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Increase Your Links by Submitting Your Site to Web Directories

Website Directory Submission List: Best Directories

Before we begin, I want to be clear what you'll find on this list. This is a directory list, not a search engine list.

The difference between directories and search engines

Directories are (usually) human-edited resources that highlight the best websites in specific categories. Visitors to directories can find a site either by drilling down through the different layers of categories until the find a list of sites that meets their criteria, or by typing a keyword in a search box.

The good directories are definitely worth submitting to. If you want to be in a certain directory it is necessary to submit your site to it. They usually don't search the web for new sites and they certainly won't find you on their own.

Search engines, on the other hand, gather data on all websites that they find. The send digital "spiders" throughout the web to find and categorize sites. Visitors to a search engine can find a site only by typing a keyword in a search box. Search engines have no established categories that visitors can navigate through.

Even though most search engines provide forms through which you can submit your site, it is pointless to do so. Search engines generally prefer to find you through links to you from other sites.

Why you want to submit to directories, but not search engines

If anyone offers to submit your site to X number of search engines for a fee, ignore them. They're looking to make a fast buck by doing something that has absolutely no value to you.

You'll get into the search engines faster by getting incoming links to your site from other, authoritative sites. That's why we're looking at submitting your website to directories.

Directories are exactly the kind of authoritative sites whose links to you get you noticed by the search engines. So let's look at a list the best directories to submit your site to and some personal experience with some of them.

List of beneficial free directories

First, let's look at the directories that don't charge a review fee.

Open Directory Project
The ODP is unquestionably the most important directory in which you can get your site listed. Google bases it's own directory on ODP's directory. And links from Google's directory and the ODP are VERY valuable.

Unfortunately, it can take up to a year to be listed in ODP and you get no guarantees that they will list you. They look for sites that aren't carbon copies of sites already in ODP. So make sure you offer a unique enough selection of products to convince them you deserve a spot.

If your business has any kind of local presence in your community, consider submitting it in the appropriate local category. Local categories seem to be easier to get into.

Librarian's Internet Index
This site does not accept obviously commercial sites. The directory is designed to help librarians find information. So if, by any chance, your site focuses primarily on information and has a lot of it, it's worth a try. If your site doesn't, don't bother.

Jayde
This business-to-business directory is highly regarded by the search engines, but its business practices turn me off. Their terms of service contains a clause that you agree to receive a subscription to their newsletter. If you unsubscribe from their newsletter, they remove your listing from their directory.

If it was just their newsletter, I wouldn't mind. It has some useful articles in it. But their terms of service also states that you agree that you'd love to have them send you as many marketing offers as they want from whoever is willing to pay them.

They send you LOTS of pitches under this clause. And I've found a lot of their offers to be pure junk.

Again, if you unsubscribe from the email offers, they remove your listing. And if you get in the habit of deleting all their emails, unopened, they eventually purge you from their list and remove your listing. Like I say, there's a lot not to like about their approach.

With Jayde, you need to decide before you submit whether you want to put up with all their spam. Then once you submit, watch the traffic you get from Jayde to determine whether its benefits are worth the many times you'll hit the delete button throughout the week.

Jayde is easy to submit. All you need to submit is your URL and your email address. They create your listing for you.

MavicaNET

Although MavicaNET has been around a long time, I'll have to admit I'm fairly unfamiliar with it. I find it easy to submit. It came highly recommended to me, though, so I'm hopeful for good results from it.

Illumirate
Illumirate isn't as selective as ODP, but, then again, it's not quite as valuable of a link to obtain.

It's still well worth submitting, though. Like with ODP, be patient. It can still take up to six months or more for Illumirate to list you.

Yeandi
Yeandi is another site that I've just discovered. It looks promising, but they sometimes shut down their free submittal option when they get too much of a backlog in it.

Search Sight
Search Sight is easy to submit to but hard to find your way around and you can submit multiple pages of your site, as long as the pages you submit provide unique and useful information. And only a few pages carry any page rank. It's worth submitting to, but I wouldn't expect a whole lot of traffic or rankings boost out of it.

Here's my full list of recommended free directories. Generally, the longer it has been in existence, the more established it is with the search engines.

You can also get an idea of the kind of authority the search engines assign to it by looking at the Google Page Rank. The higher the page rank, the more authoritative.

List of the most beneficial low-cost directories (under $80)

Joe Ant
Submission to Joe Ant normally costs $39.95, but you can apply to be an editor. If you're accepted, you can submit your site for free.

I don't advise to sign up if you're doing it only to submit your site. Joe Ant is looking for people who are seriously interested in building a better directory, not in people who just want to submit one site for free.

Being an editor, though, can be a good training experience for getting your site into some of the most desireable directories. Working under an experienced editor can help you understand what directory editors look for and thus improve your chance of crafting a successful submission to the toughest and most valuable directories.

Wow Directory
Wow Directory's basic review service is free, but you can speed up your review time by paying for express review service. I've always been pleasantly surprised by the amount of traffic I've gotten from it.

It doesn't seem to get much love from the search engines. It keeps turning up on a regular basis in my referrer logs as sending me traffic, though.

Don't get me wrong. You won't get a flood of traffic from them. But compared to many of the other directories on this list, you'll see Wow Directory appear in your referrer logs more than most of the second tier directories.

Go Guides
If you want to test the waters of paying for inclusion into directories, this is a good place to start. The $69.95 cost is manageable, and your site appears in their directory immediately. Also, if they choose not to include you in their directory, they refund your review fee.

Gimpsy
Gimpsy has a reputation for giving a decent boost to your page rank and is worthwhile for that, even at a one-time $49 fee.

You get featured placement in your category your first month. After that, they drop you into the pack and encourage you to bid for a higher position.

I don't advise bidding until you see what kind of search volume they get in your category. Each month they send you a report of how many people viewed your category, your average position in it, and how many visitors clicked on your link. They accompany that with an encouragement to bid for higher placement next month. If the search volume appears high enough to warrant a bid and you're so inclined, go ahead.

Generally, I've experienced fairly low search volumes. But Google seems to love this directory.

Skaffe
Skaffe operates in the same way as Joe Ant. You can pay $44.99, or you can apply to be an editor. The same advice I gave about applying as an editor for Joe Ant applies to Skaffe as well.

Massive Links
Massive Links Web Directory has a lot to offer to online marketers. The $29.99 one-time review fee is very affordable. But for $5 more, you can get not just one, but five, incoming links to your site.

And on top of that, instead of getting just your site name as the anchor text (the words in the link that the search engines use to determine what keywords your page is relevant for) you get to choose your own, keyword-rich anchor text. Overall, it makes your inclusion in Massive Links all the more valuable.

Massive Links offers additional upgrades, too, at additional costs. And, like Go Guides and Rubber Stamped they refund your money if they don't accept you.

Rubber Stamped
Rubber Stamped is a newer, and growing site, that search engines respect highly. At a $39.95 one-time review fee, it's also affordable if your marketing budget is tight. And, like Go Guides, if theychoose not to list you, they'll refund your money.

Here's some more information about the ones I mentioned, and a bunch of other worthwhile, lower-cost directories to consider.

List of the most beneficial premium directories

I don't recommend that you go hog wild with submitting to paid directories right at first. Get your feet wet with the free or low-cost directories and apply to the more expensive one as your revenues grow.

Yahoo! Directory
Yahoo! Directory is probably second only to ODP in importance. It costs $299 per year, but you get a decision on whether they list you or not within a week.

Like ODP, they reject sites that have content that they feel already is contained in their directory. So apply only if your site offers a distinctively unique enough selection of products or you'll pay $299 for nothing.

Also, if your site is strictly informational, you can try to get a free Yahoo! listing. They have a separate, free submission process for non-commercial sites. If you think you qualify, give it a shot. Be aware, though, that you won't get a quick decision for free. And, again, nothing is guaranteed.

Business.com
Another important, but expensive site at $299 per year. If you apply, make sure you get a standard annual listing instead of a PPC listing. PPC listings are set up in such a way that the search engines don't count your PPC links from Business.com.

Best of the Web
This former award site has developed over the years into a popular web directory that the search engines regard highly. You can get listed for $99.95 per year or for a one-time fee of $249.95. As with any of the paid sites, inclusion is not guaranteed.

Starting Point
Starting Point is another site that gives your site a solid boost for an annual cost of $99/year.

Here's some more information about the ones I mentioned, and a bunch of other worthwhile, premium directories to consider if your budget allows it.

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