Reviews

Review: BBDirectory.com

Todays email contained several directory advertisements. I am starting with the first that I received today, from BBDirectory.com. This site invited me to update my information, despite the fact that I had never submitted any information to them. A quick look around revealed information from 3 innkeepers (nearly 9 years) ago. Aside from the obvious outdated content this site keeps with the apparent industry standard tan and faded green color scheme. The domain has been around just long enough for the account to have actually been set up by the innkeepers 9 years ago; so it was tough to tell if its just ripped content from elsewhere or if its just extremely out of date. It does seem that the site recently changed hands though. The site is an eclectic mix of links to tourism sites, other directories and even a PDF eBook that supposedly sells for $6.95 elsewhere? The site had the slowest page load times to date, again investigation shows that its a bad procedure call to the Google map. Hey, B&B web designers, how about a “Map it” link instead? Overall, it seems that there is some potential here and if there are in fact new owners of the site I look forward to whats to come.

The Good: The search function was fast and clean. Results were inns, not subdirectories. The actual page layout was clean and attractive with no obtrusive ads. The innkeeper interface is clean, easy to use and well designed. The innkeeper photo upload and preview is fast and well done.

The Bad: I personally hate when the SEO is obvious. The main page is stuffed with keywords and barely relevant text. The path to an inns actual page is a long and scrolling one - the inn links themselves are disguised in the title to the page with a small “link” icon. Links on internal pages to their own site were broken and the error pages were standard 404 pages.

My Ratings:

Overall Rating:
Site Design:
Site Content:
Site Usability:
Site Reach:
Browser:
Clicks to Link:
Internal Pagerank:
Credibility / QA:
Value:

The Stats:
Age of Domain: 10 years
Main Page Pagerank: 5
Number of Inbound Links: 7,041
AlexaRank: 2,233,808
Alternate Domain Names: Yes
Direct Links to Your Website: Yes.
Least Expensive Membership (annual): $75
Most Expensive Membership (annual): $75.

Notes about Packages and Membership: I was confused that our inn is listed on here, but we havent paid. So I am unsure if there are “free” listing types or, considering that the data is 9 years old, if this is just an oversight. Some research shows that the fee is avtually $75 per year. It also seems that currently there are a limited number of “Featured” memberships being offered as part of a reciprocal link program. According to the email I received, this program will be replaced with a pay for listing program in the near future.

The Site: www.bbdirectory.com
Review Date: January 2008

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