Benefits Of Directory Submissions

While traditional "search engine submissions" have long since stopped being of use or benefit to webmasters and Internet marketers, there is another type of submission that has come to the forefront. Directory submissions. Submissions to general directories, niche directories, as well as carefully selected paid submissions to both types, have many benefits.

First, directory submissions can be of benefit for link popularity reasons. Most directories do not require a reciprocal link, so the link counts as a one way link to your site. One way links are many times more valuable than reciprocal links to the search engines.

Second, some directories get a good amount of traffic and therefore this increases the chance that you will receive targeted visitors from your directory link. These visitors are free!

Third, the cost of directory submissions is very low. All it takes is some time. You can also hire a professional to do your submissions for very low cost to save you time.

Fourth, is the benefit for search engine optimization purposes. You can vary your title and description as often as you like to include more of your keywords and phrases. This helps increase the chance of better rankings for those additional phrases and also shows the search engines that your links are more natural due to the varying anchor text.

Fifth, if you submit to a few quality directories while your site is brand new and not yet indexed by the big search engines like Yahoo, MSN and Google, getting a few quality directory links can be a great way to get indexed within days instead of weeks or months waiting for them to crawl your site from your ADD URL page submission.

Sixth, most directory links are permanent once you are listed in them. This means those links will help you even more as time goes on and your links "age". Older links from sites that have been around awhile or that are respected in their industry are simply worth more to search engines and will have more benefit as far as search engine optimization.

Those are the benefits, now here are some tips:

- Keep track of which directories you have submitted to, this will save you from submitting to the same one twice.

- Don't submit to hundreds at once, search engines like to see more natural link building, so a couple times a month take an hour or two to submit to directories.

- Prepare all your website information, including your titles, description, keywords, URL, email etc, use a program like TypeItIn to speed through the form filling.

- Don't forget niche directories! This is important, there are directories out there for just about every niche. From gourmet food, weddings, science, crafts, you name it. These directories may have even more benefit as far as search engine optimization and also may bring in highly targeted traffic to your site. Many times, it's worth it to pay for listing in a niche directory that caters to your audience.

- Watch the Pagerank. While it's not everything and it's not a science, knowing the Google Pagerank of a directory can help you determine the quality of a directory link. It ranges from 0 - 10 and the higher the better. Download Google's free toolbar to view any website's Pagerank when you visit it. You can get an idea of whether it will be worth it to pay for a directory link by viewing the Pagerank.

- Pay attention to the submission guidelines of each directory. Many have different requirements for your title and description.

- Choose the proper category! This may seem obvious, but be sure to choose the right category. Drill down and select a category that is most appropriate to your site and it's content, not just whatever category you want to be in.

- Go ahead and submit to the free, low PR directories, even new directories. Many of these will gain popularity as time goes on and may even begin to charge for what used to be free links. So getting in early may mean cost savings for you.

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The Internet has opened a world of opportunities for your business. But the whole purpose of creating your website would stand defeated if your prospective customer does not view it. Content and layout of a website are less significant in comparison with purpose of its creation, i.e.: reaching out to the people it is meant for. Of the millions of sites that compete with you online, to present your website to your customer is a task by itself. Coming to your rescue in this regard are Search Engines and Directory Submissions.

Search Engines with all the popularity surrounding them are definitely useful, but Directory Submissions too have carved a niche for marketing on the net.

Web directories in simple words refer to a group of web pages that are manually categorized and arranged under relevant topics and sub-topics facilitating smooth browsing by the user towards his desired link. The keyword here is manual. Unlike a search engine that is automated to pick up links and display the programmed output, a web directory has the human touch. Any request to add a website to a directory is considered after looking into the quality of the site, appropriate title description and content for the category and sub-topic chosen. Hence the chances of mismatch between the user “need” and user “find” are minimized.

Procedural Simplicity is one the many positive factors associated with directory submission. By merely keying in basic information like URL, Title, Description and Key Phrases describing your site, your webpage can find its way to most directories. While directory submissions can be either free or paid, most sites offer both categories of free and paid directory listing. Another key advantage is that most directory submissions actually find their way to search engines. Tie-up between search engines and directory submissions combines the best of both worlds for your web page. On the flip side is the time factor. A directory listing being a manual affair consumes time and effort. A free directory listing on any popular site may take anywhere between a few weeks to several months.

Customer/User benefit includes less complication as a quality database is smaller and crisper; a great deal of insignificant results carefully edited by the database manager. Time saved by the customer in finding his desired link would lead to future visits to the directory.

Being listed on any efficiently managed web directory, your website could attract a great deal of potential traffic resulting in improved website ranking, building and strengthening the vital links of your business.

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Directory submissions have many advantages for the savvy website owner. They offer a one way link back to your site, which has benefits as far as search engine optimization is concerned, and the ones that get alot of traffic, can also bring your site visitors. Niche directory submissions are also advantageous in that they provide a quality, related link to your site and may also bring in highly targeted visitors. Some directory submissions, such as those to the most popular directories like the Yahoo Directory, DMOZ and Business.com, can also help to build the reputation of your site, which is important for gaining links, search engine rankings, as well as visitors.

Here are some essential tips for taking advantage of everything that directory submissions have to offer:

Keep A Log

First, if you're doing the submissions yourself, you need to keep track of every submission you make. A notepad document will work just fine for this. Make sure to note the date of submission, URL of the directory, category selection and any notes. You should also keep track of your paid submissions here.

Finding Directories

There are sites that list SEO friendly directories, it's best to start from one of these lists. Two good ones are Info.vilesilencer.com and Directorycritic.com. Both keep their lists up to date and add new directories and remove defunct directories often. They also keep track of the Google Pagerank of directories, which is quite handy. It's a good idea to start your submissions with the highest Pagerank directories, so start with the PR5 and higher directories and work your way down from there. Don't forget to submit to niche directories. For instance, if your site offers tangible products for sale, you can submit it to the many shopping directories. If your site offers fishing equipment, you can submit it to fishing directories, yes, there are a few. Whatever your site offers, there will usually be some niche directories available for that topic.

Category Selection

Category selection is very important. Submit to the wrong category, and your submission may be deleted. You need to choose a category that is appropriate to your site's content. One shortcut you can use to find a good category is to do a search from the directory's main page. Type in one of your main keywords and see what categories come up. You can also search for a main competitor, if they are listed already, you probably want to be in the same category. Luckily, many directories have the same or similar category structure, so once you have found the right category for your first submission, you will have an idea of what category to use for the other directories. If possible, choose a category with a higher Pagerank or a top level category if submission to them is allowed.

Title

The title of your submission is extremely important. Some directories will only accept your official company or website name as the title, but some will allow you to include keyword phrases. It's a good idea to have several different titles ready for your submissions. One should be just your company or website name, another should be your company name with a keyword phrase. Some directories will allow you to use just keyword phrases as your title, so have several ready.

You'll want to vary the title from directory to directory when using keyword phrases, so as not to make your link building look artificial.

Description

Your description shouldn't be too long or too short. You may want to write a couple descriptions of your site, one short, 15-25 words, and another longer description, from 30 to 50 words. The description requirements vary a bit from directory to directory, but you should be safe if you follow these rules: Don't use all caps, don't capitalize every word, don't just list keywords and don't include extraneous characters like exclamation points, asterisks, question marks, colons and semi colons, at signs or anything other than periods or commas. A description should be a concise description of what your site offers, not sales text. Here is an example format for your description:

Orange Widgets offers quality widgets in all shades of orange including tangerine, mandarin, dark orange, light orange and mustard.

You can expand on this with your long description:

Orange Widgets offers high quality widgets in all shades of orange including tangerine, mandarin, dark orange, light orange and mustard. Also includes widget history, widget tools, articles and resources.

Timing

Google, in particular, doesn't like to see many new links to your site all of a sudden. They may flag this as "artificial link building" and may penalize your site instead of reward it. Due to this, it's best to submit slowly. Take an hour a couple times a month to submit your site, don't submit to hundreds of directories at one time.

Armed with these tips, you should be able to benefit from any directory submissions you make.

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