How are Directories Different from Search Engines?

Directories are important to your ranking and success with Search Engines. In a nutshell, search engines are completely automated and usually there is no need to submit. Directories all have human editors who review your site and you do have to submit to them to be listed. But you must submit the right way or you are wasting your time.

If you think getting listed in search engines is slow, try directories. Getting listed in directories takes time but it is well worth it.

One of the good things about getting listed in directories is that Google puts a LOT of weight on sites that are listed in directories. DMOZ is the most important one to Google (and therefore should be the most important one to you).

Junk sites can get listed in the search engines, but try getting a junk site past one of the human directory editors. You can't even get useful sites that are poorly designed past the "eagle eyed" directory editors. Maybe that's why Google puts so much weight on sites that have achieved the status of being listed in directories.

There are a LOT of directories, but there are only a few that you should bother with now.

Here are the major directories

www.DMOZ.org -- Free. Submit to DMOZ first. (DMOZ is also called "Open Directory Project" on their website). They take a LONG time to get your site listed, but do NOT resubmit or your site will go back to the bottom of the stack. To find out about the status of your site getting listed go to www.Resource-Zone.com and ask questions in the discussion forum directly to the DMOZ editors.

www.Gimpsy.com -- Free or pay $20 for 72 hr. inclusion and higher ranking for 90 days.

www.JoeAnt.com -- Pay $39.99 or become an editor and it's free. All editor applications are automatically approved. I suggest you become an editor. You'll learn a lot.

www.GoGuides.org -- Pay $39.99 or become a "guide" (same as editor for other Directories) and it's free.

www.Business.com -- $99 a year, but well worth it if you sell your products to businesses. You'll get a lot of interested and qualified traffic.

www.Yahoo.com -- Yahoo is no longer worth the $299 a year fee in my opinion. Skip this one.

Here's how to get listed in these major directories. Of course, you have to submit your URL to the directory to get listed, but before you do that consider the following steps: Don't jump the gun and submit a site that is under construction.

Make sure your site is well designed, easy to use, has useful content, no spam, no tricks, no broken links, etc. A human editor is in charge of "widgets" and she wants all of the sites in her widgets section of the directory to be useful to the directory visitors.

By all means spend a LOT of time reading the instruction of each directory before you submit. Don't rush to submit your site until you understand what the directory is looking for and how they want you to do it.

Your directory title and description are very important to getting your site listed in the directory. They are also important after you're listed. Your title and description are what potential visitors to your site will see in the directory listings.

Here are some tips for writing your title and description for directories.

Do NOT use any marketing hype (Never use words like "best"). Stick to the facts. Be descriptive. Choose your most importnant keyword phrase, but don't try to stuff a lot of keywords in your title and description. Tricks will kill your chances of getting listed. The human editor has to like you and your site before your site will get listed. So follow the rules!

The most important thing to do is to submit your site in the right category. Drill down to the most specific category you can. Look at your competitors. What category are they in? Look at the sites that are in the category you choose. Look at their titles and descriptions.

You want to follow these examples, but you don't want to be exactly like these sites. Directories don't want sites that contain basically identical information to what's already in the directory.

As soon as your site is completed submit it to DMOZ and get the clock to start ticking. A listing in DMOZ will automatically get you listed in the Google search engine and in the Google directory.

Of course, you can get listed in the Google search engine much quicker by having incoming links from other sites, so don't wait on DMOZ to get you listed in the Google Search Engine. Do depend on it to get you listed in the Google Directory.

A lot of people say they don't want to spend the effort trying to get listed in the directories because it could take three months. (I've seen it get done in one month, but sometimes it has taken six months.) I know people who said this over a year ago. They could have had a much higher PageRank and a LOT more free traffic by now if they had spent a few hours back then submitting their sites to the directories.

Some people make things happen. Some people watch things happen and some people wonder what happened. You have to make things happen if you want to get high rankings in the search engines.

Craige Stacey has been studying search engines optimization as a hobby and has achieved some very good search engine positions in the past for membership software

---

Ten Day Plan to Online Sales

Recently one of my students asked a great question: We... Read More

A Novel Free-For-All Idea

Almost anyone who has tried submitting to free-for-all sites will... Read More

Get Ahead on the Web: How To Bring Visitors To Your Website - For Free!

Search engine optimisation ? it's the holy grail of website... Read More

11 Ways to Promote Your Blog

1. Ping weblogs.com and other search engines. When you ping... Read More

Building Online Visibility: A Three-Point Plan For Any Business

The latest trend in online marketing focuses on local search.... Read More

The Basics Of Free Web Site Promotion

It's easy to forget the fundamental components of Web site... Read More

Website Promotion ? Writing Articles Generates Traffic Four Different Ways

Writing articles and submitting them to free content sites is... Read More

Manual Submission To Directories: One Of The Most Tedious Part Of Managing An Online Business

(but also one of the most crucial part)It is time... Read More

Google Pagerank ? Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains Certified Master Point of View

Google is the most popular internet search engine and even... Read More

Cheap Website Promotion in Birmingham

People are always wanting to attract more visitors to their... Read More

Website Marketing 101

When it comes to website marketing and promotions, you need... Read More

5 Successful Tips For Marketing Your Website

This could be the most amazing article to ever be... Read More

Do Not Build A Website Until You Have Researched Your Keywords

Imagine that you have a $25,000 marketing budget for your... Read More

How To Improve Your Conversion Rate

Hardly a day goes by that I don't get an... Read More

Improve Your Website In 3 Simple Ways

You may already have thought about the following 3 ways... Read More

Converting Web Site Home Buyers to First Contacts

According the National Association of Realtors(R) ("NAR") surveys completed between... Read More

Website Promotion - The Stakes Are Rising ? And So Is The Cost

Over the past couple of months it has been quite... Read More

How to Market Your Web Site Like Nobodys Business

Fresh Web Content Yields Better Search Engine ResultsAll too often,... Read More

The 4 Keys to Great Website Promotion ? Helping Others with Friendly & Useful Services

With all the "How To" articles, and great advice available... Read More

How To Ignite Your Sales

If you own a website, you definitely want to improve... Read More

Free Exposure and Traffic for Your Website

Most new webmasters face the same conundrum: how can I... Read More

12 Ways To Promote Your Website Offline

So you have your website and you've done everything right... Read More

How Popular Are You,... Online That Is?

With the web today you "sorta haveta" have a rank... Read More

10 Shocking Ways To Energize Your Sales

1. Start your own internet radio station. It could be... Read More

10 Highly Effective Ways to Increase Website Traffic and Promote Your Website for Free

There are many ways to promote your website for free... Read More

Internet Advertising Solutions: 10 Things To Barter For, Before Buying

Before you spend your hard earned money, why not first... Read More

Website Promotion: 10 Nitty-Gritty Tactics To Increase Your Orders

If you master these nitty-gritty website promotion tactics, you'll be... Read More

Ten High Powered Ways To Increase Your Traffic

Once you have finshed designing your website, you want to... Read More

Five Ways to Increase Your Website Conversion Rate

Though it's wonderful to get all those hits to your... Read More

Web Site Advertising: 10 Blockbuster Secrets To Make Your Web Site More Profitable

Do you want to make your website more profitable?If you... Read More

5 Cheap Ways to Promote Your Website Offline

We get so caught up with internet marketing and "web... Read More

Why You Should Learn HTML

Do you have a website or are you planning on... Read More

Internet Promotion: 10 Incredible, Intriguing Ways To Increase Your Profits

Are you making money from your website?Will you like to... Read More