Following is my post to newsgroup biz.ecommerce

I have been a webmaster for a smallish company since 95. I haven’t ventured out in the “woods” of this biz.ecommerce newsgroup before, but am starting to feel like I need to discuss things with others like me. (I am currently in an MBA/ecommerce program, too.) I also started a blog (I’ll share URL later).

I market b2b expensive capital equipment and have been pretty successful with the search engines. Now, I a being beat at the game by *pros*. Let me explain:

“Industrial Quick Search” http://www.industrialquicksearch.com is a search-engine-optimization service that runs directories for a lot of smaller businesses, then charges us in that industry thousands of dollars to get on their directory. Of course they are experts at keywords, so they are at the top of every search engine (nearly anyway).

I really hate to lay out $400 a month to attract the leads I should get anyway, as I am still close to the top of the listings. But they do offer a convenient platform for searchers, so I don’t want to dismiss it either.

Any opinions about such services and tactics? How would you respond?

–David