More than 80% of the increase its visibility and
traffic comes from the top attract more traffic from search
ten search engines'. engines.
You have probably read this However you need an overall
statement many times and it's strategy to successfully manage
true at least for the majority of your directory submissions or you
websites. will only lose your time and
energies.
So how about web directories? Is
submitting your site to them a > Is your site ready?
waste of time?
You should never forget that
Even if directories usually don't directories don't exist to give
deliver a lot of traffic they away free links. Their purpose is
contribute inbound links to your to provide their visitors with
site increasing its link good quality sites.
popularity a very important
factor used by search engines to If you want some chances to get
rank websites. listed you need a well designed
web site containing useful and
When someone queries a search original content or offering
engine using a keyword relevant useful services.
to your site, higher is your site
link popularity higher are its Your site must also be complete
chances to come up near the top without broken links or links to
of the results. 'under construction' pages.
Submitting your site to web Other things that can cause a
directories will help you rejection of your submission are:
too many ads (especially pop-ups excessive hype and generally
and pop-unders), automatic everything that makes your
redirections to another domain, description sound like an ad.
having the same exact content of
other sites (example: the 'self Description should be written in
replicated' sites some companies third person. Avoid expressions
provide to their affiliates). like 'we offer', 'we are ...'.
> Preparing your listing details 4) a set of search keywords
related to your site. Separate
Open your favorite text editor the keywords with commas, then
and write down the following write down the same set of
informations: keywords this time separated by
spaces. Some directories require
1) your web site URL. the first format, others the
second one.
2) your website Title. Some
directories accept only the 5) your full name and email
official site name as title, address.
others allow some descriptive
keywords, but in general stuffing Once you have done save the
a lot of keywords in your title document. By copying and pasting
is not acceptable. Write 2-3 these informations into the
different titles in compliance submissions forms you will save
with these different rules. time and avoid errors.
3) your website description. Or you can utilize Clipboard
Write what your site is about in Magic (
a couple of sentences. Avoid http://www.cybermatrix.com/clipma
superlatives, exclamation marks, g.html ). This free software
allows you to save multiple rows find the most appropriate
of data and load them into the category for your site.
Windows Clipboard simply with a
click of the mouse. It's really Submitting to the wrong category
useful when you need to fill in usually causes a rejection of
many online forms with the same your submission.
informations.
Compile a list of all directories
> Finding web directories where you have submitted your
site indicating the date of your
The next step is finding submission.
directories where you can submit
your site. > Verifying the results
You can use top directories to Not all directories send you an
find minor and specialized email when your site is listed.
directories
You should periodically visit
DMOZ: your list of directories and make
http://dmoz.org/Computers/Interne a search for your site title or
t/Searching/Directories/ url. Flag all directories where
you find your site.
Yahoo:
http://dir.yahoo.com/Computers_an If your site has not been listed
d_Internet/Internet/World_Wide_We after about 2 months from the
b/Searching_the_Web/Search_Engine date of your first submission you
s_and_Directories/ can try to submit it again. My
advice is to not resubmit more
Spend some time to determine how frequently.
each directory is organized and
You can also contact the
directory owner and ask about the Submitting your site to web
status of your submission, but if directories is an essential part
you don't receive a reply, don't of your website promotion
insist. There may be many reasons strategy. It's a time consuming
why a directory doesn't list your task, but with the right planning
site, simply accept the fact that you will be able to manage it
not all submissions are successfully.
successful.
About the Author:
Mike Paolieri is webmaster and co-owner of WebmasterGate, a directory of articles, tools and resources of interest to webmasters and web developers. http://www.webmastergate.com
Read more articles by:
Mike Paolieri
Article Source: www.iSnare.com
