Think of a web directory as an online phonebook for websites. You list your website by category, give a few details about it, and then let it sit there. When a visitor to the directory requires information relating to a specific category (let's use "dog food" as an example), they can easily browse the listings and make their selection. Sounds good right? Well, problem is there are thousands of directories and many of them really aren't used much by humans. The big advantage to a web directory is that it generates those coveted one-way links! If you aren't too privy on a one-way link and why their important, then you shouldn't be reading this yet. See our guide on
The Do's And Dont's of Linking and then come back once you understand them as we won't cover why you need them here.
One of your earliest efforts when conducting your marketing and traffic generation campaign is to establish one-way links from directories. You'll need to devote some time to this as you're going to be manually submitting the SAME information OVER and OVER again to hundreds of directories. It's a lot of work and there's no guarantee your website will even be accepted by all of the directories. It's typical to get a 75% acceptance rate with your efforts. Still, if you submit to 500 directories and are accepted by 75% of those, you've just gained 375 one-way links.
Some directories are free, some charge money. It's recommended you submit your website to any and all of them, even the ones that charge. Usually the pay directories, such as
Joe Ant and the
QLD Directory offer better quality listings than the free directories. It all comes down to your budget and how far in the future you're looking.
If you only have time to submit your website to one directory, then you either need to pay someone to submit them for you or your in the wrong business. In any case, the grand daddy of all directories is
DMOZ! Submission to the DMOZ directory is important, but can be somewhat difficult. Although the submission process is "free", you may have to pay a DMOZ editor to get your website listed. It’s against their policies to pay your way in, but I’ve seen it happen quite a bit.
