in the yahoo directory for T-shirt Coutdown. You probably were listed in there before they started charging $300 - Lucky you.
Actually, I paid for the listing at Yahoo. I also recommend it to those with the budget for it because you can get targeted, relevant traffic from Yahoo. The PR boost is minimal in my opinion.
I'm assuming you agree with me in that this is a high quality link that has secured you backlinks
Nope, the quality of my content secures me backlinks. Yahoo drives traffic so that more people see my content.
slightly improved your PR
Possibly, but so slight that I wouldn't "buy the link" just for the PR.
added direct traffic to your site, etc. etc.
Yes it has added traffic to my site.
However, new websites will never get this link without paying. While personal truths are not necessarily valid for everyone....all I can say is that this "paid link" has secured our website numerous non-reciprocal backlicks (which is what google is supposedly prioritizing now) and was WELL worth the $299.
You are correct, what works for one website certainly doesn't hold true for the next. But you didn't mention "YAHOO" in your "buy paid links" statement above. To me, "Buy paid links" means to find some site selling links (relevant or not) in order to manipulate your PR.
I guess I misunderstood your statement.
If you're saying you should consider paying to be listed in the Yahoo directory, then I can agree with that.
(generally speaking) New sites that are looking to build traffic quickly will have to allocate some significant resources (time and/or money) to a link building / SEO campaign. A paid link into Yahoo directory and other select paid links should certainly be a component of such seo efforts.
I can agree about the Yahoo directory, but not for any "link building" reason.
Again, this is my opinion based on what I've read and heard.
But I would only buy any type of advertising if the site offering it reached my target market. Whether that be a link in the Yahoo directory or a banner ad on a t-shirt site, that's the way I would consider if it was worthwhile.
Buying a link just for the PR boost seems like a backwards way of looking at things and
I don't think it's good way to build long term traffic from the search engines.