Coded Web Design Blog

Make directory submissions promote your website

 

 

Ranking well in organic searches on Google and other search engines for your chosen keywords is usually key to a successful web site strategy. This can sometimes seem like an elusive or even impossible goal, and for some sites this is the case, without proper content and a structural revamp.

Link building

Each inbound link from another website is interpreted by Google for example as an endorsement or vote for your website. Google records these links when it visits web sites and stores them in its database. When it comes to ranking your site in a search for a given keyphrase, Google looks for the relevant content on your site related to the search term entered. It then looks for links to your site and others and determines the order of the search results presented to the user. The exact way Google arrives at this is not known completely but good site content and quality  inbound links are key to success in climbing up the search ranking.

Directory submissions

Making directory submissions is just one way you can build inbound links to promote your website.

Web directories are listings of web sites categorised in various ways. Web directories were superceded by search engines like Yahoo & Google over the past decade as the results the search engines provided became ever more reliable. These days web directories still have a relevance especially the human edited directories which provide quaility listings for the user.

There are many directories with different submission rules. Some allow free submissions or free submissions with a reciprocal link on your own web site and some directories only accept paid listings.

So which should you submit your site to? Well that depends on how serious you are about climbing the search rankings. Making directory submissions to the the better free directories is a good place to start and it will give you a good idea of what’s involved.

Submitting your site

To submit your site to multiple directories  you should first create a text file, call it anything you like and save it to your desktop. In the file make six headings containing the following;

1. The page url (most directories only allow you to submit your site’s homepage)
2. Your page title (normally the actual page title with your targeted keywords)
3. The page description (a brief description of the pages content usually less than 170 words; use a few main keywords but don’t over do it)
4. A list of the pages meta keywords (list your common keywords and phrases seperated by commas)
5. An email address (I like to use a dedicated address like submit@yoursite.com  Expect spam! )
6. Your name

Once you have saved the file you are ready to make your first submission.

Go to http://www.info-listings.com and click the “Submit Link” link at the top of the page. When you arrive at the page you will be asked to choose either a paid link or a free submission, choose the free submission. Then use the information you saved in the file you just created to copy and paste into the form fields on the add link page. Be careful to select the correct category from the menu and complete the security check before your submit your link.

That’s it you’re done! However it can take some time before an unpaid link appears in the directory.

Do

• Read the directory submission rules carefully espicially on high page rank sites.
• Make a note of the site you have submitted to so as to avoid duplicate submissions.
• Check your email (some sites require you to verify your submission)
• Be careful to submit to the correct category.

Don’t

• Downoad anything in order to make a submission.
• Bother making submissions or paying for links on low page rank directories.
• Submit anything but your basic contact details.
• If  paying for submissions don’t send financial information over unsecure connections. (Look for the security padlock)

Directory submission tips

• Try to submit to high page rank directories only (PR 4 or higher)
  Pagerank is a score Google gives a web site from 1-10.  More on pagerank here.
  One link from a high page rank page is worth many from low page rank directories Check page rank here
• Read the submission rules and follow them.
• Submit to directories related to your industry or general area of interest.
• Submit to local directories, many US based directories don’t accept submissions from overseas web sites anyway.
• Be patient. Google can be slow to update its inbound links data sometimes.