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Directory
Listings
Directories are one of the most powerful
ways of getting your site visible on the Web. They are
generally human compiled and edited and have strict
guidelines on what can and cant be included. The major
players are, of course Yahoo, as well as the Open Directory
Project and LookSmart.
Open Directory
Probably first thing is to suggest the site at the Open Directory
Project (ODP) which can be found at www.dmoz.org
. This a human edited directory of all or most of the best Websites, and
split into categories and sub-categories. The trick with this is to find the closest
matching category for your site, and submit title and description that fits within
their listing criteria (which is quite strict).
One of the things that ODP does which
is quite interesting is to allow other sites to run
rebranded copies of the directory acting as affiliates
for ODP and improving visibility of the database.
But still the most useful aspect of
a listing in ODP is that a number of search engines,
notably Google, actually reference a listing in ODP
as a way of determining the importance of a Website.
Thus sites listed in ODP generally rank better in some
other search engines.
Yahoo
Yahoo
is best known of the Directory portals and commands
massive popularity, although there is some debate on
the quality of results.
In the last couple of years they have gradually introduced
a program called "Yahoo Express Review" whereby, for a fee (currently
US$299 and now "annually recurring"), a Yahoo editor will review your
site and if all is well will list it within 7 days. However the fee is non refundable,
so if your site submission fails to comply with Yahoo's strict criteria, your
credit card will still be charged for the review.
If your Website is non-commercial
you should find there are still categories where your
site can be submitted for free. You may also find if
you have a non-commercial portion of your site you can
find relevant categories to submit that part.
LookSmart
Up until recently LookSmart
was a directory offering a similar model to Yahoo and entry was determined by
editor review for a fee of $199. LookSmart has excellent market reach and claims
to reach 77% of US web users through it's partnerships with MSN, AltaVista and
others.
This model has now changed and LookSmart
are more like a PPC service a little like Overture.
Now you are required to pay $45 to set up the listing,
you can suggest your own Title and Description as well
as list keywords you want to be found under. Once listed
your account is debited $0.15 per clickthrough.
Many webmasters are outraged by this
change as they have already paid the $199 to get listed
and are now expected to also pay a "cost per click".
They believe that they have been unfairly mislead and
deceived by LookSmart's policies. There is currently
a class injunction being filed against LookSmart at
this time because of this by disgruntled Webmasters.
More about this here: http://news.com.com
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