Open Directory Success Story and Tips

Yesterday, I was really happy to find that this new blog, Marketing Centricity for Small Business, had already been added to the Open Directory Project. I say "already," because I submitted to the Directory less than three weeks ago.

For those of you not familiar with the Open Directory, three weeks may sound like a long time. In many situations, though, it can take many months for a site to be listed and some sites are never listed.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Open Directory, I'll discuss three things:

1. What is the Open Directory?
2. Why is the Open Directory important to you?
3. Tips on how to get your site listed in the Directory - hopefully in a shorter amount of time.

What is the Open Directory?
The Open Directory is a human-edited directory of the web. It is edited by volunteers from around the world. According to the site, "the Open Directory is the most widely distributed data base of Web content classified by humans."

The Directory is organized by global categories like Arts, Kids and Teens, Sports, Regional, Business, Computers, etc. Within each of these categories, there are many sub-categories. For the top "Business" category, there are currently 256, 257 sites listed. One of the sub-categories listed under Business is "Small Business," which has 1,000 sites listed. If you run a small business and have a web site, you want to be listed in one of the Small Business sub-categories.

Why is the Open Directory Important to You?
If you operate a web site and it is important that people are able to find your website, then the Directory is important to you. In my mind, there are two reasons the Open Directory is important:

1. It's a categorized listing of sites that helps potential customers easily find sites/businesses that offer what the customers are interested in purchasing. For instance, if I'd like to talk to a few different companies about a  401(k) plan for my small business, I can go to the Open Directory and within three minutes, find 56 401(k) and  retirement companies that may be able to help. I can read a brief description of their services and click a link for those that look interesting and go directly to their website to learn more. And according to the site, the Open Directory powers the core directory services for the Web's largest and most popular search engines and portals, including Netscape Search, AOL Search, Google, Lycos, HotBot, DirectHit, and hundreds of others." So, your site not only appears in the Open Directory, but many other very popular engines and portals use the Directory as the main source for creating their own directories.
    
2. A listing in the Directory may help your organic search rankings with Google, Yahoo, MSN and other search engines. One-way links from well-viewed sites, like the link you receive from the Open Directory, are one of the more important factors search engines use to rank organic search results. So, if you get listed in the Open Directory, chances are that the listing will improve your "reputation" with the search engines and increase your organic (free) search rankings.
    

Tips on how to get your site listed in the Directory
It takes less than five minutes to submit your site to the Open Directory. However, I suggest you spend an hour or so researching and planning before your submission. According to one Directory Editor's analysis, less than 30% of site submissions are submitted to the correct category. For those sites that submit correctly, they are added to the Directory 4 times faster. That's a big deal and should tell you that it is worth your time to learn as much as possible. My suggested steps:

1. Make sure your website is ready - Don't submit your site until it is complete. Complete in the sense that you don't have any broken links, all content is complete,etc. Remember, a human will be visiting your site, so make sure it is ready for the visit.
2. Review Submitting Your Site and Submission Steps. But don't submit yet!
   
3. Review the Editing Guidelines and Editor Resources. This is a critical step - so don't skip it! These guidelines and resources essentially tell you how the editors are supposed to "grade" your site submission. The more in-line your submission with the guidelines, the more likely your site will be added. Remember, these folks are volunteers, so make their job easier - not harder.
4. Review the list of possible categories and select the one that most closely matches the information provided on your website. Remember, your website provides the only information the editors have to go by in reviewing your submission - so make sure it reflects what you do. If you're a small business, you may want to start in the Small Business Top Category. But be sure to look at other options. Don't select the first category that looks good - you want the best possible match.
5. Submit. Once you've reviewed all of the information, go back to your selected category on the Open Directory website. Look at the top menu bar for "Suggest URL." Click on the link to begin your submission process. You'll be asked for 4 pieces of information:
   
   • Site URL
   • Title of Site
   • Site Description (25-30 words)   
     
   • Email Address

In creating your site description, be sure to look at the sites that have already been accepted for clues as to what is acceptable. Over-the-top and hype usually won't make it through the editorial review.

Also, there's an Open Directory Discussion Forum where you can submit or review questions others have had about the submittal process. Before March of 2005, you could post a message asking for a status on your submittal. Unfortunately, that process was abused and is no longer offered. So, there is no way to get a status on your site submission. Essentially, it shows up or it doesn't.

The guidelines suggest that you not re-submit your site. If you do, the submission will go back to the "end of the line." According to what I read on the forum, this may or may not be true - depending upon the editor. If you read through the forum, you'll see that many people are still waiting after six months or even one year for feedback on their submission. Use your own discretion, but if your site is not listed within six months, you may want to consider re-submitting.

One other important note. Despite my initial understanding of the guidelines, it appears that you can submit your site to the topical directory (e.g. Business), as well as a regional directory (e.g. St. Louis). If you're a small business that operates in a specific region (nation, state, county, city) then you may want to consider submitting to a regional directory as well. I found this out in a discussion on the Open Directory forum. I've seen this work for a local company here in St. Louis that is listed under a Business and Regional category.

Good luck and keep those fingers crossed!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Feel free to use this article on your website, blog or enewsletter. The article must appear with the following credit and links:

Rob Reed is president of Terrakon Marketing, a sales and internet marketing consulting firm based in St. Louis. Terrakon helps small businesses, service professionals and firms attract more prospects and win more customers. Learn more at www.Terrakon.com or Rob's blog at www.MarketingCentricity.com.

Comments

[Rex Hammock]

Another good place to list a weblog intended for a small business audience is Smallbusiness.com's weblog directory. Your blog is already listed there, also:

http://www.smallbusiness.com/wiki/Weblog_directory