WebProWorld Promotion Forum |
Why do American's love posting their pics on websites?
I’m from England and I can see a distinctive difference between the way
American marketing their website and us here in UK and perhaps the rest of the
world. You Yankees love putting pictures of yourself on the web page and a small
statement about your work history.
SEO for Spanish language
Are correct spanish words recognised by search engines? By this I mean would the
search engines be more likely to index étnicos or etnicos
The Wonders of Forums
I am trying to get people to come to my forums and post, but I can't seem to attract
anyone. My friends and I post everyday and provide many topics for discussion.
|
|
|
|
10.17.05
How To Manage Directory Submissions
 By Mike Paolieri
You have probably read this statement many times and it's true at least for the
majority of websites.
So how about web directories? Is submitting your site to them a waste of time?
Even if directories usually don't deliver a lot of traffic they contribute inbound
links to your site increasing its link popularity a very important factor used
by search engines to rank websites.
When someone queries a search engine using a keyword relevant to your site, higher
is your site link popularity higher are its chances to come up near the top of
the results.
Submitting your site to web directories will help you increase its visibility
and attract more traffic from search engines.
However you need an overall strategy to successfully manage your directory submissions
or you will only lose your time and energies.
Is your site ready?
You should never forget that directories don't exist to give away free links.
Their purpose is to provide their visitors with good quality sites.
If you want some chances to get listed you need a well designed web site containing
useful and original content or offering useful services.
Your site must also be complete without broken links or links to 'under construction'
pages.
Other things that can cause a rejection of your submission are: too many ads (especially
pop-ups and pop-unders), automatic redirections to another domain, having the
same exact content of other sites (example: the 'self replicated' sites some companies
provide to their affiliates).
Preparing your listing details
Open your favorite text editor and write down the following informations:
1) your web site URL.
2) your website Title. Some directories accept only the official site name
as title, others allow some descriptive keywords, but in general stuffing a lot
of keywords in your title is not acceptable. Write 2-3 different titles in compliance
with these different rules.
3) your website description. Write what your site is about in a couple
of sentences. Avoid superlatives, exclamation marks, excessive hype and generally
everything that makes your description sound like an ad.
Description should be written in third person. Avoid expressions like 'we offer',
'we are ...'.
4) a set of search keywords related to your site. Separate the keywords
with commas, then write down the same set of keywords this time separated by spaces.
Some directories require the first format, others the second one.
5) your full name and email address.
Once you have done save the document. By copying and pasting these informations
into the submissions forms you will save time and avoid errors.
Or you can utilize Clipboard Magic http://www.cybermatrix.com/clipmag.html
This free software allows you to save multiple rows of data and load them into
the Windows Clipboard simply with a click of the mouse. It's really useful when
you need to fill in many online forms with the same informations.
Finding web directories
The next step is finding directories where you can submit your site.
You can use top directories to find minor and specialized directories
DMOZ: http://dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/Searching/Directories/
Yahoo: http://dir.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/
Internet/
World_Wide_Web/Searching_the_Web/
Search_Engines_and_Directories/
Spend some time to determine how each directory is organized and find the most
appropriate category for your site.
Submitting to the wrong category usually causes a rejection of your submission.
Compile a list of all directories where you have submitted your site indicating
the date of your submission.
Verifying the results
Not all directories send you an email when your site is listed.
You should periodically visit your list of directories and make a search for your
site title or url. Flag all directories where you find your site.
If your site has not been listed after about 2 months from the date of your first
submission you can try to submit it again. My advice is to not resubmit more frequently.
You can also contact the directory owner and ask about the status of your submission,
but if you don't receive a reply, don't insist. There may be many reasons why
a directory doesn't list your site, simply accept the fact that not all submissions
are successful.
Submitting your site to web directories is an essential part of your website promotion
strategy. It's a time consuming task, but with the right planning you will be
able to manage it successfully.
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/ |
