You can read here: John Scotts of V7N says annual fees for directory sucks.

Yes, what he is saying is that if your directory is offering yearly fees for inclusion, it feels like greed. I have to admit, this is a grey area in my opinion. I agree with some of his points like a directory listing should be permanent and if a site is removed if an annual fee is not paid, then it feels like link leasing. And in regards to having good high quality sites in a directory, if it is approved in the first place, why is it removed after one year just because a fee is not paid? If it supposedly adds value to your directory, it should remain.

In my opinion, a “review” is done and if the listing is approved, then it should stay. Unless if the site is down or had become no longer acceptable to the general public. Annual fees should be for featured or sponsored listings only. Something to stand out from the rest of the listings, you should pay more and perhaps pay yearly.

But everything on the Internet is about money. So I guess if a directory wants to charge someone an annual fee for inclusion, it’s their choice. And if people are willing to pay for it, all the better right? However, I think the annual fee can come back and hurt the directory industry in the near future if a lot of directories does that. Why? Well, I think that the directories will lose it’s usefulness as a source for high quality relevant sites. It will become just a crappy listing of rich website owners.