Are directory submissions worth the effort? is a post from: Affordable Web Pro

I have long considered it a hassle submitting websites to swearch engines and online directories but I begrudgingly keep up with it because over time I have found there to be some benefit to it if you know how to do it right. The first thing you should know is that automated directory submissions will not work work as well as you want them to but they can provide some benefit to you if your site stands out. Having a top notch site is the key to converting all those directory submissions into inbound links for your websites.

Having just another WordPress blog or any other run of the mill website is a surefire way to have a directory owner deny your request for inclusion and building your site well is as important as how you submit the site. One must consider why the directory owner would bother to list your site if you’re using a generic keyword string instead of a tastefully written title or description of your site. What directory owner wants to list another of the same websites with the same hype and noise as all the rest when they can list a unique and quality project like yours?

For best results on directory submission you have to take your time and do it by hand. Blasting 3000 directories with the same listing is not going to get you anything but lots of email spam and little in the way of SEO benefits. The spiders don’t like it if you add too many links at one time anyway. It’s better to target niche directories and submit your site to a dozen or so directories each week than 100′s per day like some folks advertise. Changing the title and description for each directory is best but not feasible with the 1000′s of directories to choose from so using tools like Firefox and InFormEnter plugin makes it go by quicker. I use at least 5 different title and description options for every 100 sites and I rotate between them.

Submitting to directories is painstaking slow work but worth the effort if you have time. If not hire someone you can trust to do it for you and move on to something else but don’t stop submitting to directories. The free links are worth it if you’re site is good enough to get some.

Related posts

• No related posts.

Geo targeting keywords with online directories is a post from: Affordable Web Pro

I’ve had a few directories online for quite some time now and I have always appreciated the geo specific capabilities of a directory. Recently I was approached to assist in marketing a large scale project and targeting a range of geo based keywords was a goal. IN order to achieve our best success I suggested we build an industry directory using my favorite directory script WSN links.

Since building the directory is so darn easy I actually bought a domain and put the site up as a demo to the client as an example of what I could do with a new site as opposed to trying to reinvent an old one. The idea proved so popular they bought the domain and the site and I am now responsible for promoting it and securing even better traffic than we have already seen.

Thats right the site was online for less than 2 weeks and never submitted in any location but it has already begun to naturally secure traffic on the keyword combinations I built into the directory categories. In just a few short weeks the site was already bringing in a few clicks each day for combinations such as “nj keyword” “kansas city keyword” “keywords in miami” and so forth. The primary corporate site is based in Georgia but the company provides an internationally viable service. Building a directory on the corporate domain was not the right idea for liability reasons and by having the new site driving traffic to the corporate site we actually now end up with more than one chance in the top ten.

If you’re trying to target geo specific keyword combinations consider a niche directory and the right categories for your next project.

Related posts

• No related posts.

Web directories still a great source of related inbound links is a post from: Affordable Web Pro

The wonderful world of online advertising has gone through so many different things over the past 5 years that it would be impossible to write about them all. There have been so many new ideas on how to build your online business that it’s been more a whirlwind than anything else. From popups and popunders to emails and myspace it seems every new thing is the key to your online success.

If you have a website that you have done any work trying to market then you have found that one of the most important online marketing tips you can use to promote any website is link building. Search engines such as Google place heavy importance not only on the number of links pointing to your site but also the relevance of these sites linking to yours. It’s no longer about how many links you have but in the quality and relationship of the inbound linking page. Gone are the days of slapping up your link on just about any page so that Google would think your page is important. Judging by feedback I’ve seen in our log files on new projects it seems Google is placing far more importance on relevant links then many webmasters are willing to admit.

Submit your site to web directories for relevant inbound links

So what are relevant links anyway and how important are they? Finding links from your competitors and other sites in your field are the most important links you can find. Of course getting your competitors to link back to you may not be the most practical business model as you will no doubt find a lot of resistance to trading links amongst top related sites. Most of the top websites won’t want to link to you for good reason. Why share their link power with you their competitor?

So how does a person go about finding good link partners? Well there are actually a number of great sources for good clean inbound links and web directories are probably your best choice. The best thing about finding a good directory to link with is that it may actually have multiple categories related to your site that you can add you link to and get more than one link from a quality site. Online directories like DMOZ and Yahoo have always been important but smaller web directories have taken on greater importance in the web recently and having a number of directory links to your site is of obvious benefit to your link building program.

Submit your site to link directories whenever you find one related to your website niche or one with a related category. General directory links are still good but to find a link category that directly relates to your website topic is of course best. That’s the best part of directory links is that most often you can find the right category for just about any website and get a link back to your site from a related subpage on a quality directory domain.

The Directory Zone is a great general web directory for listing your site.

The Directory Zone (TDZ) is a paid world business directory, giving you the ability to advertise your business to the worldwide Internet community. By adding a listing to TDZ, you can gain valuable exposure for your business by appearing in the thousands of searches performed each month.

Related posts

• No related posts.

WSNlinks and SEO friendly link directory scripts is a post from: Affordable Web Pro

I’ve had a few directories over time but part of this years changes involved converting a dozen or so single page affiliate sites over to web directories utilizing a link directory software application. My goal was to try to use the platform as link exchange tools for the site and also as a way to generate some fresh content through new site submissions.

I took a look at many different packages and ended up selecting WSNlinks.com for a few reasons. First and foremost I chose WSNlinks for the robust tools and features available in their paid directory script. They offer a free directory script but I was looking for a little bit more in a link directory script for these sites and WSNlinks fit the bill. The script was well written from a users point of view. The admin tools are quick and easy to access and you can customize almost every aspect of the directory. WSNlinks is perfect for people looking for a quality SEO friendly directory script with more bang for the buck then any other in my opinion. I’ll spare you the run down but there are a lot of scripts and I tried the top ten I think and WSNlinks is my choice for the better tool to manage multiple sites with.

For SEO purposes you can’t beat this script for site enhancement and management tools. The built in HTACCESS and modrewrite takes care of SEO friendly url’s’ and there are more tools for setting these sites up then I found in any other script at the price point. Even the free version lets you do some cool stuff like set who can submit links and categories but the advanced features in this make it my favorite directory script.

The Sponsor level paid links directory is very cool but my favorite part was the DMOZ importer which allowed me to suck down a category navigational structure based on the webs leading directory and build each site in a matter of minutes when compared to the days it may have taken me in the past with our tools. The DMOZ importer in conjunction with the Tulip JAR file allows me to select whether I want to import just the category structure or if i also want to import the links from DMOZ as well. If you want to kick start a new directory then the DMOZ import is the way to go. You can have a brand new directory up and running from a clean install in minutes once you’ve done one the first time. First time installation and total configuration was very easy and the customization options will have you fiddling around with settings for a long time.

WSNlinks offers a private message system, comments and various levels of users permissions to allow you to set just what members can or can’t do. This script also offers a very unique tool in the Integration Generator which will help you configure your site to work with a large list of other scripts. In one case we took the WSNlinks directory script and integrated it with a PHPBB forums allowing users to cruise from the link directory to the forums under one login. The features we’re very well received in the forums and we have had a great participation across both sides of the site. Integration is not for every site but tying the forum to the directory was a very desirable feature on a portion of our network and has worked out very well.

I was able to take domains with less then 3 pages on average to each site and with the help of these SEO friendly directories no have 1000′s of pages of cached content on Google servers and a big boost in traffic with the introduction of so many new keywords. The domains I used had existing PR value and I was able to boost sales of links by increasing the number of indexed pages to sell links on. I integrated the CARP RSS feed system from GeckoTribe and have the beginnings of my own CMS system. I’m considering a new version with a WordPress blog integrated but the trouble lies in making it sync with WSNlinks logins properly. There are some issues with password formats outside or my skill set I am working on my but I think I can get it to happen. I’ll showcase my work on that in later posts possibly.

A healthy directory program is an important part of the Index MAX network of sites and should be a consideration for all network managers. Directory scripts like this make better sense to me for use as domain holders then landing pages.Even if it’s a lower grade content you can still get more indexed page then by parking domains at your registrar.

I suggest you test drive the demo at WSNlinks.com when you want to setup some directories.

Related posts

• No related posts.

Affordable Web Pro is a post from: Affordable Web Pro

Affordable Web Pro has been about affordable website development and marketing services since 1999. In that time this site has undergone many changes. Today we announce yet one more change and a new direction for AffordableWebPro.com in general. The old site is gone and has been replaced by this WordPress Blog you see before you. This new blog will showcase the development of the Affordable Web Pro network of websites and the tips adn tricks we use to make affordable websites.

Our primary focus will be on open source development platforms and scripts and aoftware used to power the Affordable Web Pro Network. Stay tuned to some great tips and articles on PHP, MYSql, WordPress, SMF and so manyother great open source projects.

Related posts

• No related posts.