Promoting a Website through Directories has many significant advantages over other forms of promotion. First, Directories group similar Websites together under specific Categories. This is important for illustrating similarities between a newly developed Website and existing, Authority Websites. Additionally, most Directory indexes, or Sub-categories, become highly focused on a topic. Focus occurs from two unique aspects; anchor text leading to each specific topic and Titles and Descriptions for the Websites displayed. This is believed to greatly improve Search Engine recognition and help deliver relevant traffic. In addition, some quality directories can deliver traffic directly. Because of these factors, paying a review for inclusion fee in a Directory could be the wisest long-term choice for spending advertising dollars.

Types of Directories, Broad and Niche

Before launching a Directory Advertising campaign, there is an important element one should understand, Not all Directories are the same. While some Directories offer a broad index of topics, others are focused or concise. Directories that are focused or concise are typically referred to as, Niche Directories. If a Niche Directory can be found, relevant to a Website being promoted, they will generally offer greater value as they better demonstrate the premise of listings. To help illustrate, a broad Directory may offer a general, Automotive Shopping Category. In contrast, a Niche Directory could extend further by including specific indexes for various Automotive Makes and Models. However, we should not exclude broad directories. Two of the most popular directories on the Internet, DMOZ and Yahoo, are very broad but deliver incredible results.

Avoid Directories that Implement Masking

There are numerous Directories that monitor outgoing and incoming traffic. This is done by masking links. Rather then providing a direct links to convey users, they are first transferred to a, Script, that counts the click, then transported to the Website they wish to visit. Incoming Links are tracked in a similar manner. Why is this bad? First, the script which counts the click and redirects the user causes a time delay. This is not something people enjoy when surfing the Internet. Additionally, if the script has an error, the Website they are trying to visit appears to have problems. This creates a negative impression of the domain and Site Title, for the surfer. Last, some search engines are not able to follow the links. They appear to be a dead-end when not loaded in a Web Browser. Because of this, no recognition is passed to the Websites that are listed.

Suggesting the Website to a relevant Category

In most cases, Developers will find they need to locate a relevant category before submitting the Website to a given Directory. To make this task easy, clear the mind and seek the categories containing links to the most closely related Websites. Avoid placing extreme emphasis on personal consideration of the category title. Personal consideration could be very different from the evaluators. In addition, being listed along with like Websites will produce the greatest overall benefits. Moreover, this will help ensure the Website is accepted into the category and time is not wasted.

Writing Titles and Descriptions

Most Directories demonstrate clear verbiage instructing developers to provide an Objective title and/or description. When writing the title and description, bare in mind, this is not a classified ad. If the title or description begins to sound like an ad, its decreasing the odds of being accepted. Read the description out loud before submitting it for review. If it sounds like an advertisement, reword the description.