Promoting Your Website – Web Directories

Like telephone directories list the telephone numbers for certain surnames, web directories list websites for certain topics. Getting listed in web directories should be your first step in your ‘link building’ strategy. You should take note that directories are completely different to search engines. and it is in fact highly recommended that you do take time to submit your website to as many directories as you can.

Web directories provide an easy method of obtaining links since the Webmaster of the directory wants to add links to the directory to try and make it as comprehensive as possible. Most web directories are free, but some charge a fee to be listed or request a reciprocal link., It is your decision whether it’s worth paying for a listing. In general I don’t pay for listings in web directories as there are plenty of free ones available. My one exception might be for entry to the Yahoo! Directory. You’ll have to weigh up whether the profit you’ll earn from getting listed in a directory will be greater than the amount of money it costs to get listed.

I definitely recommend trying to get listed in the Open Directory Project / DMOZ (www.dmoz.org) - this is the largest web directory on the web. But be warned it can take over a year just to have a moderator review your submission!

The process of submitting your website can be a very tedious one – it can be difficult to find an up-to-date list of directories, and also it takes time to type your details over and over again. There is a directory submission tool available called SubmitEaze, which makes the whole process much more manageable.

SubmitEaze solves these problems by providing you with a massive list of quality web directories and also listing the Google PageRank and Incoming Backlink count for every directory, enabling you to find directories that you want to submit to. You can then work through the list and using the built-in 'Auto-Fill' function it is possible to enter your site details with the click of a button, without the need to re-type your details for every directory you submit to - which makes the submission process incredibly quick.

I hope this guide has helped you get started actively promoting your website on the Internet by submitting your website to web directories. This should be the first step you take in vastly improving your search engine rankings.

The next guide will cover how you can use email to set-up large numbers of link exchanges with minimal effort.