DIRECTORY SUBMISSION STANDARD PROCEDURE

“Before you Begin”

Do it once Do it properly Be brief Be accurate Be relevant Be humble Be patient

Directory submission is a starting point when crawling the web, listing in the Open Directory tends to boost ranking in the search engines, as they interpret such a listing as a sign of quality.

1. Need to make sure it is ready for indexing. Use the following checklist to be absolutely sure your site is submission-ready:

Are all pages complete? (No “under construction” pages) Are all links valid? (No broken or dead links) Are all pages optimized? Are all pages search engine compatible? Have you tested your site for usability? (Google “web site usability” for more

information)

2. Prepare a spreadsheet. To make submitting easier, you also need to prepare a text file or spreadsheet listing the following

Site's main URL Mobile/Business Phone Number Business Name Address and contact details of your company Categories Areas serve A short description of page/site content (10-20 words) A long description of page/site content (30-50 words) A list of target keywords for page/site

3. Check their authority/ PR score to make sure they are GOOD directories (this will be shown by their rank)

4. Select only directories that are relevant to the subject matter of the site we are promoting e.g. a link from a directory about power boats and all things related would not be appropriate for links to an office furniture site UNLESS there was a section specifically for offices on boats that we could specifically list in.

5. Keep track the list of directory links we have and create series of records, including PR, status, date listed.

6. Links in directories need to ping, allow you to automatically notify blog directories and search engines that your blog has been updated (old or new)For WordPress modify ping list on the Control Panel > Options > Writing

7. Limit the number of such directory entries such that they represent no more than (for the moment lets set this as) 10% of the total links

8. Geotargetting of the site Generate location-specific content depending on the information the user makes available

1. The first thing you need is a database of world wide IP addresses. A freely available one is MaxMind's GeoLite Country Database. Download the CSV version, not the binary format version.

2. A note about the database: It is updated once a month, so you can (and should) update your copy

frequently.It is claimed to be 97% accurate. This is sufficient for most users, but if you want a more accurate version, download the MaxMind GeoIP Country Database version, which is not free.

Once you download the IP database in CSV format, you need to upload it into your MySQL database. Here are the instructions:

3. Create a new table in your database; call it IPCountries.In the IPCountries table, create 6 (six) new fields.The fields are:Field TypeIP_START VARCHAR, length 50IP_END VARCHAR, length 50IP_FROM DoubleIP_TO DoubleCOUNTRY_CODE2 Char, length 2COUNTRY_NAME VARCHAR, length 50

4. Import the CSV file into the MySQL table. If you are using phpMyAdmin, at the very bottom of the table view is a link that says 'Insert data from a text file into the table'. Click that and then make sure the settings are the following:Setting ValueFields terminated by , (a comma)Fields enclosed by " (a double-quote)Lines terminated by \n (a linefeed)

5. Now browse to where you save the CSV file and click 'Submit'. It's a large file, so be patient :)Now that we have the IP database ready, let's use it!

IP Database ExplanationWith the database ready, let's take a look at what each field means:Field TypeIP_START The start of the IP range.IP_END The end of the IP range.IP_FROM The start of the IP range, as a long number.IP_TO The end of the IP range, as a long number.COUNTRY_CODE2 A two-letter country code, such as 'UK'.

Field TypeCOUNTRY_NAME The full country name, such as 'Germany'.

6. Geotargeting PHP Code

The code is very simple:We get the visitor's IP address......and look it up in the database......and figure out which country the IP address belongs to.And the code is:$DatabaseServer = "YOUR_DATABASE_SERVER";$Username = "YOUR_DATABASE_USERNAME";$Password = "YOUR_DATABASE_PASSWORD";$DatabaseName = "YOUR_DATABASE_NAME"; $link = mysql_connect($DatabaseServer, $Username, $Password) or die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());mysql_select_db($DatabaseName) or die('Could not select database');$IP = $_SERVER["REMOTE_ADDR"]; //Get the IP address$res = mysql_query("SELECT country_code2,country_name FROM IPCountries WHERE IP_FROM<=inet_aton('$IP') AND IP_TO>=inet_aton('$IP')");//look up IP address $Codes = mysql_fetch_array($res); //get result$CountryCode = $Codes['country_code2']; //two-letter country code$CountryName = $Codes['country_name']; //full country nameecho "$CountryCode - $CountryName"; //print it out, just as an example mysql_close($link); //clean upYou could use this information to target content. For example, to output content for IP addresses from France, you could use:if($CountryCode == "FR"){ //echo contents for France echo "Bonjour!" }else{ //default content echo "Hello!" }

General tips and rules to help you get into your directory of choice first time and without your description being edited unfavorably.

1. Research your appropriate category thoroughly! The best way to do this is to search for your own keywords in a directory and see which categories come up. Be precise with your search. If your insurance company specializes in liability insurance, then search for "liability insurance". Try to be in the most appropriate category as possible.

2. If your appropriate category includes your targeted keyword then you may get a ranking boost especially if the keyword appears in your title, description and URL (web search results from Yahoo!).

3. Try to keep your keyword prominence high. This means wherever possible make it the first word in your description and title.

4. Refrain from hype and exageration in your descriptions. Editors will edit your site description if theycontain hype including but not limited to ... "The best...", "The cheapest...", "The number one..." etc. Keep it balanced such as "Offers xyz products ", "Provides xyz services for xyz", "Large selection of xyz" .Do not give an editor a reason to change your description as there is no knowing what the outcome will be if an editor rewrites it.

5. Use third person sentences such as "offers liability insurance and includes a general claims checklist." I have not said "We offer" you will note. Also notice in this description I have not started with a capital. Do any search on Yahoo! and you will find on most occasions the descriptions start without a capital letter. The opposite however applies to DMOZ and most other directories in that you should use full sentences that start with a capital. Keep the reviewers time of review to a minimum and you are halfway home!

6. Keep your descriptions short. The longer they are the more likely they will need to be edited.

7. Do not just list your keywords. Yahoo! for example checks how many click throughs an indexed site has and how long they stay before coming back. It is even part of their "Web-Sites" results ranking algorithm. You are not going to get many clicks with "insurance liability life insurance private health insurance car insurance" as you title. That is a sure fire way to get edited, or if the editor is having a rough day, you may not get indexed at all. In short, keep it short and mention unique features / added value such as the example I gave two points above

8. Some directories list results alphabetically (ODP). In most cases it's too late to change the name of your company or website name. If however you are reading this and it isn't too late, think about changing your website name. For example if you are considering calling yourself "Zebra Insurance Brokers" You may want to reconsider :-)

9. Before submitting your submission form, be sure to check and double check that your category, title, description and URL are correct in spelling, grammar and syntax. Getting things changed may not be so easy.

10. ODP editors are essential keen volunteers. Pay attention to your editors prose (sentence structure) in the category of your choice. If your category editor starts often with "offers ..." then use it in your own description. If he/she likes long descriptions then make it perhaps a bit longer than you would for a Yahoo! description.

11. Your directory submission site description does NOT have to be identical to your description meta tag. In fact it is very rare to see a meta description matching exactly a directory description.

The value of an entry in a major web directory should not be underestimated. We recommend for most of our business clients that they pay for a Yahoo! entry. Before they do however, part of our service is to provide them with the appropriate category, title and description of course. We can even submit it manually ourselves on their behalf if they wish.

Don't forget the link popularity factor of many search engines. Not only will you get good targeted web traffic from the directory, you will also indirectly benefit from increased traffic through a higher ranking on search engines due to your increased link popularity (PageRank).