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Web DirectoriesA Quick Guide To Web Directories
by: Karl Turnbull
If you are a seasoned Internet marketer, then it is common knowledge
that submitting to web directories can dramatically increase your page
rank. If you are a newbie webmaster, then you might be quite in doubt
as to how web directories can do for you. This article would relay to
you what exactly is a web directory, how they work, and how you can use
them in promoting your site. By the end of the article, I want you to
go add your link to one of the web directories on the Internet and see
how it would work for you.
What are web directories?
Simply put, a Web Directory is a collection of web sites presented
in a categorized format. I suppose that you know how Yellow Pages looks
like, a web directory is pretty much the same thing, only this time
websites are categorized in such a way that internet users can easily
navigate through them and find the website that they need.
How do web directories work?
A web directory submission is one type of marketing strategy you can
employ. By simply adding your website in web directories it can
dramatically increase your site’s exposure and your pagerank. Why so?
Of course aside for submitting your website name, you would naturally
add your website link or URL to the site. This constitute for one back
link. What do you need outbound links for? Increasing the number of
your outbound links would relatively increase your pagerank.
A pagerank simply refers to your position in search engines results.
For instance, if an online user searches for "car parts", along with
your SEO-content and bunch of good back links, you would likely hit the
first few pages of the search results, thus increasing the exposure of
your website. If back links are what you are after, then submitting
your site to web directories is one effective way to get some.
Web directories are also one way of acquiring permanent links.
Permanent links are very valuable since you would have your live link
posted on web directories for good or at least during the lifetime of
the web directory where you posted your link. It is important to take
note though, that offering permanent links are still in the discretion
of web directories owner.
Aside from improving your page rank, web directories are also a form of
web advertising. In addition to using search engines, online users also
rely on web directories to direct them to certain websites they are
searching for. Since websites in web directories are categorized
accordingly, navigating through them is easy and convenient. If for
example one online user is about to buy bathroom tiles, he would
probably go to the category under 'home improvement' and if your
related site is under that, you are most likely to have an instant
visitor, thus increasing your traffic. In the online world, traffic is
everything. If you get more visitors drop by your site, then that means
you have a number of potential clients, thus increasing your sales.
Choosing a web directory
There are three types of web directories – free, paid and niche
directories. Free web directories are, of course, the natural choice
for webmasters with a tight budget. Some free web directories requires
a reciprocal link and some don’t. Reciprocal links are simply links of
the web directory's URL that you are required to post in your own site.
It's a give and take concept. When you post your website to a web
directory, you need to return the favor by posting their URL to your
site as well.
The only drawback with some free directories is that they may not be
properly maintained. Spam sites may find their way into these free
directories because they may lack appropriate monitoring. Then again,
there are free web directories that can offer as much quality links
than paid directories.
If you have the budget for it, you can also opt to submit your site to
paid directories. These types of websites may charge as low as $10 per
year. Some popular directories, like Yahoo, can charge as high as $299
as annual fees. The rate that paid web directories charge is relative
to the website's pagerank. If the web directory site you are submitting
to have PR9, then prepare to shell out a big chunk of your advertising
budget. A web directory with a PR3 or PR4 would normally charge low.
The third type of web directory is a niche web directory. These are web
directory sites that cater to a particular group of websites. For
instance, a web directory with the niche under "business" would only
allow submission from business websites. Posting your websites into
niche web directories would give you better hits since you have a
bigger exposure to your target market.
How to submit your website
First, you need to find a good web directory site. Check the web
directory and be sure it does not contain several spam sites. One way
to find out if spam sites are listed is by doing a search for terms
like “Viagra”, “Sex” etc… If you notice a large number of search
results, then that directory is not a good one. Because in worst-case
scenario, your own website may even be penalized by some search
engines.
The second thing you need to do is to choose the appropriate category
where you should add your website to. You would get to your target
audience better if you place your website in the right category. If
not, you would not get much traffic from your possible visitors.
The next thing is to write a good description of your website. These
are snippets that would describe what your website has to offer.
Description should be short and catchy. It is also a good idea to make
sure to write a good meaningful description as many directories do not
approve websites with bad descriptions.
The last thing to do, which is very important and the part that is
often take for granted, is to check if your link is working! You don't
want to get your website URL misspelled or anything like that, hence
the whole process would be to no avail.
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