In the online world there are two types of web directories that you can submit your website to, free web directories and paid web directories. Now you may be wondering why you would pay for something when there is a free alternative available. While free is indeed a good thing in life, when it comes to the web directories you submit to there are several reasons why paid web directories are better than the freebies.

Submitting your website to web directories is one of the most effective ways to get your online presence known by way of increasing your page rank or PR. Think of it as advertising. As with any business, the more your name is out, the more your business gets visited and thus the more you sell. The same holds true in the online world as well. The more your website is seen, the more traffic you get to your website, and the more sales you achieve. Once your PR is elevated, your website is then shown ahead of the rest on the search engines and this can lead to more clicks and more cash.

Just as with advertising a brick-and-mortar business, there is a certain amount you can do for free, but usually to effectively advertise you must put out some money. The same principle is true with web directories. To get the best you will have to pay a few bucks to do so. How much? It all depends as there are hundreds to thousands of web directories that you can submit your website too. The prices can range from $3 per year all the way to $199 per year depending on the web directory. Obviously a paid web directory with the name of Yahoo will command a much higher price than that of ABC web directory and rightfully so. The more traffic that visits a web directory, the more you can expect to pay to get a piece of that traffic to your website.

While there are many benefits to using a paid web directory over a free one, here are just a few:
• Visibility: Many free web directories sport a whopping three to five visitors per day, hardly enough to warrant your trouble, but a paid web directory can have thousands of visitors per day thus increasing your chances of getting hits and thereby increasing your visibility.

• Less SPAM: How do you spell online death? S-P-A-M. Many free web directories do not monitor their sites very well and as a result there is a ton of SPAM sites that are posted. If you are deemed a SPAMMER by association you can actually get penalized by the search engines or even worse, disallowed all together. Paid wed directories will monitor their sites far better and rid them of these SPAM sites keeping everything nice and tidy and penalty free.

• Higher PR: If a web directory is a paid web directory, that is there only job and so they will be very concerned about their PR. This is extremely good for you as the higher their page rank is the more they will be seen on the search engines and again, this increases your chances of being found. Many free web directories are simply lost in the shuffle and are therefore rarely hit.

If you have poured your heart and soul into the creation of your website, you owe it to yourself to advertise the right way. If you were advertising a regular business, you would go for the Real Yellow Pages over some free news flier wouldn’t you? Of course you would. Even though you have to pay for the advertising, you know that the chances of people finding you is much greater in the Yellow Pages than with the free flier and that is what will lead to a successful business with plenty of sales. Online is no different, a paid web directory will beat out a free web directory any day of the week. That is not to say that all free web directories are bad, but you must be wary of the ones you do use. Remember, in business, time is money, so spend both your money and your time wisely.

Consider submitting your site to high quality web directories like RankDir or Best of the Web. You'll be glad you did.