The Starting Point Directory is another old directory that had a great beginning, a rough patch down the road, but is currently one of the most respected directories around. Starting Point is a human edited paid directory that lists premier listings from Google along with paid submissions from webmasters. The directory is careful to include only quality listing to maintain its reputation in the industry.
Starting Point was founded in 1995 by early online pioneer Frank Addante, where it was designed to be both a search engine and directory. The two still overlap today. Initially, the Starting Point Directory had a unique feature which had to do with voting links on the pages listed in the site. Websites with high numbers of votes from visitors would receive a hot site award and actually be profiled in the directory.
During the last few years of the twentieth century, the popularity of the site grew until it was one of the largest directories around. Yesmail.com purchased the website in 1997, but did little with it until the site was resold to Techlabs, Inc in 1999. Unfortunately, Techlabs did not have a use for or desire to refurbish the website, so Starting Point languished for a few years. Finally, Starting Point was sold to a new owner who brought back the original polish of the site in 2006.
Today Starting Point is a human –edited directory with paid editors that review every submitted website to ensure it meets the high standard of quality. The listings inside Starting Point are a combination of Google results and paid submissions. The listings are also sprinkled with Adsense offers, but most webmasters and searchers are not phased by these as the ads have become such a natural part of websites today.
To have your site reviewed by Starting Point, you must submit an annual payment of $99. There is no one-time payment option available. The $99 payment will buy a deep review and a listing if your site meets the quality requirements of Starting Point. The $99 fee is recurrent annually, but is well worth every penny for the quality of the traffic and resulting clout in search engines.
Directories have always been a source of traffic and links to websites, but only quality and edited directories such as Starting Point can bring quality traffic. Free directories often are full of spam and junk sites, but by using the services of Starting Point and other popular paid directories, you can ensure that your website is among substantial websites.
As Starting Point has only been redeveloped in the past year, the listings are not yet overwhelming. A webmaster would do well to submit his site now before another few months or years go by and competition for prime directory placement heats up.
