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Directory Submission - Save Yourself Up To 179 Hours But Still Get Your Site Listed In All The Directories.

Posted on 11. Jan, 2009 by Derrick.

Just got off the phone from a friend of mine who is an SEO Expert, and he suggested using another tool to get your websites submitted to the directories. Before we go further, here is a quick summary from Wikipedia of what Directories do and why they are important in getting traffic:

‘Today submission of websites to web directories is considered as a common SEO (search engine optimization) technique to get vital back-links for the submitted web site. One distinctive feature of ‘directory submission’ is that it can not be fully automated like search engine submissions. Manual directory submission is a tedious and time consuming job and is often outsourced by the webmasters.’

If you don’t know already, back-links, or links from other sites coming to your site, is a very important variable to show search engines that you are an important site - as it is expected that the more links to your site and the better quality links - (including links that are relevant, from highly ranked sites) , the more favourable the search engines will rank you and therefore get you more traffic.

Notice also the quote said - it’s a time consuming job. I tried Directory Submitter as mentioned previously, and it took me about an hour to submit to 10 directories - very time consuming if you realise that there are 350 sites in the FREE Version of Directory Submitter, and over 1800 in the paid version. (ie it would take about 35 hours to submit to all the directories for the FREE version and 180 hours for the paid version!! (It is however worth taking a look and reading the copy of Directory Submitter to understand more about directories)

Why does it take so long? Well, to get your site listed in any Directory, you need to provide details of your website :

• URL
• Category
• Sub Category
• Title
• Description
• Keywords

So normally you would need to firstly have a list of all the directories, and then go to each directory and submit these details.  VERY TIME CONSUMING.

Directory submitter allows you to firstly input this data into its database, and saves time by having the  listing of all the directories within the program (with page rank, so you can start from the highest page rank(10) to the lowest(0)).  You just click on the directory you wish to submit to, and it loads the page up into its inbuilt browser, and automatically copy and pastes the details you have entered previously into the directory’s site submission page.

This definitely saves time, but you still often need to select the best fitting category, as every directory has a different category system - so just looking through their category structure to find the category that best fits your site takes time, and sometimes the program doesn’t always fill in all the blanks (if the directory has additional fields etc).  So that’s Why it takes time, even with the time saving features of Directory Submitter. (which probably at least cuts the time needed by half.)

So naturally I complained about the time it takes to submit to the directories to my SEO friend, and he suggested a much better option that I wasn’t aware of - Directory Maximizer - A service that will manually submit your website to the directories for you.  They only charge 14cents per directory - That means instead of investing 1 hour to submit to 10 directories, I can get it done for $1.40. (And my time is definitely worth more than that! - I’m sure yours is too!

Other advantages of using this system is:

• Increased  chances of link approval as they ensure your site meets all the directory guildelines
• Live up to date reports on the progress of your submissions
• Choose how many directories to submit to - and can select by page rank
• Target multiple search terms by submitting up to 20 different tiles and descriptions
• Control the pace of the submissions - as it is better to step the submissions over a period of time (2-5 weeks), as a sudden influx of back links in a short period of time, does not look good to google.

Anyway, This definitely seems to be worth the cost, and is going to be my first job at outsourcing work that is going to make me more effective - you can take a look at Directory Maximzer here.

Have you done directory submissions? - What do you think?

Stay tuned later today, as I’ll be writing about how to write articles

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Traffic Secret 1: Part 1 - Be A Gold Digger!

Posted on 28. Dec, 2008 by Derrick.

I’m excited today, as today marks my official start of Driving Traffic to my blog.  From today I’ll be taking consistent, deliberate action to drive targeted traffic to my online home : my blog.  One of the key ways of getting traffic according to Alex Jeffreys‘, is writing on other people’s blogs and leaving a link back to yours.  But its more than just leaving a comment like :

“Hi, like your blog, please visit mine here - <link here> “

If you’re like most people. .you’ll probably thinking what a waste of a comment, as it really adds very little value to the blog, and worse, it is obviously just a blatant promotional tool, to have a link back to your site!  So, there is a wrong way of making backlinks to yours site, and thankfully there is also a right way . . and that is what I plan to start to reveal to you today. .

So, I know what you’re thinking - What exactly am I going to do?  Well I’m going to be a Gold Digger!

BE A GOLD DIGGER!

No Not Like Kanye West!

So What do I mean?  Well. . put simply I’m going out to the web on a Gold Digging Expedition!  I’m going out into the world wide web and seeking out blogs, reading posts and comments, and rather than just say Hi, and ask the blog owner to visit my site, I’m going to look at what I like and love about other people’s blogs and give genuine compliments.

Why would I want to do this?  Well the key to be successful in ANY Endeavour in this world is BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS.  Business is done through people.  Great Endeavours are executed and realised through people.  Everything man has achieved is through people, and one of the best ways to build relationships is through encouragement and taking a genuine and keen interest in the other person.  (I learnt this many years ago reading a classic in the field of personal development: How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie).   Great chance for me to revisit the gems in this book, and start reapplying!

Alex Jeffreys‘ emphasis in Module 4 : Social Media Money was all about this - Building Relationships, and more specifically - Relationship Marketing.  It was really about how to interact online - what not to do, and what to do to build those relationships that forms the foundation of any great endeavour

OUTCOMES:

Before we get to the specifics of this key traffic tip, lets firstly define what is the outcome one wants as an owner of a blog/website:

1. We want targeted relevant traffic. (there generally is no point getting people who have no interest whatsoever in the topic of our blog to come and visit - I mean, think of the times, you’re searching for some information on a specific topic, and somehow land on a page that has nothing to do with what you’re looking for - what do we do? -  most of us just click and close the window!. . so we want people that are searching for the information we have. people who will be happy to find our blog because it provides the information they are looking for
2. We want the targeted traffic to come back, again and a again, or in web terms we want our blog to be ‘STICKY‘.  Why?  Well firstly in the offline business world, it is always much easier to sell to a past customer, as compared to finding new customers to sell to. . so Its the same with getting visitors to your site.  its less work keeping your visitors coming back, compared to keep going out and finding more people to come and visit.  (As long as you’ve got something of value to offer of course)
3. We want to get to a point eventually where the blog / website autogenerates visitors.  Just like in an offline business, one of the best ways to grow a business is through referrals, through ‘raving fans’ of your product / service.  So it is with your blog, by providing consistently good value, eventually the site will attract the visitors you seek, through word of mouth.  So this is the end point in terms of generating traffic for your blog.  Keep this in mind as you work out what strategies you want to deploy to achieve this outcome!

DO’s AND DON’T’s OF LEAVING COMMENTS

Ok, lets get back to the original intent of this blog post : when visiting other blogs and websites - Be A Gold Digger - find good things and compliment - as this is the beginning of building relationships, which forms the foundation of building a business.

To expand on this basic premise of being a Gold Digger, here is a quick summary of do’s and don’ts Alex Jeffreys‘ shared with us, when you go out and gold dig on other sites:

Do:

1. Be REAL - don’t be a fake, people can sniff you out, just like dogs!
2. Post on related blogs to help drive TARGETED TRAFFIC - find blogs that have the same topic and subject matter as you.
3. Tell your story if appropriate to the blog post

Don’t:

1. PIMP Yourself- ie don’t leave comments on other people blog sites with the sole purpose of advertising your site. . They don’t like it, and neither do you when others leave such comments for you!
2. Try and sell or promote your products.

Stick to these guidelines and know that the 3 outcomes outlined before happen, when we have the right long term intent.

This is very important. . because as you surf the web and look for information, you will find advertising for many ‘tactics’ and ‘techniques’ that people are selling that can drive tons of traffic to your site, but it may be non-targeted traffic, utilise a loophole in the search engines, or take advantage of how the search engines work, and from what i have seen, many of these are only transient solutions that will not work long term. My feeling is that it is much better to focus on providing a good value service, develop your reputation, and word of mouth referrals, to be around for the long term, rather than the quick buck. .

So the right intent in my mind is so, so important.  I have been defrauded, cheated and taken for a ride too many times to mention in this post - both online and offline (although when i’m looking for some sympathy I may divulge :). and if there is anything I hate, it is seeing people taken advantage of.  I diverge. . ..

So back to what I was saying . I believe part of getting on the right path in building a business, heck, just being a good human being is to be A Gold Digger!. . I’ll be going out and visiting a bunch of blogs and posting what I like about their blogs, or messages.

And really this will reinforce that old theme of giving of yourself, and in return, you’ll receive much more in return, of course, while this is true, it is every important that when we give of ourselves, we do not expect anything in return, that we do not entertaining the idea of obligation which is forced and unpleasant.  I intend to go out and give without expectation and not at all worry about what I want(Traffic). .

I am feeling a sense of freedom just thinking about giving without expectations! . . .

The Experiment begins!. . .

Derrick

PS: Love to hear your thoughts, comments!

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