I believe that these directories are hoping that you'll pay them so that they'll give a speedy service.

And my directory is a great exemption to that. Im guaranteeing my visitor a 24 hours inclusion. Im online for a minimum of 2 in a day validating links

I did believed in directory submissions in past. But now I generally prefer the content links compared to the directory links.

I am not totally suggesting that the directory links are of no value. But then it depends on the directory which is providing the links.

very true!!
I submitted to almost 100 directories yesturday and only 3 have visited my site to review the site!!

Lets see how many come in the following days??

I have two directories. One gests about 5 submissions a week. I just went in and approved or deleted the 3 submissions that were waiting for me.

The other directory gets 100-200 submissions a day. I go in at least once a day to work on them but I still have over 700 that are pending. If you submit to small directories that are still growning or if the editors have lots of time your site will get reviewed right away. If you submit to large directories where they get many submissions and the editor is lazy (like me) it may take weeks or months to get listed.

The thing to keep in mind that even if it takes months to get listed, it is generally worth the wait, since the larger directories have more content and better PR.

Do you think such ( free ) link building helps for traffic and link from such low PR sites do help in SEO. ?