Internet Marketing
SEO GUIDE

Directory Submissions

Description: It's common sense to make sure you spread the news about your website's existence as far and wide as you can. One good way of doing this is by submitting your site to online directories.

A web directory is basically a huge resource for anyone online to go to in order to find websites that appeal to their interests. While you have to pay to be listed in some of these directories, a large number of them are free and can provide a good source of extra traffic over time.

The key point to remember with these is that it's not enough to submit your website to one directory. You will only see a good response from your listings if you make the effort to list your site with as many directories as you can find. Make a list of the free ones and a separate list of the ones that ask you to pay for inclusion. Some may offer both methods - but you will get listed faster if you pay for the privilege.

It's up to you to decide whether you want to pay or not, and if you have the budget to do so. The best tactic is to work through the list of free directories to begin with and leave the paid ones until later.

When you are submitting your website to a directory, the first step is to read their rules of inclusion very carefully. This might sound like an obvious point to make, but it's surprising how many webmasters don't do this, submit their site in a hurry and end up being rejected because they haven't met all the requirements of submission.

All directories are divided into a number of different categories, and most of the larger and better ones are then subdivided into other categories. It's very important that you spend some time figuring out which category your website should be listed under. As each one may have several subdivisions it's not always easy to work this out. If you have any doubts it can be a good idea to email for assistance rather than taking a guess and getting it wrong.

It's also worth doing a search to find those websites which are essentially a directory of directories. There are several of these in existence and they can make the work of digging up all the individual directories much easier. Some will also help you find niche directories that only list websites under a specific subject. You can often get better results from listing your website in several of these (assuming your site is relevant of course).

Make sure you bookmark the ?directory of directories' sites and keep an eye on them from time to time, as new sites will be added and you can get your website on them straightaway. Over time as you enter more directories you should receive more traffic - and as you will have links back to your own site it will help your search engine rankings as well.