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How to Do Manual Directory Submission?

Author: Michiel Van Kets

One of the things you can do to ultimately see your web-site go up in the ranking is manual directory submissions.But there’s more to it than you’re aware of. The principle might sounds easy enough, all the different elements together, make it complicated and also really time consuming.

To do directory submissions you first have to choose the web directories you want to submit to.This list should be quite extensive as there is no point in only submitting to a couple, your list should include at least 200 web directories.There are thousands of directories, some of them are general and include all types of sites, whilst others only list websites of a certain type or category.

The choices are plentiful so whatever it is that you provide, you should find directories with an appropriate category.Obviously, the easiest way to get started is Google; if you look up ‘key directories’, you will get a load valuable information.Wikipedia also has a list of general and specialist directories.

It is important the web directories you are going to submit to are SEO friendly.During your look for directories you will come across directories that are not SEO-friendly, Don’t waste your time with them. Your main goal of the entire submission process is to obtain valuable links in the end which just will not happen if you pick out web directories that are not SEO-friendly.It is very important that you verify that the links always go straight to your homepage; links heading to any other page are completely worthless. Supposing you paid attention to all the previous steps, take your list of selected web directories because it’s time to start the procedure of manual directory submissions.We already spoke about the importance of appropriate categories; submit your website to directories that contain the correct category for your product or service.

Next, a submission form will appear on your computer screen to fulfill your manual directory submission. On each of those submission forms, you will have to fill in a name, a description, an URL and an email account, and sometimes some additional details depending on the directory’s rules.First you will study the guidelines of each directory as they have their own criteria and if you don’t follow them, your submission will be declined with no explanation from the editor of the directory.

Once you’ve read through the guidelines of all the directories, you will have to choose a payment option.You will see that most of the directories will be free of charge (although they might sometimes contain a possibility to pay anyway); the other thing to do is to work with web-directories that do charge a certain amount for submissions.Select how you wish to pay as there are a number of possibilities.Paid submissions will be a good option if you are aiming for a good position on the directory and you want a guaranteed review of your submission as fast as possible.For free submissions, it might take from days to months to get reviewed and your web-site will be listed among a lot of other sites.

Once you have chosen the category and pricing there are other details to complete on the form regarding the website.The titles to start with, keep it short and simple, but try to sum up the concept of the website.If you struggle with the right length of your title; 45 characters is a good average; more than 55 characters is too long.You probably know that the URL is your homepage.If the site isn’t complete and has no content or the domain isn’t up and running, then don’t submit the website as it will just be declined.Directories prefer web-sites with relevant, quality content.

The description field is to describe as objectively as possible what your web-site offers; directories will most certainly reject submissions that are to promotional.It is always a good idea to use the same words in your description one might use in a search engine but again, depending on the guidelines, a directory will only allow you a certain amount of characters.

Evidently, the directories can’t do anything if you don’t give them a name and an email account.In general, web directories much more approve email addresses that are linked to your web-site, so try to avoid using a hotmail account or another free account you might have.

Once you have submitted your site to a directory, it will be reviewed manually by the editor of that directory; so it makes sense that they require manual submissions.To validate that you are doing a manual submission, you will have to type in a code that is given in the form.

If you are interested in a reciprocal link, although there is no good reason to, you can select that option on the form.To receive such a reciprocal link, you to put your homepage address in the ‘reciprocal field’, but only after you have copy/pasted the given link to your own site first.

This entire process of submitting your website manually might seem time consuming and boring, but it is well worth it if you want to maintain your web-site in a professional way.As discussed before, the fact that it can take a long time before you receive a review and the different rules that are set by the different directories can make it very frustrating, especially when you find out that not all the web-directories accepted your submission.One way to make it easy for you is to outsource your manual submissions to a professional manual directory submission service; they will do your submissions for you, a lot quicker than you can and at a good price.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/seo-articles/how-to-do-manual-directory-submission-671732.html

About the Author

Michiel Van Kets was born and raised in Antwerp, Belgium, but now living in Phuket, Tahiland. Many professional Web Site Developers are pleased to be able to outsource their SEO work, as the quality is conform high western standards, while the prices are still at low eastern rates. Read his answer to this question: How to do the Manual Directory Submissions myself?