I’ve been promoting a local business. Now the main task is to get the Google Places up as soon as possible. I also submit to as many local directories as possible! I performed this over a weekend and I was taken back how many calls I recieved the following Monday of people wanting to sell me premium membship to these directory sites. The phone call ususally goes along the lines of “Hows your website doing at the moment , is your website important to you, we can help you become top for your keyword etc etc” I just wanted to get down to the actual price figure like most sales calls, I was amazed at some of the prices being ask for by some of these companys e.g. Applegate : £500/Year City Visitor : £500/Year Qype : £250/ Month per country! Thompson : £300 for 1 Town and £360 2 Town Yell.com : £39 / Month for 6 Month Trial – ( They partner with google to get you up the listings!) I guess this is down to the fact how google ranks places listings first for local search , and submission to these directories via sponsored links can help your google places rankings!