SEM Review: The Premium Business Directory

Disclaimer: I received a free listing in an online business directory for writing the following honest review. I was also offered a promo code so my loyal following can get their own listing at half price if they so desire. So, there you go FTA!

In my previous post, I took an Ecommerce approach to Premium Business Directory and concluded that it is an attractive choice when determining who to pay for directory listings. This online business directory has a clean design, easy navigation and a wealth of information at the fingertips of the visitor. Absolutely worth the money from the standpoint of an Ecommerce Manager or website owner such as myself.
In the second installment of our web directory review, we are going to focus on the Search Marketing angle. The Ecommerce Manager might be happy to see the wealth of information available to the visitor, and the visitor may love the fact that they can watch a video, get caught up on your blogs, check your location in the world and even send you an email. But how does Premium Business Directory hold up in the Search Marketing arena?

The Search Marketing Angle

Those of us in the Search Marketing industry are absolutely concerned with things like cost and usability. More important to our particular function however is whether this directory works. Does it just look like a nice website with navigation that makes sense? What’s under the hood? Rather than putting the Premium Business Directory through the Upsmack ringer, I’m going to see how it stacks up against Aaron Wall’s Quality Signals to look at when considering an online paid web directory. This is by no means an end-all-be-all checklist but it should provide some very good insight as to whether you’re wasting your money.

1. How Does it Rank? I conducted a SERP report (manual, thank you) for 30 search terms targeted by Premium Business Directory and also relevant search terms as suggested by my partner in crime, The Google AdWords Keyword Tool. Unfortunately I didn’t find any page in the first 30 results of any of those searches. If the online business directory can’t be found in Google search results, then how in the world is it going to drive traffic to your website?
2. Do They Sell Direct Links? Yes! Premium Busines Directory provides a profile for every subscribing client with a variety of links that can lead back to your website and not only drive traffic, but also send link juice your way.
3. When Was it Last Indexed? Of the 119 total cached pages in Google, the page that went the longest without being touched by Googles golden hand was last indexed on January 26, a mere three weeks from this post. That said, the majority of pages have last been indexed Febuary 9 or later. Not too shabby.
4. What is the Quality Ratio? With the exception of a few sections in the Professional Services category, most of the categories are empty and offer absolutely nothing to visitors or search engines. On top of that, the currently low number of subscribers are likely a majority like myself who received a free subscription for writing a review about the service. Of course this can change as the Premium Business Directory gains exposure in the future. For now, however, things aren’t looking so good on the Quality Ratio front.
5. What is the Ad Ratio? The website is composed of clients who have paid monetarily for the service, and clients who have paid in attention via the web such as this review. I will say there isn’t a lick of advertising on the site which is great, but it makes sense when you consider the business model is geared toward paid subscriptions and not an advertising model.
6. Do They Sell Sitewide Outbound Links? I haven’t seen any links that don’t lead to another page on the directory, or from a business listing page to the business listed website. Nice work!
7. Is It Decrepit? Frankly, there aren’t enough pages with content for the Premium Business Directory to be decrepit. I can say that all of the links worked, and there weren’t any dead links that I found. That’s a big plus in my book and it matters to search engines like Google too.
8. Does it Have Unique Content? It’s up to businesses to provide the content and it’s a toss-up as to whether those businesses choose to provide duplicate content or create original content that can cater to the traffic driving through Premium Business Directory. I think the arrangement of information is sufficient to keep things fresh, and so the unique content issue should not be a problem. When there’s more content, that is.
9. Is It Relevant To My Site? Absolutely, this directory would be relevant to my website. Since I focus on Ecommerce and Search Marketing, the Professional Services category is exactly what I’m looking for. I’m personally pleased with my particular categories and rank 4th at the lowest. This, again, is evidence of how few listings live on this directory for the time being.

So What’s the Verdict?

All in all I think Premium Business Directory has a solid foundation based on organization, design and usability. What the new business directory lacks is content (listings) and an attention to detail with regard to their Search Marketing strategy. It’s important to consider the domain was created in November of 2009 and according to my contacts with the directory, the launch took place about 2 weeks ago which was very recent, and they’re likely in the process of building reputation. This means two things:

• You can pay for a service that may or may not ever pay you back
• You can buy in to a service that, when grown, will repay you with steady web traffic and precious link juice

I think Premium Business Directory can survive and make a good impact if they follow through on their Search-Friendly listing formats, and perhaps extend that to their own Search Marketing strategy. Flesh out those title tags, add some unique, quality content to your category pages. Keep trading those subscriptions for listings until you have enough to get those clients without the incentive, and when you do, keep your outbound links per page low!

I’ll look forward to tracking the progress of Premium Business Directory and while I think they’re not out of the woods yet, I do believe if they pull through they can be a reputable, dependable and powerful online business profile directory. Good luck guys! I’m pulling for you!

If you have decided  you want to subscribe to their service, feel free to use the Promo code UPSMACK50 when registering for your account to receive 50% off of the regular subscription prices listed above. This goes for all three available package levels. The offer is expiring at the end of March so get to it!