What are the strongest and most-Google friendly directories to place my business on for the sake of large SEO gains? for the sake of Exposure to customers? What is the best way to invest for ROI nowadays? Thanks.

[creativeguy]

I do basic SEO stuff as well as marketing for quite a few clients.  But, I am wondering which directories or exposure based groups are worth the money?  Is a business.com directory listing for $300 a solid investment to get a strong link?  Is yext a good move?  How about wildfire?  I could use some really high DA links to stack on top of the link profiles I have already built through content, etc.?  Please advise me.

PS Confession:  I was once a pre-panda Fiverr link junkie.  But I am in recovery.  I have an 18 month chip and am currently making amends.

12 steps to SEO freedom baby.

[yeagerd]

The big issue I have with Yext is that they hold their work hostage and make you pay a yearly ransom to keep it.  If you don't pay the ransom then they undo all of their work.  I could see offering additional services as a yearly but they way they do it is a misguided principle in my book and they have competition who does not take such an approach.

I use UBL.  It costs less than Yext to start.  Has all of the benefits + a profile video is produced + a Facebook Fan Page (if needed) + a Twitter Account Setup + Mobile Web Card + Complete Verified Listings on 12 or sites + Social Profile Builds & more.  If you want to go another year it is $79 which is much less and gives you continued access to adjust your data.  If you do not, they do not destroy everything you paid them to do in response.  UBL.org

If I was going to spend $300 for a listing it would be the Yahoo directory but I do not spend $300 for directory listings very often.  I have yet to see a paid directory show consistent ROI unless it was an industry site without overloaded competition to user ratio.

[yeagerd]

Oh, IMO..

The best ROI we are seeing is from content.  Good guides and other resources that appeal to potential customers.

A recent guide we completed on modern marketing for the SMB was released just over a week ago.  It has brought in 5 customers and a couple hundred clicks.  If you count time, we had about $600 in the guide and our average customer lifetime value is $16,533.  Just remember when making your content that sales brochure is not the same thing as a guide.  Selling your guide is fine but I use the rule of sell on the first and last page only... brand throughout.

[GuillermoOrtiz]

Wildfire is outrageously expensive..

That aside, the best 2 directories for the money are the good oldies: the yahoo directory (dir.yahoo.com) and botw.org. These are a great way to start as you ramp up other link building/content creation strategies. This is strictly from experience, as I know that many would disagree regarding the value of the yahoo directory.

[Branden_S]

Look for high quality directories specific to your clients industry.