Search Engine Optimization : SEO BOOK.
Chapter
11
Buried Treasure - More Great Places To
Submit Your Site
You know about the places where you can register your site - the major
search systems such as Google and the Open Directory Project, and secondary
systems such as ExactSeek and Business.com Some of the sites are more
important than the secondary systems and in some cases, even more important
than the major search systems. Don't forget the Yellow Pages site, which
handle billions of searches each year. Although most businesses probably
want to pay for an ad on a Yellow Pages site, these are search systems,
and many businesses use them very profitably. In general, if you found
the paper Yellow Pages to be worthwhile, you may find online Yellow
Pages useful, too.
Keeping A Landscape Log
Keep a track of what you discover during your online research. You'll
come across small directories related to your areas of business, newsgroups,
Web-based forums, mailing-list discussion groups, private sites created
by interested individuals, competitors… all sort of things that
can help promote your site. In effect, you are mapping Internet landscape,
the area of the internet in which your business operates. You need to
keep the information you gather so you can use it after your research
is complete. May be you find some directories that you want to register
with. Or you discover some email newsletter that you want to work with
when you have the time. Your landscape tag has not to be complicated.
It can be a Microsoft Word document or maybe an excel spreadsheet. If
you want to get really organized, you can use an ACT or Access database.
I suggest you keep the following information:
· Site Name
· Company Name
· URL
· PageRank: It is the good indication of the value of any link
you might get from the site. In general higher the rank, the more valuable
the link.
· Alexa Traffic Rank: When You visit a site, look at the traffic
ranking noted on the Alexa Toolbar. This ranking provides a good indication
of how much traffic the site gets so you can decide if some kind of
cooperative venture is worthwhile.
· Contact Name: If you can find a contact name, it's useful to
have.
· Contact e-mail address.
· Notes:Write a quick description of your impression of the site
and how it might help you.
· Actions: Keep track of when you contact the site.
Finding The Specialized Directories
For just every subject you can imagine, someone is running a specialized
directory. Although specialized directories get very little traffic
when compared to the Google and Yahoo! S of the world, the traffic they
do get is highly targeted, just the people want to attract. And such
directories are often very popular with your target audience. Here's
an example of how to search for a specialized directory. Suppose that
you are promoting your rodent-racing web site. Go to Google and type
rodent racing directory. For some reasons, Google doesn't find any directories
related to rodent racing. Okay, try rodent directory. Here are some
useful sites:
· The IRD - International Rodentfancy Directory: "An international
listing of PET rodent breeders, shelters vets, stores, pet sitters and
more! This service is brought to you by RodentFancy.com and the Rat
and Mouse Fanciers for Excellence…free to your business or service's
listing to the directory!" This site's home page has a PageRank
of 5 and an Alexa traffic rank of 302,000.
· NetVet's Electronic Zoo: this is a big list of links to rodent
related sites, though mostly related to research. But with a pagerank
of 6 and an alexa traffic rank of under 5600. It might be worth your
trying to get listed.
· Rodent Resources at the National Center for Research Resources:
This is another rodent-research site, but with an alexa traffic rank
of 284 and a page rank of 9. Getting listed in this directory would
be very useful.
· The Rodent Breeders List: This directory strikes me as one
of those "not very pleasant, but somebody's got to do it"
Still, if you breed rodents for your races, you may want to get onto
this list.
When you do a search for a specially directory, your search results
will include the specialty directories you need, but mixed in with them,
you will also find results from the Yahoo! Directory, Google Directory
and the Open Directory Project. If you want, you can clear out the clutter
by searching like this:
rodent directory -inurl:yahoo.com -inurl:google.com -inurl:dmoz.org
This search phrase tells Google to look for pages with the words rodent
and directory, but to ignore any pages that have yahoo.com, google.com
or dmoz.org in their URLs. Hundreds of the sites use Open Directory
Project information, so you are bound to run into them now and then.
How can you tell when a site is pulling data from the Open Directory
Project? Here are a few signs to look for:
· Although it's a little-known site, it seems to have a lot of
data, covering a huge range of subjects.
· The directory seems to be structured in the familiar table
of categories and sub categories.
· The real giveaway is usually at the bottom of the page, where
you'll find a box with links to the Open Directory Project, along with
a note crediting that organizing.
More Ways to Find Directories
You can use other method to track down specially directories. In fact,
as you get to know the Internet landscape around your business, you
will run into these directories eventually. People mention them in discussion
groups, for instance, or you'll fid links to them on other web sites.
Yahoo! Directory has many subcategories for directories. It doesn't
have one for rodent racing, which apparently gets no respect, but it
certainly has directories for many other topics, such as:
· Snowboarding>Web Directories
· Photography>Web directories
· Radio Stations>Web Directories
· Arts>Web Directories
· Transgendered>Web Directories
· Comics and Animations>Web Directories
For some reasons, Yahoo! Directory also has subcategories simply called
directories. Here's a sampling of the directories subcategory:
· Travel and Transportation>Directories
· Business and Economy>Directories
· Reference>Directories
· Haunted Houses>Directories
· Ethnic Studies>Directories
The best way to find the Web Directories or directories subcategories
is simply to go to the Yahoo! Directory and browse for suitable categories
for your Website. Each time you find a suitable category, search the
page for the word directory to see if the page includes a link to a
Web Directory or directory subcategory. The Open Directory Project also
lists thousands of directories. Again, browse through the directory
looking for appropriate categories and then search the page for the
word directories. Or search for an appropriate directory: golf directories,
golf directory and so on.
Local Directories
You can also find local directories - directories of businesses in your
area. These local directories are often good places to get listed. They
are easy to get into and can provide more site categorization clues
for the search engines and they often have high Pageranks. Its easy
to find such directories. Search for a place name and the term directory
- Colorado directory, e.g. Denver directory. And look in Yahoo!'s and
the Open Directory Project's regional categories.
Why Bother with Directories?
Here are a few reasons:
· They provide another channel to your site from the search engines.
If you are listed in those directories , may be the searcher will find
you.
· Some of the pages at these directory sites have very good pageranks.
Links from pages with high Pageranks pass on part of the Pagerank to
your site. Helping you rise in search engines. E.g. one of the directory
pages I looked at on the AtoZfitness.com site had a PageRank of 5, which
is very good.
· As a General Principle, Links are good. Almost all links help
to boost your pagerank, but in addition, links increase your chances
of getting found by the search engines. The more links to your site,
the more often search bots will stumble across your site and index it.
· Some of these directory sites get a lot of traffic. Buzzle.com
is more or less the world's 1700th most popular site. That sounds like
a big number but with hundreds of millions o users online, and millions
of Web sites that's not bad. Some of these directories maybe able to
send you some really good traffic.
Getting the Link
After you have found a directory, you want to get the link. In some
cases, you have to email someone at the directory and ask. Many of these
little directories are run by individuals and are often pretty crudely
built. It may take some time for the owner to get around to adding the
link. Some directories have automated systems. Look for a Submit Your
Site Link, or maybe Add URL, Add you site, or something similar. The
site may provide a form in which you enter your information. Some directories
review the information before adding it to the directory, and in other,
less common, situations your information may post directly to the site.
Some of the directories may ask you to pay to be added to the directory
o give you preferential treatment if you pay.
Should You Pay?: generally no. Why Not? It sometimes seems like everyone's
trying to get you to pay these days. Every time you try to get a link
somewhere, someone's asking for money. Buzzle.com a portal with allsorts
of directories want you to pay $59. That gets you into the index within
seven days and gets you preferential placement. The term portal is an
internet-geek term that, means "We have got all sorts of stuff
on our site like news, and weather, and you know communities, and like
stuff, and we still have some of our dotcom cash left, which should
keep us going a few more months while we try to figure out how to make
money. I recommend that you do not pay for these placements, at least
to begin with. In most cases, they simply aren't worth spending $60,$100,
or more for the link. Its worth spending a few moments getting a free
link, though. If a site asks you to pay, dig around and see if you can
find a free-placement link, if not, just move on.
You don't have to pay. Luckily you may find that some of the best directories
are free. E.g. Hundreds of model rocket sites are on the Web, often
run by individuals or families. Many of these sites have link pages.
Although these sites don't get huge number of visitors, they do get
the right visitors and often have pretty good Pageranks. Most of these
sites will give a free listing, just for the asking. Look for a contact
email address somewhere.
Working With The Yellow Pages
The yellow pages companies don't know what's about to hit them. Yellow
pages are incredibly profitable - the biggest Yellow pages companies
make billions of dollars each year, with profits of many hundreds of
millions. They are real cash cows, but they are about to get streamrollered.
The Yellow Pages companies cont fully appreciate the changes that are
about to hit them. They have, however started their foray into the internet.
In fact, several Yellow Pages sites are incredibly important already.
It may make sense business already buys Yellow Pages ads. Billions of
searches are carried out every year through the Yellow Pages sites.
The following are the largest Yellow Pages sites are the Alexa traffic
ranks.
· Yahoo!Yellow Pages:yp.yahoo.com
· InfoSpace:www.infospace.com
· WorldPages.com:www.worldpages.com
· SBC SMARTPages:smartpages.com
· BellSouth RealPages.com:www.realpages.com
· Yell.com:yell.com
· YellowPages.com:www.yellowpages.com
· Yellow.com:www.yellow.com
· Yellowbook.com:www.yellowbook.com
The advantage of using Yellow Pages sites? They generate lots of local
searches. If you own a shoe shop, potential customers are more likely
to find you through a Yellow Pages site then through a search engine.
The disadvantages? They are expensive. Basics listing are free because
the basic listings come from the paper Yellow Pages, and all business
phone customers get a free basic listing. But these basic listings don't
have links to your web site, so however useful they are for generating
phone calls, they wont generate clicks. For that you will have to pay.
Getting into the Yellow Pages
You can get your business into the yellow pages site three ways.
· Get a business phone line. You'll get your free listing in
the local yellow pages book which also gets you your listings in the
online yellow pages.
· Buy a listing or ad through your local yellow pages rep. This
is the same guy selling you space in the paper book.
· Sign up directly through the Web site.
The yellow pages companies share listings. If you have a business phone
in colorado, your listings is in a QwestDex paper book, ends up on DexOnline.com,
andalos ends up in the Verizon superPages site.
If your company already buys yellow pages ads and your business is
geo-specific - that is you are trying to attract buyers in a particular
area - you should look into using the Yellow pages. Talk to your rep.
The rep. should be able to tell you how many searches are carried out
in the company's online Yellow pages, in a particular category and a
particular region, each month. From that information, you may be able
to decide if purchasing an ad makes sense. The online Yellow pages companies
sell a varieties, such as :
· A link from the listings in the online yellow pages to your
web sites
· An email link
· A page with detailed information, such as map to your locations,
information about your products and services, payment options and so
on.
· A link to a picture of your ad that appears in the paper yellow
pages.
· A pop-up promo box that appears when someone points at an icon,
and that can be modified whenever you want through an online management
system.
· A link to a coupon that customer can print.
You can buy ads directly from some of the Yellow Pages sites. You can
sign up online at e.g. YellowPages.com. But this isn't a real Yellow
Pages site. It is not owned or operated by a company that makes yellow
page books. It's also ugly and hard to use. Some of the bigger sites
don't take orders online directly. You can request a quote online, but
your information is probably sent to a real live rep who then calls
you.
