There’s power in submitting your site to website directories…
Webmasters like you and me are always on the lookout to enhance the link popularity of their sites. One method of doing so is to seek out authority sites in your niche – sites that are widely known on the Internet (through the sheer number of back links) and have been around for some time (think more in terms of several years). Unfortunately, such websites are often at a Page Rank of 6+ and as such, link exchange or text link ad placement is very, very expensive .
Luckily, there is a cheaper alternative. You can use web directories to not only enhance your search engine visibility (through increased link popularity), but by targeting niche categories and using sponsored listings where necessary, you can get a big jump in your traffic as well.
So, let’s get started…
What is a Web Directory?
A web directory is a collection of links broken down into relevant categories. Think Yahoo! and their directory, the Open Directory Project or even the Google Directory (which, incidentally, is pulled from the ODP). At its most basic level, a web directory is a collection of bookmarks made available to the public. In other cases, like Yahoo, it is a professional resource for people actively looking for information.
To get listed in such a directory, you can either get listed for free (which might take a while), or in many cases, pay a one-time fee to have your website reviewed and entered in the directory. One major exception is Yahoo, which charges a recurring fee for its commercial listings, and we’ll look at that later.
The Benefits of Being Listed in a Web Directory
In theory, there are two main benefits of being listed in a web directory:
1. Increased link-popularity due to a one-way link from a highly-respected resource.
2. Increased traffic due to being listed in a directory that is searched by many people every day.
In reality though, these benefits are directly related to how popular the directory is itself, and how much money you have paid for your listing. Of course, if the link is for free, there is nothing to worry about.
There are thousands of FREE website directories on the internet!
But if you are paying for submission, you need to know some very important facts.
Link Popularity
As far as link-popularity is concerned, you need to factor in several variables:
1. The Page Rank of the directory
2. The Page Rank of the category page on which you are listed
3. Where you are listed on the page
4. The number of competing websites on that page
Where directories win out is the fact that are free or only require a one-time fee. In contrast, authority sites (or most websites with a Page Rank greater than 5 or 6) tend to use text links as a source fo revenue, and thus charge monthly fees. A directory listing then becomes a much better option (but only for link popularity).
More Traffic
Directory listings are also used as traffic building opportunities. How this works is that many directories are searchable for their visitors, so that users can look for information. In theory this is great – you can get lifetime traffic for just a nominal payment, but you should not expect a sudden deluge of traffic from just one directory listing. Here’s why:
Most directories, apart from the top twenty or so, are usually used for link-building and not pure searching. This means that while people may use GoGuides or Yahoo for regular searches, you should expect that the smaller directories are mainly for link-popularity, and plan your investment as such.
Many directories offer listings based on an alphabetical ordering, or a first-come, first-serve ordering. In both cases, your website has quite a big chance of being lost out in the noise.
Directory-search algorithms differ greatly. Some directories, like JoeAnt, base their search on keyword relevancy (which makes it more of an exercise of stuffing your directory listing with keywords rather than making a good website), while others take a more “editorial” approach by factoring in editor ratings. And still, many directories display sponsored listings first, reinforcing the adage that even on the Internet, it’s your advertising budget that talks, and not necessarily the quality of your website.
After you factor in the above points, you realize that there are only a handful of web directories where it is a definite benefit to “pay” to be listed. And even then, you cannot just rely on just being listed – sponsor listings get much more exposure. But before we discuss these dozen or so web directories, I’d like to tell you how you can make sure your website is accepted.
How to get Listed – An Overview
Getting listed in a web directory is a function of two main factors:
1. Time
It takes alot of time if you were to manually seek out these directories and then manually submit your website details to each one of them.
2. Quality
In some cases (very rarely nowadays), directory inclusions can be rejected due to the poor quality of a website. Maybe the editor considered that your website was not ‘useful’ enough (meaning it had little or no useful / original / any content), or sometimes, there may be moral issues (although editors are urged to abide by directory guidelines and not personal beliefs). If rejected, you will almost always receive feedback (you might have to ask for it) on how to improve your website.
In earlier days, quality was a big issue. Today, it is still a major concern for top directories like Yahoo, but this is more to separate the truly atrocious from the rest rather than to separate the best from the rest.
A directory listing is, in most cases, useful only for the link popularity. In such scenarios, if you can find better deals on authority sites in your niche, then you should go for them. However, a directory listing is cheaper (one-time versus monthly payment), and with the big directories like Yahoo, Dmoz and GoGuides, it can also bring you reasonable traffic.
As always, remember that directory listings form a small part of your overall online marketing strategy. If you don’t have the budget for a Yahoo listing, don’t sweat it – focus on submitting your website to the free directories out there, and come back to it when you can afford it. Directory listings are important, but only when you are looking to squeeze every possible drop of search engine placement out of your links and your website.
excelente
Looks nice Brad! I can’t believe your giving it away! I’ve been needing to do some serious link building.Whats the difference between the free version and the paid version?
And I thought I knew everything. The information in this article opened my eyes as I thought all directories had value as far as page rank was converned.
And I thought I knew everything. The information in this article opened my eyes as I thought all directories had value as far as page rank was concerned.
I try to offer Vitamin and Mineral Information by writing quality eBooks and lots of article on my site but we all need some help.
The answer is knowledge which I now have more of….thanks
I have a question:
Based on the fact we will be able to EASILY submit our site(s) to directories - building one-way links. Should there be emphasis placed on “Article submissions” as that’s basically servicing the same purpose?
Am I off-base with this thought - comments welcome?
“Inspiring SEO student” -
best regards,
Craig
Brad
Love your products and the information you provide. Look forward to seeing your newest product.
I wish there were a way to eliminate the constant barrage of MLM members flooding your inbox with offers to join the “Best” and “Easiest” and “Fastest” way on the planet to make money. I subscribe and unsubsribe to these types of directories IMMEDIATELY!
I feel like the “Boy that cried Wolf”. I’m probably missing some very good information from some Bloggers and marketers. But I normally delete most messages from certain directories because 99.9% of what I’ve seen are MLM offers.
Brad, You did it again! This is a little masterpiece and first of all it`s going to save me lots of time and also give me better ranking, no doubt. Time saving is so important when you are on your own and not having a big staff to delegate the work to. I`m always looking for tools
like this one in order to be even more efficient in my work. That gives me more time to spend on market research and last but not least, time for my customers. Thank you Brad!
Hi,
Are you gonna be releasing an advance version of the software in the future?
Because you mentioned that the standard is free?
Louis
I’ve been a subscriber of yours for sometime now, Brad. Thanks for the education.
However . . .
I started my directory submissions by having it done manually through another marketer by the name of Thomas Choo. He, along with his team, are submitting my fishing site to 400 directories by hand. - a manual process - for less than $50.00.
In his email he describes how he prefers the manual method over software based automatic submissions based on reasons you can find at http://www.backlinksmaster.com/.
The only thing I need to do is verification of the submissions through a “throwaway” email address.
I’m definitely going to try the software out if it will help. BUT - don’t neglect manual submission either. All SEO takes a certain amount of work by hand. Besides it’s work that’s well worth the effort when you consider that once it’s done it’s pretty well set for the life of your site.
Hey Joe, you bring up a great point. I’ll address that quickly…
You see, there really is no different in manually typing your website details into a website directory and clicking the submit button OR having “Directory Submitter” auto-fill each of the fields for you automatically before you click the submit button. The only difference between the 2 is that:
1. It’s going to save you a heckuva lot of manual typing time and
2. You’ll have a giant list of directories that you can just click on and they load in “Directory Submitter”, right in front of your eyes. No need to open a web browser and copy and paste directory URLs into your browser… etc.
Manual submission is identical to what we’re doing here, but the only difference is the HUGE amount of time saved as mentioned above. I’m all about saving time. If I’m not going to hire a job out, I want it to be as painless as possible.
With that said, I completely agree with you in that “some” SEO work is best done by hand, the slow way. Getting the very best 1-way links involve either:
- creating amazing content that gets passed around the web naturally OR
- contacting webmasters via email, phone, or mail and striking up a unique deal with them,
in order to get a good link.
Using “Directory Submitter” is just 1 of the many ways to get links
Good luck and thanks for the comments!
Brad
Brad
Thank you. This software is an excellent tool.
You are not only a great teacher, but an innovator
as well.
Dan
Like “Joe” above I’m a little skeptical, but willing to give it a test.
Hey Brad
Looks real easy, can’t wait to use it on my new site. Thanks Again
I am still very much a newbie, trying to find my feet. Your Directory Submitter sounds wonderful and I look forward to trying it out.
Hi Brad!
New package looks to be a serious piece of kit? I’ll certainly be giving it a go as I would like proper linking for my site.
Well done!
Walt
Just what I need for my new site. I’ve been needing to do some serious link building but I need this software to save time. Time is money.
Hi Brad,
Well, you’ve done it again ~ another piece of software that I would be an idiot not to have. It seems that you can read my requirements right at the time they become obvious to me ~ how in heck do you know what I’m needing just before I do myself? LOL…don’t answer that ~ just keep on doing it…”I like it….I like it…..”
Warm Regards,
Jan
Brad, I have been doing SEO stuff for a while organically and doing very well with it. I bought SEO Elite to be a time saver and have all of my projects managed in one location. I can’t tell you how much time it is saving me already. If anyone reads this and has been considering buyuing SEO Elite, I would say just do it. I am not an affiliate and I am not trying to get any sort of endorsement deals. The SEO Elite software has saved me about 20 hours worth of work so far and I just got it last week! I would like to see it with some on page optimization projects in it as well as some of it still does matter.
Can’t wait to rock and roll on this one.
Mr.Brad,
The best advise and fuctionality given to the webmsters by anyone so far is from you.
I will go for it.
Thank you
Mohan Gaonkar.
I see that we can suggest directories to be added but can we add in our own list of specific directories?
Hey Brad,
Can the directories be sorted by the rankings in the columns?
Thanks,
Greg
This is great info for a beginner like me, Brad! I am getting ready to launch, so this helps a lot….thanx!
Brad,
Let me say, as always you stay on the cutting edge of marketing with your easy to follow and learn programs. I believe this to be yet another arsenal in your many more “must have’s”.
Keep up the great work,
Adrian L. Florida
i
Brad, it seems fashionable for Internet Marketers to see who is the “coolest guy on the planet”, if you keep pumping software out like this, you will win it hands down with no effort.
Seriously though, this software looks very good, even if I had a list of directories to send my information, I probably wouldn’t do it, as it takes so long.
The autofill function is the thing which really makes this tool.
Cheers,
P/S Only thing that is less than great is the launch time, in the UK it will be launched at about 4.00pm GMT, meaning I only have an hour or so to play with it before the end of the day. Oh well, I know what I am going to be doing tomorrow…
Thanks a heap.
Hey there Brad!!
Wow i think this is just fantastic! I’m confident that you will overdeliver as usual!! Looking forward to some great quality stuff man!!
Keep it up
Hi Brad. I own Australian article.com and will be pleased to get your clients submissions in the event we are included in your list of directories.
To people who are using auto submit or manual or combo submissions I would like to be clear about one importat fact - Be certain that your article or listing goes in the correct category for it’s content.
Not doing that will infuriate any decent directory that values its content. Let me explain what I mean. Just yesterday I was manually reviewing my clients new article submissions.Most were excellent but several were terrible, For example, one client put his article about art in nano technology. Another put his travel article in the same spot. There are numerous other equally ridiculous examples I could give.
The point is that this is a headache for the owner if he does manual reviews and also it’s not good for the person who submitted the article or link as his content is no longer contextual in googles eyes. The problem I suspect is most often to do with auto submit software.
I’d also add that it’s going to become ever increasingly important to create and distribute quality as well as quantity. So write good stuff and provide truly useful information.
Anyway I am going to take the software for a spin and I’ll let you know what I think of it Brad.
I will also submit another of my directory sites called estate-real.org …once it’s up and running in a day or so. It will be purely real estate related whereas australian article is a very general and very diverse article directory site.
Can you tell me Brad…are Article Directories included in the master list or just pure directories?
Thanks for the heads up on this great looking software.
Andrew Blachut
Brad. Am I correct in understanding that people will be submitting links and short descriptions to pure directory listing sites alone or does it include article sites also?
Andrew Blachut
Hi Brad,
My product, an eBook, is UK based and really of no use outside the UK but I like the idea of link building in order to improve my page ranking. Is it ok to have US directories link to my site and will that affect my ranking positively? Also are any of the directories that you access based elsewhere in the world outside the US? It would be nice to know that the listings themselves may be able to generate some leads.
Thanks for your continued support!
Graham Hill
Great product. Just got it and love it.
Anyway to track and tag the ones we have submitted to?
Brad, does the software work with Vista?
Thanks
Kat
I’m testing it now and have to agree.. It’s nice.
A suggestion for improvement.
Can you put an EXPORT button that would allow you to dump information for each PROJECT so that you can you import this into an existing database or spreadsheet where you’ve kept track of links.
Also, maybe add an interface that would allow you to manually enter the date or a checkmark that you already submitted a link to a certain Link DIrectory before (DirectoryGenerator). This would save you from checking that link every time you logged in to Directory Generator for that certain website/Project or submitting to a site and getting the message… Your site is already listed in our directory.
Hi Mark, good suggestions. I’ll do my best!
Hi Brad
Just want to let you know that you did it again. This is a SWEET package. I’ll be upgrading it very shortly.
My site is brand new so I’m playing a bit of the waiting game here. However, my Alexa rating was 6,000,000 and when I checked it yesterday it was 3,000,000. We are on the move, and I have your tools to thank for that.
There is an ever so minor glitch I ran into with this new directory submitter.
One of the directories REQUIRES a 300 word description, but directory submitter won’t allow for that many characters in a description. Thus I am unable to submit to that directory. Is there a way to increase the size limitation within the description part of directory submitter?
Also… I love the “fill” option where we are able to toggle to different descriptions within a specific project. These tools are awesome. I can’t imagine what will be next, but you’ve got my attention big time.
Thanks again
Guy
I feel really foolish but I don’t see the mechanics of actually doing the submission once everything for the project is filled out.
Do you highlight and submit each directory you want to submit to individually or all at once?
What do you click to actually start the submission process?
I’m sure it’s obvious but I don’t see how to get it going. *cringe*
susana
I have been creating my one way links using articles and press releases, and have managed to get google #1 on two of my keywords/phrases. This sounds great, and I will certainly add it to my arsenal of seo tools. if you want to discover exactly how I reached google #1 for my keywords, visit my site, there’s a free report waitng for you
As usual Brad, always quality. And your giving away
this software for free, you are the man…
Terrance Charles
http://www.terrancecharles.com
Hey Brad,
I already started to use your std. version of DS…I love it!
One sugestion:
Is it possible that you add a extra ‘field column’ in case we need to write a comment or a note on a particular directory.?
Thanks Brad.
Peter J
Hi Brad,
Thanks for the free submitter.
But I can’t see the submission in process.
Does the work done when I click the finish button?
great system worthy of use by everybody
Hi Brad,
Another great product! Can’t believe you are giving it FREE!!
Review: Brad Callen’s Free Directory Submitter…
Today I’m reviewing a free product of interest to all AdSense publishers, Brad Callen’s Directory Submitter. Download it now while you read this review. (Only runs on Windows, though.)
Background
Brad Callen is an Internet marketer best known for hi…
What if I already have a link in some of the directories, will the software check for links alerady present in a directory?
Hi Brad.
Thanks for the freebie, will let you know how i get on
with my site and by how much Popularity and Traffic increase.
john plimmer
http://www.matthewandjimmy.com
This looks like a great program. I’ll have to give it a try for my new website.
i need to start your program now (without spend endless time to go around like this) how?
Hi Brad, thanks and your Directory Submitter Rocks ! After using for 2 week on my Brand new Site http://InsiderBlueprint.com/?id=677 .My Alexa Ranking breaks 100,000(97,613) for a 30 days old site ! Hurray ! See proof ? Go http://InsiderBlueprint.com/?id=677 . thanks again Brad btw your SEO & Keyword Elite Rocks too ! :p (David from Singapore !)
Where can I send more directory suggestions?
Hey Matt, on the homepage: http://direcorysubmitter.imwishlist.com there is a BIG textbox located on the right hand side of the web page. Enter your suggestions there.
“Mim Jedi” GREAT job on the new site!!
Brad
WOW, I can’t remember how i did any of my SEO before I found you, Brad! Thank you so much - I will be upgrading this free version very soon!
I think the article submitter is great and free is the best.I have a huge favor to ask everybody I would really appreciate it. I auditioned for Joel Comms reality show. I need everybodies vote. Dp I can win I would really really appreciate ,the web address is nextinternetmillionaire.com My name Ellen Crowell is at the bottom of the list voting starts on saturday because that is when my video will be posted and my video is funny not like all the rest.I woul really appreciate the votes
i appreciate such a speech
excellent information…. i have a new site, i will start submitting my site to web directory, www.indiaflowerplaza.com
Hi Brad,
I couldn’t just imagine you giving away about 1.54MB software on Article Submitter freely.
Thanks alot.
Ovegho
This looks like a great program. I’ll have to give it a try for my new website.
Quick question for you, Brad,
This Directory Submission is awesome for all the free directories and I think I’ve covered them all. But when I try to use the PAID directories and go to pay I always get the following error:
“We cannot process this transaction because there is a problem with the PayPal email address supplied by the seller. Please contact the seller to resolve the problem. If this payment is for an eBay listing, you can contact the seller via the “Ask Seller a Question” link on the listing page. When you have the correct email address, payment can be made at www.paypal.com.”
Is it just that many of these paid directories have paypal cart errors? I use Paypal all the time with no problems until I’ve tried to pay on these sites.
Thanks again!
ps - I got the paid version and also the article submitter now too- it is fantastic!!
:)Sherri
This is awsome I have been looking for months and finally it is here thanks
great system worthy of use by everybody
I really like your article submitter so I can’t wait to try out your director submitter. I liked the combination of automatic and manual design. It just keeps you from typing the same thing over and over again. Yet, you are guiding the submissions not the computer.
Hi Brad,
Awesome …. Thanks.
Absolutely great piece of software Brad. We’ve just knocked out 350 submissions in 4 hours. It took us 3 days last week to do the same amount by hand. Nice one!!
How much does the software cost?
Carl: Free!
Well, you’ve done it again ~ another piece of software that I would be an idiot not to have. It seems that you can read my requirements right at the time they become obvious to me ~ how in heck do you know what I’m needing just before I do myself? LOL…don’t answer that ~ just keep on doing it…”I like it….I like it…..”
Thanks
Anandhan.M Judedaniel
Hi Guys!
The best software I ever found.
Thanks!
Your product sounds great. Where can I buy it?
let me how much it costs.
Nice work on this. I have just tested a couple of pages, and this will save tons of time in my process of submitting to directories. Anything to help in the process of the almight google ranking.
Very useful infos here. I didnt really know that web directories can play such big part in link popularity, nut thats the fact that many have high pr like 5 or 6 and have categories so very targeted links and traffic.
Hey the download only has 350 directories but your video demo’s say “2000+” - where do I find the rest?
Thanks
Very useful info here.i never knew i could build such trafic in less than 2 weeks.Thanks for introducing this software to peple like me.
Really it is very good way to link popularity and increase the web promotion method.
As a Newbie,little did I know that something as good as this software existe.
I love the fact that you can create multiple projects and store them as I am not a quick typist,
good stuff .
Thank you Brad
Sara Lees
Thank you Brand.This is very good software.
I cannot download your software and I have tried four times. If I cannot download your free software I am not going to buy software that I cannot download either?
Hi Brad,
As you know dupe content is becoming a big problem. Can you comment on that in your product, or your plans to allow randomization. For example, there is another product (for Article Submission) which allows the s/w to pull randomly from text files in a directory. So you could run some content cruncher and create a bunch of text files, and then the software pulls from these, making the content very unique.
Please help understand how you are approaching this very real issue.
I don’t think they give backlinks, but I do think you can be found after they approve you. It is not a quick process in my experience.
Yes it’s a reality and great source of power to prote the site.
can my money get trasfer to my credit card
Very good information. Great service.
Nice tips, thanks.
Hey Guys
The best software I ever found.It helps me a lot.
Thanks!
Hey Friends
The best software I ever found.It helps me a lot.
Thanks
This software is really the splendid one. But I’ve found that a few directories aren’t working properly so you should update this software.
Great stuff. Thanks for the info. I hope it saves me hours of time.
This is saving me time! I’ve downloaded the free version to see how well I like it and have to say so far I’ve come across 5 directories that have page not found and a couple that are pay for link. And with that said…..I still like it as it saves time. My question is…..and this is in regards to the paid for version of Submitter: Do all the links work? And are they all free?
Shelley
Gosh, Thanks for this great tools..
A first time user I hope it works. I have only had my site up for about a month.
Norm.
Curious your thoughts on paid directories since Google discouraged the use of paid links. I am a bit paranoid now and only submit to the free ones.
Thanks for nice information.
Great software, and it works really good.
thanks again,
Nick