Small Business Resource: Why Web Directory sites are so helpful

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January 1, 2007

Why Web Directory sites are so helpful

The greatest challenge for new Web sites is getting noticed.

That's why Web Directory are so handy.

The Net is awash in them, by the hundreds. Yahoo! started it all, with handy lists, arranged by categories, of Websites large snd small. Then Google and MSN and dozens of other search engines came along and consumers got used to looking in directories for relevant Web sites.

Now those very same search engines scour the thousands of other Web Directories out there, making note of the sites listed there. Those links are then calculated by the search engines for listing Websites of that category.

And those so-called "organic" search results are what gets you site listed for consumers searching for information specific to the niche of your site.

When posting to a Web Directory, here are three tips:

1. Look for free listings. many sites will try to get you to pay for a listing. A paid listing means nothing more than a free listing to a search engine. If you can only get listed on a directory by paying, make sure it has a high page rank (over 5) before buying that link.

2. Post only in the category that is specific to your niche. The surest way to get de-listed or outright banned is by blindly trying to get linked in any old category. Directory Webmasters are very serrious about mismatched categories. Don't get on their bad side by listing your site in a non-relevant category.

3. Be selective in giving reciprocal listigs. Some Web diectories are so traffic-starved that they need your link more than you need theirs. Only recirrpcal link with sites that have a greater pag ranking than you have.

Posted by David at January 1, 2007 9:55 PM