Monday, February 4, 2008

The Trouble with Party Directories

Ok, I am about to pull my hair out. I have been working all morning trying to get my business listed on one of these annoying web directories. They are basically vehicles designed to drive web traffic in order to sell advertising. God bless them, I am all for the entrepreneur.



BUT.... what is really frustrating is that instead of helping you find something relevant they actually get in the way. Most of the info they have is obtained from scraping other directory websites. It can be outdated but more importantly it is most definatly incomplete!



By accummulating a huge amount of "content" and creating "link farms", they hope to take advantage of search engine website's logrithims to get placed above the real providers of the services prospective customers are searching for. Search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN have super secret systems that determine the relevance of the information. The problem is that these engines value links and lists over the actual information that a human may find important. A web site with concise specific information on the type of entertainment you are seeking is much more useful to you than a massive list of companies in your state that may or may not have what you need.

Be sure to type very specific search words and include the local area you live. Search for "Pony Rides Birthday Party Phoenix Arizona" instead of "Ponies in Arizona" and you will save alot of stress. There is no such thing as a nationwide Bounce business or Magician and Sorry I cannot deliver my Pony to New York. Companies like Google do a much better job at figuring out what is relevant for their paid advertisiers. They certainly know where their bread is buttered!

So don't waste your time trying to manueveur through some bogus search engine spam directory from the other side of the country trying to find a diamond in your own back yard. Narrow your search and support your local entertainer or party planner, they are the ones who will take good care of you in the end.

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