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In 2002 a year's listing on Doras, which claims to be world's largest and most comprehensive directory of Irish and Irish related Web sites, will cost businesses a minimum of EUR79 (excluding VAT). Businesses with listings at present will have to pay the annual fees or face being de-listed from Doras' 2002 directory.
According to Doras, non-profit organisations can receive a free listing, but it may take up to three months for it to appear and the site will not receive a review or a rating.
A spokesperson for Eircom Net was not available to comment as this article went to press.
According to the Doras site, anyone wanting a site listed in 2002 can choose three payment options. The basic service, which costs EU79 annually, offers a listing along with a review of a site by a "panel of Web content experts", which will be forwarded within two weeks of payment. It also allows users to select the categories best suited to the site and gives automatic entry to Doras' annual Golden Shamrock Awards for the year's best sites, as well as a mention on Eircom.net's "News You Can Use" e-zine.
The next option, which costs EUR109 (excluding VAT), offers a similar level of services, but the review by the content experts is carried out and sent on within three days.
Doras Professional, which costs EUR199 (excluding VAT), includes a site review incorporating analysis of a site's content, design and layout, navigation structure and interactive assessment. Doras will also provide keywords and search engine recommendations. The Professional service also offers content reviews of two sites, which will be sent on within three days.
Whether this move will be successful remains to be seen. A major hindrance could be a reluctance among Irish businesses to pay for a service that they are used to being free. However, in this regard Doras is merely following the international trend that has seen many of the major search engines and Web site directories charge for premium listings.
Northern Light, for instance, charges consumers for access to a content library of 30 million articles from 7,000 periodicals. And companies such as AltaVista and Inktomi charge fees for better placement in their indexes.
Even Google, which up to now has even eschewed traditional banner advertising, is said to be considering introducing fees for niche searches of periodicals, and medical and technology information.
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