Are you tired of reading how to write and submit articles to a directory? Would you like to have your own article directory? Well this
article is for you.
There’s a few things to consider before putting an article directory together. Do you want to make a niche directory catering to only certain subjects or do you want to cover every topic under the moon? This is where our first requirement comes into play.
Deciding on a domain name. If you’re going for the niche directory you’re going to want to possibly include the niche in the name of the directory.
Let’s say you’re into cars, then you would want your domain to be something like articlesaboutcarsthatgoreallyfast.*** or cartopicsthatiknowabout.*** or something like that. These are just examples I’m using to illustrate the use of names. You probably would not want a domain name that long. If your going for the catch all you can use something with article in it, like articlesabouteverythingimaginable.*** Again just illistration purposes. The domain name you choose doesn’t have to have the word article in it, mine doesn’t. There are resources on the Internet which allow you to plug in keywords and it will spit out possible domain names from your keywords.
Now it’s time to look into getting a web host. I know there are literally thousands of web hosts out there and the decision can be daunting. Here
are a few things you want to look for in a web host.
* Able to host multiple domains under one account
* Plenty of storage space
* Plenty of monthly transfer
* Able to have multiple email addresses
* Able to have multiple MySql databases
* Customer service available through web, email, or phone
Search the Internet for web host reviews for more information. There are plenty of resources with ranking systems for web hosts. You could also email some web site owners to see who they use and if they are happy with them.
Next the software to run our directory. I use Article Dashboard. Article Dashboard is free software to run your own directory. I’m not saying this is the only software out there, I’m just saying that it’s great and free, you can’t beat that!
After following the directions for installing the directory it’s time to get some articles. Lots of article directories allow use of their articles as long as you keep all links the same and give credit where it’s due. Just check each site’s policy for exact rules relating to the use of their content. Another way is to read articles and contact the original author and invite them to write and send articles to your site. You can also sign up for sites that “push out articles” to you. This is a great way to get lots of articles quickly but it is also a good idea to get some original content.
Well this is about all for now, please visit my site for more information, free articles and Cajun Info. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Probably SE engineers and CEO’s are asking themselves the same question.
Directory frenzy begun when Google announced his PR mechanism, slower in the beginning but extremely accelerated lately.
Keeping the same trend it’s very accurate to say than in 6 months, with continuously improved automated tools for submitting, the quantity of links to be considered by crawlers will grow, artificially, extremely.
And the content itself will be almost the same while the services provided by directories to visitors (others than submitting webmasters) are practically null.
There is one axiom, one question and one estimation :
The axiom :
Search engines will degrade and penalize some but not all directories.
The question :
Will this happen on automated algorithmic bases or a human rating will be involved ?
This question is linked to the definition of “bad neighborhood” and “link farm”. The algorithm will decide that a directory has over a certain % links to “bad sites” and penalize it ?
Let’s take a look at DMOZ : based on this algorithm Google will need to penalize DMOZ because is crowded with dead links and forbidden content (due to corrupt editors).
So we may think that a “kind” of human rating will be added in the equation. Because it’s obvious that an “AI” can’t judge the value of content, especially related to the usefulness towards live people.
The estimation
In my opinion all automated directories will be penalized. If the submission isn’t human rated or approved than the directory will be blacklisted.
Also all the directories based on the same principles : approving links without providing any content/human intervention, will be penalized.
The “paid” directories, which contains a handful a “selected” links, will not be penalized but their usefulness as real traffic are questionable and , probably, the PR benefits will be degraded a little.
The “big” directories, counted on the fingers of a hand, will stay with the same weight. Nothing new here 
big guys are always friends.
You just got your website online. Everything is setup and you’re ready to go. Excitement is high and the time has come to open your virtual doors to the millions and millions of Internet users around the globe. You put out the cyber welcome mat and declare your site ready for action. But, instead of sitting and watching the users trample over one another to get to your site, you see little to no traffic.
Don’t worry! This is something every webmaster goes through and is to be expected. (Well, webmasters in the late 90’s expected to launch their site and be millionaires the next morning, but times have changed since those wonderful days!)
But there are some quick and easy things you can do to begin building your ‘link network,’ which will ultimately help drive traffic to your site. Since the Internet’s conception, the notion has been that sites link to one another, while web surfers click from place to place. Thus, the challenge begins: Get your site linked to as many others as possible.
You can start contacting other websites offering to trade links (but be prepared to invest a lot of time); you can buy links (but be prepared to fork out some cash); you can join link-trading programs (but be prepared to get a lot of irrelevant sites linking to you); or you can start submitting your website to web directories.
What Is A Web Directory?
A web directory is a compilation of sites organized by category or topic. Most web directories have multiple levels of categories, progressing from general to highly specific. In addition, a web directory editor will likely have to approve your site, lending it at a certain degree of credibility. Being listed in a directory ensures that if a web surfer finds their way into a specific category, they don’t just see your competitors, they see you! And, if they can see your link, they can click it, producing traffic to your site.
A Web Directory Listing Helps with SEO
If you have a website, you undoubtedly know the importance of ranking well in Google and other major search engines. These search engines count links from other sites as votes for your site, which helps determine your ranking, or position in the search results. There are a lot of other parts of the algorithm and this brief explanation doesn’t do it justice. However, it serves the point that links improve your ranking, and that’s something every website owner needs to know.
A link in a directory that is spidered by Google (and a lot are) will count as a vote for your site. This improves your ranking, and yet again helps drive traffic to your site. It’s important to note that not all directories help with SEO. Sometimes, a web directory will link to your site through a special URL that is often a programming CGI script. If the URL is not a direct link to your site, then the search engines don’t count it as a vote. Therefore, it’s best to pick directories that offer a direct one-way link to your site. (This way, you get more bang for your buck: traffic from the directory and improved search engine ranking.)
Relevancy Matters
If you trade links with random sites, then you are theoretically building your ‘link network,’ but you are sacrificing the quality of that network. Web searchers who are looking for information on a particular topic often use resources that link to a variety of sites related to what they seek. This makes web directories the perfect destination.
Since directories are categorized by topics, a person can arrive in the directory and have one-click access to a variety of resources. You definitely want to be one of those resources! Plus, when the other search engines pick up your link, it will count for more since it is surrounded by relevant content, which is most likely filled with your important keywords.
As you build your link network, you’ll continue to see increased traffic. And if you use web directories as your vehicle, you are essentially paving more paths to your site. Several good submissions in popular directories will help get you rolling. The best part is that many directories are free, so this jump start won’t even hurt your bottom line.
Good luck and happy submitting!
Every webmaster wants links (possibly a lot of them!). That’s not surprisingly because links from other sites are not only a source of traffic, but also a very important factor that helps a site to rank well in search engines results.
Apparently submitting your site to web directories is one of the quickest ways to get links, but getting listed is sometimes much more difficult than it may seem.
The problem is that web directories are swamped by a large number of low quality submissions: poorly designed web sites, web sites without any original content or created only to display advertisements and so on.
For this reason directory editors review hundreds of sites per day and accept only those complying to a very strict set of guidelines. There are days, and I talk by personal experience, when more than 90% of submissions are rejected, in many case without even the need to visit the site simply because of a poorly written submission.
If you want to increase your chances to see your site listed, it’s essential to understand what informations you are required to provide about your site and how to properly submit them.
At least title, description and url are required by all directories.
Web site title
Directories have more or less restrictive rules about what you can or cannot have as your site title.
Some allow only your official domain name or company name, other are more liberal.
In any case a good title should never exceed 4-5 words. Using a long list of keywords as title (keyword stuffing), excessive repetitions and inappropriate punctuation must be absolutely avoided.
Web site description
Many sites are rejected due to an inappropriate description. A description is not an advertisement and should never contain superlatives or excessive marketing hype.
Directory listings are usually searchable by words contained both in title and description so the keywords commonly used to find your site should be included in your site description. However always write 2-3 complete sentences that sound natural do not make your description a long list of keywords.
Web site URL
You would say that people should at least be able to correctly submit their own web site url. If you work as directory editor for a while you will change your mind! It happens quite frequently that a site is rejected simply because of a mistyped url.
Never type your site url directly into the submission form. Test it in your browser, save it in a text file and copy and paste from there.
Each directory can have some other specific rules, so be sure to carefully read the submission guidelines and comply to any special requirement.
It’s said that you never get a second chance to make a good first impression: directory editors read the informations you submit before visiting your web site. Learn to properly write your submissions and you will greatly increase the chances to have your website accepted.
‘More than 80% of the traffic comes from the top ten search engines’.
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. 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
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.
Whether you are starting a new business or operating on a budget, you cannot go wrong with free web promotion. The truth is that not everyone has an expense account to justify an aggressive advertising campaign. Many businesses, especially web-based, outline marketing as their largest expense. However, free web promotion has changed the way that everyone looks at advertising.
The best way to gain free web promotion is through the use of press releases, which highlight upcoming news, events and headlines regarding your company. In order to write an effective press release, your business must be involved in something noteworthy. Whether it be a contest, a grand opening, a special sale or other event, a press release is the perfect way to advertise your business happenings for free. There are a number of press release submission websites, which allow business owners to submit their news for free. In addition, submitting your press release to newspaper and magazine editors may increase your chances of being published both online and in print. Before sending a press release, which should be no more than one page in length, make sure that your name, mailing address and telephone number is included at the top of the page. Many editors require that contact information be present before they will even consider publishing a press release. The reasoning behind this is to confirm the identity of the person submitting the news.
Web promotion can perhaps best be utilized through successful positioning on internet search engines. By making sure that your website content is rich with information, links and updated information, search engines will be more likely to position your site among the top ranks. In addition, a descriptive website will also find it’s way to the top. For example, if your business deals with collectibles, make sure that your content is rich in keywords dealing with collectibles and the product line that you offer. Avoid stuffing keywords, but make sure that your website clearly indicates it’s subject matter.
One of the best avenues for web promotion is through article marketing. While many website owners are still somewhat unfamiliar with this approach, others are cashing in on a surge of traffic generated from properly marketing their articles. The key to successful web promotion via article marketing is to write an informative article that everyone will want to read. At the bottom of the article, include a brief paragraph featuring your name, the name of your business and a website address. The next step is to submit your article to as many article directories as possible. The more exposure, the better. As other webmasters log on to article directories in search of content for their website, they may select your article to be featured on their site. The more webmasters that feature your work, the more free web promotion your business will receive.
There are a number of ways to acquire paid marketing opportunities and an equal, or greater, number of ways to get free web promotion. If done correctly, web promotion doesn’t have to empty the entire expense account. In some cases, it won’t even cost you a cent.
After you have built a website and optimized it by tuning its meta tags to the best, it is the time to get it submitted to major search engines and directories. So, that your site gets indexed by the search engines and the directories. There are lot of confusions in submission to search engines and web directories. Here, I would try to clear this confusion. A close study of search engines and web directory will sure help to solve this confusion.
search engines
When you submit your website to a search engine, it reads your site meta tags, looks their relationship with the contents, indexes you website and assigns a rank to your site according to the algorithm it follows. Here, you should understand that by submitting your site to a search engine does not mean that you will start getting high traffics just after its submission. This simply means that now the search engine knows about your site and its pages and would place you in its SERP (Search Engine Result Pages) according to your rank in its index.
You must have read very often about the offers for submitting your site to thousands of search engines for a fee, no matter small or big. No doubt that there are really thousand of search engines on the web but most searches are routed through a few major search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL, alltheweb etc. If you submit to these search engines alone, it is really enough to get noticed in the search engine world. I am giving their site submission URLs and little info about their strategies.
.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl.
They ask you to submit your top level page and have pretty easy to understand instructions for submission. Google updates its index normally once a month.
Yahoo
submit.search.yahoo.com/.
They have two options free and paid. Free listing takes about 30 to 45 days. However paid listing assures a quick listing of your site.
MSN
search.msn.com/docs/submit.aspx.
MSN in routine picks new websites having good inbound links. So if you have good inbound links, your site will be picked for listing in MSN even if you don’t submit your site to them.
AOL
You can not submit to AOL directly but if your site is indexed by Google, AOL will most likely include your site in its index too.
Web Directories
Web directories are different with respect to search engines. A search engine uses its algorithm to index and rank a website through its regular crawling process whereas a web directory is defined into several categories and subcategories where it contains the websites submitted. In this way a web directory is considered an expert index of sites. Here you select a category and subcategory for your site and submit your site to it. Visitors come to brows a specific category in a directory as per their interest. This ensures that your presence in a specific category will attract a targeted visitor. Most of the search engines use these directories to update their data. This also increases your chance of getting high rank with search engines.
These directories can be classified into free directories and paid directories. Normally, free directories take comparatively more time to list the submitted sites. Whereas the paid directories list the submitted sites instantly. Some good free directories are DMOZ, Yahoo!, World Wide Index, AbiLogic, Gimpsy, JoeAnt. However, good paid directories can be named as Arielis, BOTW, BlueFind, Microsoft bCentral, and GoGuides.
Before submitting your site review your site thoroughly and make sure that your site has no broken or dead links. Write a suitable description of your site to put into the description field of submission form. Search thoroughly the categories and subcategories before selecting the category for your site. They normally offer you to suggest one if you don’t find a suitable one.
No doubt, submitting your site to major search engines and good rank directories help increasing the traffic and good placement in SERP (Search Engine Result Pages). Submission to good directories is something which ensures this goal.
You are an attorney or other service or product provider. You have built an excellent web site, it looks good, it is well optimized and it tells your clients and prospective clients or customers everything they need to know in order to do business with you or purchase your product. You have submitted your site to the major and many minor search engines. Now all you need to do is sit back and wait for clients or customers to come flowing in, right? Wrong.
As the number of websites grow on the internet, it is getting more and more difficult for web sites, even excellent web sites, to obtain good rankings in the search engines. Nowdays it appears that in order to obtain good search engine rankings (somewhere on the first page for your catagory) you must have your meta tags, format and text just right, and then you have to get tons of other web sites to link to you. Even if you do everything right there are still numerous other businesses out there also doing everything right. Therefore, you still might not obtain good rankings. Even if you do obtain good rankings today, the search engines might change there way of ranking sites next week, and your site might well drop or even dissapear from the rankings.
Additionally, it is estimated that nearly 200 million adults use the internet as a source to search for products, services or information,
and this number is likely to grow each year. As the number of websites grow on the internet, it is getting
increasingly difficult for web surfers to find the product or service that they need. As a result, web surfers are turning to online specialty or niche
directories, such as the legal and service directories from Resources For Attorneys.com or the Lifestyle Directories from Resources For Attorneys, to sift through the numerous websites and locate the product, service or information that they need.
Specialty and niche directories normally charge a small fee, $3.00 to $100.00 per year, for your listing. They are usually much smaller and have far fewer listings than the regular search engines. This makes it easier for you to obtain a good listing and it makes it easier for consumers that are actually looking for your service, product or information to find you. Additionally, there is a collateral benefit to listing your site in a directory. Most search engines count directory links as good links and this can sometimes increase your link ranking with those search engines, thereby improving your search engine listings.
Although there is a cost in subitting to these directories the total cost of submitting to several specialty and niche directories is much less than the cost of yellow page, radio or television advertising and the benefits can be as good or sometimes far better.
Finally, many of these directories allow you to submit articles, press releases, news storys and testimonials about your services. This can increase your presence and allow your customers to learn more about you, your service or product.
How to get directories to submit your site - with this 5 steps guide !
Getting directories to list your site is easy !
Here are some steps which you can take to find directories:
1. Check out your competitions back links. Your competition is sure to have got links from some directories. Try to get into those first.
2. Do a search in Google (the most obvious one!) using keywords like ’submit+site+directory’. You will come up with many directories for your site. And you can use your imagination to come up with new combination of keywords for searching in Google.
3. Do a search in Google with “allintitle:webdirectory”. I did a search with these keywords and came up with some good directories. Or you can use “allinurl:webdirectory” also. The command “allintitle:webdirectory” shows those sites which have “webdirectory” word in the site title. Similarly the command “allinurl:webdirectory” shows those sites which have “web-directory” in the site url.You can change “webdirectory” to “internetdirectory” or any other keyword of your choice.
4. Visit various Search Engine related forums .In almost every such forum you will find some threads discussing directory sub-missions. Follow such threads &ndash dig deeper if needed! You will be aptly rewarded with lists of many directories posted by members of these forums.
5. Visit some good directories like dmoz.org, dir.yahoo.com, .joeant.com, .goguides.org and search for the ‘directories’ category. These prominent directories provides lists of other good directories on the net.
Follow these simple 5 steps to get directories on your left, right, everywhere and set your promotion campaign rolling !
Some useful resources:
.hedir.com/groupthink/about29.html
forums.digitalpoint.com/forumdisplay.php?f=25
Have fun hunting for directories!
Submitting your website to the various online directories is an important part of any Link Popularity campaign. Whilst your traffic from many directories may be minor or irrelevant, relevant incoming links to your website will help in your overall search engine link popularity.
Other than Yahoo!, which is quite frankly beyond the reach of many smaller websites, paying for your directory submission can be a waste of money. You can get just as good a resultfrom submitting to free directories, or those that are free with a reciprocal link. If the directory is exceptionally good, the cost is low, and your directory ranking will be improved by paying a fee, do so if you wish. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend you pay for what you can get free elsewhere.
To start with on your submission campaign, in my opinion it is better to submit to those directories that will allow you to easily modify your listing. That way, you can correct mistakes and get your campaign down pat before submitting to directories that don’t allow you to logon and modify your submission, thus saving yourself from wasting or reducing in value your efforts in those directories.
What Directories to Submit To
The best are Search Engine Friendly directories (those that actually have your site URL listed at some point, rather than outlinks that are simply code). Some will ask for a reciprocal link, some will not. One list of non-reciprocal directories is at info.vilesilencer.com/main.php?rock=seo-friendly.php. Opinion at the moment is suggesting that non-reciprocal or one-way links are better, although any relevant link is useful. Directories that encode their links are mostly useful for traffic if their Alexa Ranking is high enough. Directories that do not encode outgoing links will help your website’s Search Engine Ranking.
Deep Linking
It can be worth linking to other pages on your site other than your main page. Before doing this, make sure that the directory you are submitting to permits you to both submit URLs other than your home page (some only allow top level submission), and for the same site to be submitted to different categories (not all directories permit what are essentially multiple submissions of the same website). This will work especially if you have online tools or directories (such as your links page) on your site that are useful and relevant to add to other directory categories.
Choose the Relevant Directory Category
Most directories will have many categories you can submit your site to. Decide on the one that is most relevant, preferably a keyword that you are aiming for high search engine ranking in, and try to submit to the same or similar category in every directory, at least for your main page (also see Deep Linking above). This will increase the ranking of your site relating to the keyword chosen.
Submit to Different Categories
If the directory allows multiple submissions, and your website is relevant in several categories, submit to all the relevant categories you can. This will increase the number of incoming links to your website. Again, carefully check the terms of any directory before trying this to make sure it is permitted.
Write Title
Write the title for your website. Try to include a keyword you are aiming for ranking in in the title, but make the use of it appropriate, don’t just bang a keyword in for the sake of it; you could get your site submission rejected.
Write Description
Describe your website in a way that will attract visitors. The length of your description will vary from directory to directory, but most will be under 250 characters. Some will allow up to 1,000 characters, and in those cases write the most comprehensive description of your site and its features that you can. It is a good idea to write several descriptions of different lengths, say from under 50 characters for a brief overview, to around 150 characters for a fuller description, up to 250 characters for a yet more comprehensive listing, and finally a full description as previously mentioned for over 250 characters. Keep your listing pertinent to your website, insert keywords where relevant and appropriate, but do not just submit a keyword listing, as most directories will reject your submission. Save all your descriptions in a text file, and just copy & paste into the descriptions boxes when needed rather than typing the same descriptions out again and again.
Choose Keywords
Again, as with the description mentioned above, the amount of keywords you can use will vary from directory to directory. Some will not give the option, some will allow you numbers of keywords, whilst others go by numbers of characters. Make a list of all relevant keywords for your site, from most important to least, and basically keep adding keywords until either you get to the bottom of your list (unlikely unless your list is really short) or you run out allowed characters/keywords. Check what keywords your competitors are going for if you need inspiration. This can often be done by viewing the source of a web page and checking the META tags. Again, save your keywords to a text file.
Keep Track of Your Progress
Keep a careful record of what directories you have submitted to, and your progress. It is far too easy to totally lose track of what you are doing, which does not help your linking campaign at all. The best way is by using a spreadsheet, such as Excel, to keep track of your campaign. At a minimum, you need to keep track of the following: Directory URL, Directory Name, Date Submitted, User Login & Password for those directories that allow you to alter your details and Response (accepted/declined). Other categories can include: Directory Alexa Ranking, Directory Page Rank (this will be for the home page only), Referral URL (if the directory will improve your ranking for referring visitors) and any Notes. If you are using the deep linking and multiple submissions strategies above, also keep track of what other pages you have submitted to each directory. Make a seperate entry for each URL submitted. For example, your spreadsheet columns could go as follows: Directory Name, Directory URL, URL Submitted, Referral URL, Login, Password, Alexa Ranking, Page Rank, Date Submitted, Response. I would advise keeping the list in alphabetical order, rather than order submitted, as that way you can check more easily whether or not you have submitted to a particular directory.