A web directory is simply that–an online directory listing of web sites. Most web directories offer free services, all it takes is a matter of looking them up and submitting your blog or website to them, add some information about it and voila! Your site gets listed.
However, there are also other more specialized or specific web directories. Some of them are free while some charge a minimal annual fee that goes mainly to the maintenance of the site. And of course, we know that they also have to pay for their domain and hosting, so the fees are understandable, as long as they are that–minimal.
As bloggers, we can optimize our blog’s rank and popularity especially if we submit our blog to an SEO friendly web directory. This means that when other people search the web for a particular topic or keyword, search engines easily detect our links in these sites. They are not kept or hidden.
Web directories also compete against each other for having the most comprehensive listing on the net. That is why they also have advertising pitches like, being category based and cross referenced or being free. The last one is the most inviting, as many people all over the world would prefer freebies than better service. But for the most part, I believe that the best service would be the categorized web directory. That means that people who visit your site are your target market. They intentionally go to a specific category to look up the sites there because they need something from there.
But if you have business, the best thing to do would be to enlist your site in a trusted business directory like Business.com. The sites listed there are categories based on the line of business, so it is more efficient for people to look up the site and find your listing there in a specific category, like for example, Construction or Travel.