My question is which directory/subdirectory should I submit this to? I have tried a couple of times, but no luck. Thanks in advance for your help.

All other sources on the list are the "free" search engines, where you pay with endless amounts of time, which, if properly valued, costs more than GoTo. The result was a "middle of the pack story" for GoTo. Its referrals are more or less average on pages viewed, and below average on order interest. Links from other small, thematically related web sites were by far the best (but take forever to cultivate).

A note on how I use GoTo: My products have themes and uses -- playing card boxes, tarot, images of particular animals, etc. I purchase terms related to the theme or use, and link directly to the relevant box. Looking at the logs, I can see a lot of one-page "drop-in, drop-out" visits from GoTo -- people who typed in "Penguin" looking for maybe the Pittsburgh Penguins or Batman memorabilia, but were intrigued by the thought of a penguin box, and checked it out briefly. I am happy to pay a few cents for that sort of traffic -- hopefully they will remember and come back some day.

Overall, I buy as many referrals from GoTo as possible, and consider it the only form of advertising with any chance to yield positive ROI. (Banner ads are so negative, even the thought of them makes me want to do an IPO.)

links 4.7 /2 /12
yahoo 3.2 /3 /2
HB 2.9 /5 /3
IY 2.9 /0 /2
lycos 2.7 /4 /2
MSN 2.6 /3 /5
IS 2.6 /4 /3
goto 2.5 /1 /1
AV 2.4 /1 /0
MC 2.2 /2 /2
DP 2.2 /3 /2
exc 1.8 /3 /1
NF 1.8 /3 /3

[This message has been edited by boxman (edited 08-19-1999).]

It allows you to submit a request for the editors to look at your page. I've had a site that was waiting for 6 weeks get looked at and accepted within a couple of days after I submitted this status request form.

It sounds like they will show up to 4 listings on the first page, though customer service said the details are still being finalized. Format and placement will obviously be key in determining traffic potential, but either way FindWhat expects that their traffic may 'virtually double' as a result of the agreement.

For GoTo users, FindWhat's process will be a breath of fresh air
................................................................
- No minimum bid requirement (yet!); this means that keyword buys at FindWhat, at least at first, will be a steal.
- No search-volume requirements (a rule which has seen many advertisers lose potential traffic from lesser known, cheaper terms at GoTo).
- Decent management interface; nicer than the Sprinks interface, though perhaps not as handy as GoTo's.
- Friendly customer service reps; they give you the sort of personal attention you might sometimes feel denied other places.

Other key differences from GoTo
.................................
- Submit both singulars & plurals, for now; FindWhat has a database of around 1000 plural terms which will map plural searches to the root term. It could pay to include plural terms in your submission, if they aren't already mapped in their database.
- No MatchDriver means a larger breadth of terms to bid on; bid prices stay lower.
- $50 to open an account; but with low-cost keyword buys, this could go a long way...
- No Excel bulk submission form online; but it can be requested on email. It's simple to use, sort of like GoTo's (title 50 characters, URL 75 char, description 250 char, keyword 50 char).

FindWhat will most likely experience some slow-downs in handling all the new traffic this deal should bring them - for one thing their review/submission process is more manual than other CPC engines. So allow extra time for submissions of 1000+ keywords to make it through the system.

Nonetheless, advertisers who are on the ball and can get in there early should find that FindWhat keyword buys could bring some excitement this quarter. We're managing over 20,000 terms for clients at GoTo right now, and FindWhat's got our mouths watering over the value it will help us bring our clients...

[ Sig removed ]

[This message has been edited by Jim (edited 03-30-2001).]

http://www.looksmart.com/r?page=/h/info/submitfaq3.html#q7

Ben

FindWhat.com results will be displayed in various methods:

First, the top three listings in FindWhat.com's results will be displayed immediately under the 10 results provided directly by Excite.com.

Second, after the top three listings provided by FindWhat.com there will be two hyperlinks for Excite.com's users to see additional FindWhat.com results for their search. One hyperlink will be below FindWhat.com's three listings and the other will be in Excite's "Info Resources" section. These links will bring a user directly to FindWhat.com's results page for the term being searched. This will allow all of our clients listed under the search term an opportunity to be viewed by Excite.com users.

Third, on occasion, FindWhat.com's top listing may appear above the 10 results provided directly by Excite.com, in which case a total of four FindWhat.com listings will appear on Excite. It is important to note that Excite has complete discretion over whether to show a FindWhat.com result above the 10 results provided directly by Excite, and we have no ability to insure that if you have the top bid, or that your listing will get that placement on Excite.