When I went to Pubcon in Boston I finally got to meet Greg Hartnett and Brian Prince of Best of the Web Directory or BOTW. The rule of thumb with most directories today is let in who ever is willing to pay, cash out quick, don’t give a damn about quality, or a long term business model. Thankfully that’s not the case with BOTW, they understand and realize quality and longevity are important, and they are one of about a handful of directories I use for my quality sites and recommend to all my clients.
The second part is Brian and Greg are actually cool guys! When you talk with people at booths at conferences, despite being friendly and helpful, you know that deep down it’s a sales call for them. This is a conference and they are there to do business and that’s ok. However talking with these guys was different, it was like talking to your next door neighbor, they were just down to earth, and real. So if you’ve never met them at a conference, you’re missing out, so stop by and say Hi. Now if you don’t believe me you can listen to an interview Greg did on Webmaster Radio in 2005 (MP3 Link)
Another thing I learned is they put out different shirts for each event, so I have a Pubcon 4-20 shirt
Now the interesting thing about that is after I noticed it, I came across the number 420 in all sorts of places, most recently on the Google Zeitgeist for April 24th. So being the curious chap I checked it out at snopes. Let’s just hope I’m not conference bound with my BOTW 4-20 shirt on and get stopped by some airport security officer for full search 
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{ 9 comments }
Well, atleast they didn’t put a big green leaf on the shirt.
And yes, your airport security stop time would probably go a lot smoother if you replaced the 4:20 shirt with an I LOVE MYSPACE one.
nobody likes Aprli 20th??
the date of the pubcon was April 20th, 4/20. any other similarities are coincidental, however opportune…
and thanks for the very kind words michael.
Funny, April 20th is my birthday
When I met BOTW at SES NY, I felt the same way. They were really relaxed and were not pushy for a sale. Unlike a lot of the directories out there BOTW is not too bad.
Agreed, very top notch directory and a model for the rest of the industry to follow.
Will BOTW be at SES San Jose? Would like to stop by and meet Greg & Co.
I met Greg & Brian at SES in San Jose last year. Very cool guys. I saw Greg the next day at a Yahoo party and he actually remembered my name, almost like we were old friends. He also went out of his way to introduce me to people who he thought might be able to help solve the problem I was working on. None of these things could possibly benefit him personally. I was very impressed. I have great expectations for the future of BTOW.
These guys rock – one of the very few to make it into the bona fides on my blog. If I whore my site up with a graphic for you, it says something.
i dont know what u guys r talking about but 4:20 rules
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