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I'm afraid it's hopeless. Kick your dog. cry in your beer, whatever. Then:

Pay the $30 and get on with your life.

Thanks. Much appreciated!

I'm having exactly the same issue. Except the results in OSE are equally erratic.

And as I wrote elsewhere, it took 5 months for another of my clients to show up at all.

Remind me again, please, why I'm paying $99 a month?

Yes. This mirrors my own experience precisely.

The contention that it's "rare that a directory will help you in any way" is overstated, IMHO.

Carefully selected directories can help you in a small to moderate way.

Forgive me, but my first thought is that posting such speculation  in an open forum is not the wisest or most prudent course of action.

I have been involved in sensitive situations with law firms and hedge funds and private equity firms...and their competitors. And I would never talk about them here. Ever.

May I gently suggest you take this post down?

I helped a friend  sell a domain name for $5,000.

It was perfect for the buyer's business.

And the buyer made the mistake of describing his business as "a small little company in France." A little research revealed the company was small only in number of employees and had sales of neary 2 million Euros!

Even for a much smaller company, $300 is peanuts. Go for it.

A client's friend has had a parked domain for over 11 years. He has done nothing with it but throw a couple of ads on it. It has some traffic, most likely from typos: the domain domain is somewhat similar to a leading search engine.

But the parked domain has no content, no links, no DA.

I can't see the benefit of the redirect.  My client might get a little traffic -- but the parked domain has nothing to do with his niche.

Am I missing something? Is there any risk involved in the redirect (beyond unqualified traffic that isn't valuable?)

Great advice.

I think you need to do more fact-finding to make an informed decision.

How spammy are the links? How many are there?

You need a detailed analysis of the link profile.

More questions:

What has happened to the site since Penguin ?

Why is the owner selling now ?

OTOH, the purchase could still make sense.

But what are you planning to do with site? Put your content on it? Or plant a bunch of links on it that point to your site?

Skip it.

You feel like taking a shower after spending time on this site.

Seems to be mostly a bunch of small-time sleazebags trying to con each other into spending a few bucks of marketing guides that provide...

Secret Tips!

Get Rick Quick Schemes !

There may be a little worthwhile info on the site, but it's a very bad neighborhood, IMHO.

Umm...if this is such a great solution (whatever it is)...

...why isn't the original developer licensing it to a handful of Fortune 500 Companies at $39,000 a license, instead of flogging it on the Web for $39.95?

It seems to me unlikely  that replicating software from a dubious source is a good idea.

I agree it's unclear what the plug in does.

Nor is the developer's name or physical address easily available.

I never buy stuff from people who can't be googled.

A wise investor once told me: "I always look at the people before I look at the plan."

Indulge me for a moment on a real world analogy.

I suppose it's possible the man in the mask standing on the street corner peddling snake oil in a bottle with no label is selling a legitimate product.

But I don't think it's very likely.

I'd keep walking.

I think it's very risky.

This is precisely the sort of thing Google is targeting -- and for good reason. It's inherently manipulative.

This fits under the general heading of "magic software": a nifty tool that does the work for you -- all for $39.95!

But, wait...there's more:

MAKE MONEY WHILE YOU SLEEP!

SPIN STRAW INTO GOLD!

Okay, I exaggerate for dramatic effect. But you get the idea.

If this actually works, it won't for long.

There is a larger issue at play here.

Submitting the same article to multiple outlets is a sure way of pissing off editors and destroying  relationships. It could be seen as less than exemplary conduct. I speak as a former editor.

If your client is a thought leader, the best bet is to submit one article to one outlet. Which is not to say you can't write another article for another publication that is a variation on the theme.

I work with thought leaders in several fields.  Guest blogging is a hugely effective technique. The outlets are thrilled to get a free article from a leading expert that is far more authoritative than what they usually publish.

But you must insist on a link back or there is no SEO benefit. (There may be a marketing and branding benefit.) Often the link back can be done in the author's note. Even better is getting it in the text in a natural way.  And you have to be relentless is ensuring the links actually appear. Not infrequently, you have to follow up post-publication.

My strategy is to time the guest blogging activity to coincide with the release of research or an e-book. We target 5-7 leading publications. Each gets an original and unique article that focusses on one aspect of the material. The articles on the third-party sites point back to the full version on our own site.

Just to be clear: we're not talking about cutting and pasting. We're talking about an original article customized to the third-party site and its audience that may have go through several drafts.

It's quite a bit of work, but it pays off. Big time.

These days, I call myself a web strategist. But sometimes I also act as a content strategist. I really think this is the future of our industry, post Panda and Penguin.

Specific model name or number for blender is not important in the page description. But it might t well be used in the page title. And I  always try to write different descriptions for each page -- even if it's just a minor variation. For titles, of course, it's crucial there be no duplication.

You're definitely on the right track. A few comments:

• As a consumer, I'm not sure I care the blender is preferred by chefs. Could actually  be a turn off: it's more blender than I need for home use. I'd prefer a cheaper one. So, no thanks.

-I also don't care that this blender is the most popular. The issue is whether it's right for me.

Maybe something like:

With rave reviews and a 20 year warranty, Swiss-made Bamix blenders are the very best. So is our personal service. We include free shipping and a money back guarantee!

I agree. With that in mind, I'd rewrite as:

**Anytown Fitness | Anytown, NY Gym and Fitness | Boot Camp                           **

Get you in the best shape of your life, no matter who you are. **Anytown Fitness: **Caring, supportive environment, rave reviews. Try us!

and if there was a $59 a month special, I might hold off on that info.

**Anytown Fitness | Anytown, NY Gym and Fitness | Boot Camp                           **

Get you in the best shape of your life, no matter who you are. Anytown Fitness: great staff who care about you. Just $59 per month.  Find out why we get rave reviews.

Both of your examples could be greatly improved. Way too many numbers.  And you're trying too hard to cram too much stuff in. You need more focus.  Far too many page descriptions read like transcripts of cheesy used car commercials.

You have to consider how page descriptions  look -- and work -- in conjunction with page titles. Words in the page title that are repeated  in the page description are bolded.

I generally hand craft page descriptions  for each page that make my client stand out from the competition.

My first draft might look something like this.

Example 1

**Anytown Fitness | Anytown, NY Gym and Fitness | Boot Camp                           **

**A****nytown Fitness **will get you in the best shape of your life, no matter who you are. Caring, supportive environment, rave reviews. Try us!

Example 2

Widget People | Custom Widgets and Doodads | Googas                                                          Save up to 70% when our certified widget makers lovingly handcraft yourdoodads & googas.  Family- run company, rave reviews. Find out why.

I'd then throw the descriptions into a character counter and refine. In Example 2, I might eliminate "Find Out Why" and sub "great service" to make the final phrase: "Family run company, great service, rave reviews."

Of course, I would never talk about rave reviews unless we had the Yelp and Google and other reviews to support the claim.

And I'd only use the & if I was short of space. I'd use + only in something like 500+ widget styles.

Title says it all.

No experience with this....so please consider this a gut instinct howl of passion from the depths of my soul:

NO! NO! NO!

A THOUSAND TIMES "NO!"

AND ONCE AGAIN: "NO!"

This seems to fall under the general heading of something I warn potential clients of in the first five minutes of an initial call:

Magic software.

It's the latter day equivalent of spinning straw into gold.

Writing is hard. Engaging with audiences is hard. I speak as a writer and former news executive.

The idea that a Wordpress plug in can make all this easy strikes me as....

(wait for it)....

...extremely unlikely.

If someone has experience with this tool an has had outstanding success, I'll eat my Elements of Style baked into humble pie.

But I don't think that's likely.