OK guys, well I have been submitting my website to many many directories for free submission.
I noticed varying levels of web sites listed, I thought you may be interested to know of the my thoughts from the perspective of someone listing with a directory.
1. First thing is.. how easy is it to find the category you want to list in from the home page, some dirs are so flippin confusing that you need a degree in rocket science just to navigate to the right place to list, usually the sites that are listed well at first glance are best for me. I don't mind clicking to sub categories but the ones easiest are usually listed alphabetically.. or at least well orientated.
2. The web site gains points for looking clean and not too fussy or messy, too much advertising and distractions on the home page just clutter everything up and make it hard to find where to submit, if it's not easy I'm onto the next dir.
3. Make the submission button easily visible, the best way to submit seems to be.. a) without having to navigate to the category first, make the submit/add url button visible on the nav bar or alike (then allow me to choose my desired category from a drop down menu (multiple drop down menus are best but they should be the first thing you do, so that I don't fill in all my info then realise when I choose the drop down categories I lose the data I just typed) b) If you search your category first, make the add url button visible at the nav bar or bottom (some sites seem to take you different places whether you click on add url at nav bar or bottom of page which is really confusing).
4. Make submission easy and don't create too many terms and conditions, make them fair sure, but realistic also, you may be limiting genuine listings just because you don't allow the title to mentioned in the description, if you use an encrypted spam prevention text box, numbers seem clearer than words, one site I had to type it three times before I guessed the letters correct. Having a minimum number of characters is really frustrating as well, maximum is no problem though.
5. Sites that require me to register first do NOT get my time because I don't have much of it (time) unless they look very good with high pr.
6. One massive pet hate, make it clear if its free or pay submission ON HOME PAGE, so many sites appear free and let you fill in data but then when you go to approve take you to a pay page (just wasting both parties time really).
7. If the listing is not successful send em a notification email reiterating your terms for acceptance (this happened to me once), you may have missed something that becomes clearer on reading the submission details again.
8. If it's a free submission option, don't say "4 - 8 weeks submission", just say "paid submission approved within 48 hours, free submission listings are done a.s.a.p." otherwise you just think.. whats the point of adding a free submission if its going to take months to be submitted and I don't think, 'OK I'll pay then' I just moved on to the next site because there may be a chance my site will just be ignored anyway.
9. Some sites send me a thank you email, saying they will check the site as soon as possible, they also include a list of other sites they own for me to submit to, I like this and once it's in my inbox I can add my site at my own leisure.
Well that's all I can think of for now, take the advice or leave it as you please, I'm only one guy but the above points made the difference between listing or not with several companies.
Here are a few really good sites I found that seemed to make it easy to list with.
Haabaa Website Directory - Free & Paid Web Directory easy to navigate directory and even a step by step submission guide (that is a company will get my time because they took the time to help me)
Wura UK web directory Index nice clean design easy to navigate to area. One downside, takes a bit of time to load sometimes.
directoryhi .com messages like this give me confidence and I have saved the page to maybe submit another time.
CANLink Directories - Canadian and Worldwide Links this one just seemed easy to submit to and listing came up straight away.
Add URL-Free.com - Add your URL for free to Add URL-Free.com easy to navigate, easy to list to, not too messy on the pages.
Weblog Directory • this message made me laugh and shows how many spammers there are. Ring-tones seem the worst
WoW Website Directory - World's Largest Website Directory I didn't list with these guys as it costs but I would consider when I have a budget for advertising, the site is nicely designed, but you can navigate easily and a good pr.
RankingDirectory.com - Business to Business Directory I absolutely love this one, so simple and uncluttered, I should imagine a good one to trap the free ones, one thing I noticed here though... they list the categories alphabetically but from left to right, I naturally read top to bottom? does make a difference if you do it alphabetically for me?
Google Directory reminds me of haabaa, like this, clean and simple, a bit confusing though as it is part of dmoz???
4ppl Directory simple but attractive, soft feeling about it, easy to navigate and add url
Shopping - AbiLogic top to bottom a-z listing, easy to add url, listings look nice and tidy, soft colours, not too fussy, easy to list only downside is the 2-4 week submission for free, I would say this is the most time you could suggest for a free one, anything more and it just isn't worth it.
sc3m.com - Earth's Smallest Web Directory nice and sleek, like the image of the road, easy to navigate
Open Directory - Arts: Music: DJs a good site but a bit difficult to navigate in the sub categories, almost too much choice and you end up getting lost.
I noticed varying levels of web sites listed, I thought you may be interested to know of the my thoughts from the perspective of someone listing with a directory.
1. First thing is.. how easy is it to find the category you want to list in from the home page, some dirs are so flippin confusing that you need a degree in rocket science just to navigate to the right place to list, usually the sites that are listed well at first glance are best for me. I don't mind clicking to sub categories but the ones easiest are usually listed alphabetically.. or at least well orientated.
2. The web site gains points for looking clean and not too fussy or messy, too much advertising and distractions on the home page just clutter everything up and make it hard to find where to submit, if it's not easy I'm onto the next dir.
3. Make the submission button easily visible, the best way to submit seems to be.. a) without having to navigate to the category first, make the submit/add url button visible on the nav bar or alike (then allow me to choose my desired category from a drop down menu (multiple drop down menus are best but they should be the first thing you do, so that I don't fill in all my info then realise when I choose the drop down categories I lose the data I just typed) b) If you search your category first, make the add url button visible at the nav bar or bottom (some sites seem to take you different places whether you click on add url at nav bar or bottom of page which is really confusing).
4. Make submission easy and don't create too many terms and conditions, make them fair sure, but realistic also, you may be limiting genuine listings just because you don't allow the title to mentioned in the description, if you use an encrypted spam prevention text box, numbers seem clearer than words, one site I had to type it three times before I guessed the letters correct. Having a minimum number of characters is really frustrating as well, maximum is no problem though.
5. Sites that require me to register first do NOT get my time because I don't have much of it (time) unless they look very good with high pr.
6. One massive pet hate, make it clear if its free or pay submission ON HOME PAGE, so many sites appear free and let you fill in data but then when you go to approve take you to a pay page (just wasting both parties time really).
7. If the listing is not successful send em a notification email reiterating your terms for acceptance (this happened to me once), you may have missed something that becomes clearer on reading the submission details again.
8. If it's a free submission option, don't say "4 - 8 weeks submission", just say "paid submission approved within 48 hours, free submission listings are done a.s.a.p." otherwise you just think.. whats the point of adding a free submission if its going to take months to be submitted and I don't think, 'OK I'll pay then' I just moved on to the next site because there may be a chance my site will just be ignored anyway.
9. Some sites send me a thank you email, saying they will check the site as soon as possible, they also include a list of other sites they own for me to submit to, I like this and once it's in my inbox I can add my site at my own leisure.
Well that's all I can think of for now, take the advice or leave it as you please, I'm only one guy but the above points made the difference between listing or not with several companies.
Here are a few really good sites I found that seemed to make it easy to list with.
Haabaa Website Directory - Free & Paid Web Directory easy to navigate directory and even a step by step submission guide (that is a company will get my time because they took the time to help me)
Wura UK web directory Index nice clean design easy to navigate to area. One downside, takes a bit of time to load sometimes.
directoryhi .com messages like this give me confidence and I have saved the page to maybe submit another time.
CANLink Directories - Canadian and Worldwide Links this one just seemed easy to submit to and listing came up straight away.
Add URL-Free.com - Add your URL for free to Add URL-Free.com easy to navigate, easy to list to, not too messy on the pages.
Weblog Directory • this message made me laugh and shows how many spammers there are. Ring-tones seem the worst
WoW Website Directory - World's Largest Website Directory I didn't list with these guys as it costs but I would consider when I have a budget for advertising, the site is nicely designed, but you can navigate easily and a good pr.
RankingDirectory.com - Business to Business Directory I absolutely love this one, so simple and uncluttered, I should imagine a good one to trap the free ones, one thing I noticed here though... they list the categories alphabetically but from left to right, I naturally read top to bottom? does make a difference if you do it alphabetically for me?
Google Directory reminds me of haabaa, like this, clean and simple, a bit confusing though as it is part of dmoz???
4ppl Directory simple but attractive, soft feeling about it, easy to navigate and add url
Shopping - AbiLogic top to bottom a-z listing, easy to add url, listings look nice and tidy, soft colours, not too fussy, easy to list only downside is the 2-4 week submission for free, I would say this is the most time you could suggest for a free one, anything more and it just isn't worth it.
sc3m.com - Earth's Smallest Web Directory nice and sleek, like the image of the road, easy to navigate
Open Directory - Arts: Music: DJs a good site but a bit difficult to navigate in the sub categories, almost too much choice and you end up getting lost.
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