After you’ve built a quality web site, you’re ready to show the world your wonderful work. You need to start building traffic and establishing a page rank. Internet directories can be a major help in both these endeavors.
Directories are different than search engines in that they are generally compiled by humans and not algorithms, and organize by category and relevance, not popularity. A new site has more of a fair chance at being seen on an internet directory and it is easier to get listed on a directory than to build a large network of external links.
There are many internet directories, but the two largest and most-used are Yahoo and the Open Directory Project (dmoz.org). Yahoo is enormous and popular; however, it charges a hefty fee just for submission review. DMOZ is much more prestigious and is known for its high quality; its database is used by many search engines. Also, there is no charge for listings. But it can take some time to be approved and occasionally listings are turned down for reasons which can be difficult to understand.
These are not the only directories on the net, however. There are several smaller directories worth the time and effort. Some are more general and include many categories and some are quite specific in what they will list. Don’t waste your time submitting to all and sundry. There is no point in submitting a movie review site to a commercial business directory.
One good general internet directory is Viesearch. It features many different categories, from art to health, to world, and there is no charge to submit a site unless you want it “featured”, which incurs a minor charge of five dollars.
Another good general directory is Pegasus. Pegasus has an impressive directory of sites and several payment plans, from the free ‘regular link’ option to ‘featured’ and ‘lifelong’.
Whichever directories you choose, proof your submission well before sending. You don’t want to be rejected for something trivial, and you don’t want typos or misspellings enshrined forever. Take advantage of these resources and your page ranking and site traffic can only improve.
