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Submitting to Online Directories
By Adrian Lawrence
A Secret Way of
Getting Traffic: Submitting to Online Directories
If you are reading this article, more likely than not you own a website that you
would like to see be a success. To achieve that level, you need traffic to your
site. But where does traffic come from?
One of the better ways to get traffic for your site is to submit your site to
the many directories that exist online. Online directories are similar to your
phone book yellow pages: These directories are categorized (education,
entertainment, health, etc.), and when you submit your website, you suggest a
category for your website. Often, you will even be able to submit to a
sub-category within a major category. For example, suppose your website is about
aromatherapy.
In your submission request, you would suggest Health as your main category,
Alternative Medicine as your sub-category, and Aromatherapy as a further
sub-category.
Some of the leading online directories are Yahoo!, MSN Small Business, and the
DMOZ directory. Unlike search engines, however, listings in online directories
are usually not free. As of this writing, you can submit for free to the Yahoo!
Directory (http://dir.yahoo.com), but there is not guarantee on how quickly your
website will be reviewed for listing. If you need your site reviewed faster, you
can pay Yahoo! $299 US for expedited service and they will review your site
within seven days. However, this fee is a yearly recurring fee. Your website is
subject to a yearly review, and is guaranteed neither initial inclusion or to
remain listed year after year.
The MSN service is $49 US, and it functions more like a search engine submit
service. Their submission service includes inclusion in their own small business
directory. DMOZ, on the other hand, is free, but because it is operated by
volunteers, it could be awhile before your site is included. Your best options
are to submit to DMOZ and pay for the MSN and Yahoo! services.
But why should you spend money? Can't you just optimize your site for the search
engines? You can, but not everyone goes to a search engine for what they are
looking for. For example, if someone is searching for gourmet dog treats, they
may not use a search engine. Instead, they might go to one of the online
directories and look at the listings, much like someone would use the yellow
pages in their phone book. Your investment in gaining inclusion in the online
directories will pay off for you in a multitude of ways.
1. You will increase traffic to your site. Your site will be included in the
online directories, as well as the search engines, and this will help you gain
traffic as people search directory listings and find your website.
2. You will increase the number of backlinks to your site. If the directory
pages are listed in search engines, the link they provide for your site will be
listed in the search engines. This benefits you by creating more ways for people
to find your site. Ultimately, this will provide more traffic for you.
3. Submitting to directories is a quick way to gain links. Optimizing your site
for the search engines is very difficult and time-consuming.
It can take a lot of time to learn how to write for the search engines. In the
meantime, any links you can get will help you with the search engines, and
submitting to directories will get you links.
4. Submitting to directories is relatively inexpensive, and a good investment.
As stated earlier, you can submit to Yahoo! and MSN for less than $350. DMOZ is
free. If you run a search for online directories, you will find many more where
you could submit inexpensively, or even for free.
In short, submitting to online directories is one of the best ways for you to
build traffic to your website. In the end, you need traffic to survive online.
So get started! About the Author Adrian Lawrence is the webmaster of a leading internet directory called www.indexplex.com
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