Ask 100 webmasters which web directories are the best and you’ll get 100 different answers.

Before trying to answer this one must first ask what the definition of “best” is. Is it the number of targeted visitors a directory delivers to a listed site? Or is it the “link juice” or SEO value delivered to the site? Are there other factors that might be considered as well, such as, exposure (listing viewed, but not clicked on)?

The “best” directories are the ones that will deliver a webmaster the best bang for their buck. Where “bang” equals a combination of: exposure to targeted prospects + targeted traffic. Most of us have a finite budget and need to carefully choose which directories to invest in to get maximum “bang” or return on investment (ROI).

Take BigGuide, for example. We offer permanent listings and charge a modest review fee of $7 USD to pay for the time it takes to review, describe, and enter the listing. How many sales does your listing need to generate to recoup your small review fee? Is there risk that the listing won’t ever generate a sale? Of course there is. But, with 400 unique visitors finding their way to BigGuide each and every day over the lifetime of that link you’ve got pretty good odds of generating $7 worth of business and/or traffic.

Although this scenario is self serving, it is exactly how we go about selecting web directories worth investing our scarce resources in.

Some of the best web directories available can be found right here in our Web Directories category or in All Top Directories. There are plenty of directory lists like Directory Critic, the VileSilencer friendly directory list, and many others.