TODAY'S BEST PRACTICES FOR WEBSITE MARKETING

Be Nice, Be Honest when Dealing with Directories

by Anne Kennedy

Above all, they told us, keep in mind that real live people, not bots, review sites and compile these directories. Furthermore, ODP category editors are all volunteers. So it follows that being nice, and even more, being honest, are surefire ways to succeed with them. These directories reach nearly all search users. Yahoo! consistently ranks in the top-four in audience share, while LookSmart and the ODP provide directory listings to the other top search properties (Google, AOL and MSN) as well as to many others.

Geo-targeting was the buzzword for all three directories. Because you can list a site in their regional categories, they provide opportunities to gain visibility in specific geographic locations, hugely useful if you define your target audience this way. LookSmart said you could list a site in multiple regions if your content is relevant to those places. The Open Directory allows both topical and regional category listings, as well as sub-pages in sub-categories.

Yahoo!
Yahoo! positioned their recurring annual fee for sites submitted using Yahoo! Express (since December 28 last year) as an annual checkup and opportunity to make changes as your website evolves. This applies to all commercial sites, including regionally specific ones. Yahoo! clarified the renewal process: they will send you an email as the deadline for your annual review approaches and offer you the opportunity to opt in or out. If you continue, the Yahoo! editor will review your placement, description and title to keep it up to date and accurate.

If you have a batch of 50 or more unique sites to submit at the same time, you can take advantage of Yahoo!'s new bulk submission process. Yahoo! may give you a substantial discount off the individual price, depending on the number of sites you submit.

You'll find more information on Yahoo! annual express fees and bulk submissions at http://add.yahoo.com/express. You can check their terms of service for all the details about minimum site requirements and appeals. Have questions for editors? Try their online help docs at: http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/url/or email questions about directory listings to url-support@yahoo-inc.com.

LookSmart
LookSmart had surprisingly little news about their pay-per-click inclusion program, but we did hear that their directory now serves 77 percent of US Web users, who make 45 million searches per day. LookSmart's Zeal directory is a good place to list non-profits or non-commercial sections of websites that provide a wealth of informational content for free, if you're an editor (Zealot). If you're a non-profit, you most likely are an expert in your field, and being an editor may be a smart move to build credibility and wider exposure.

You'll soon have access to new tools on LookSmart to modify your content in the directory. They project these to roll out within the next two quarters.

Open Directory Project (ODP) aka Dmoz
The ODP now has 9,000 volunteer editors and welcomes more. Though owned by the planet's largest media corporation, the Open Directory is run as a separate division from the commercial content portions of AOL Time Warner or Netscape, and takes pains to keep its content "open source," while centrally managing quality control. Their hierarchy of editors means that submissions to all categories will be reviewed. When Dmoz delays listing your site, it's usually because there are a large number in queue. Resubmit if your site doesn't appear in the directory within a month. You may find it useful to make it look like new information though, so you don't appear to be pestering the hard-working volunteers.

There is a public forum (though not officially sanctioned by the ODP) at www.resource-zone.com. Dmoz will soon launch an abuse/spam report system for general users. For now listing oddities, problems or abuse issues may be sent either to staff@dmoz.org or a meta editor listed at http://dmoz.org/edoc/editall.html. (See http://dmoz.org/add.html for submission guidelines.) General information can be found at ODP Help Central http://dmoz.org/help/helpmain.html.

So when dealing with directories be kind, clear and honest. Their reach is vast and the people can be a real help.

This article first appeared in the August 28th issue of Jill Whalen's High Rankings Advisor newsletter. You can subscribe at www.highrankings.com.