Unlike submitting to search engines, submitting your site to directories and niche portals usually involves a lot more than simply typing in your URL. You often have to start by researching
various topic categories to find most appropriate area to submit to. Then you generally have to provide some detailed information about your site, its’ content, your company and your contact details.When selecting most appropriate Directory category to submit your site to, conduct a search for your main keyword phrase and view various related categories. Study sites listed within these categories and choose category that is most relevant to or closely related to your site content. Some directories like ODP have specific Category Descriptions you should read before submitting, to ensure you have chosen most relevant topic for your site.
Another way to choose your category is to search for sites belonging to your direct competitors. It is likely that category they are listed in will be most relevant to your site.
If your site targets or discusses a specific regional market, you will need to submit to a regional category. For example, if my site was about rental cars for hire in Sydney, Australia, I would need to submit it to regional Yahoo category: http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/Countries/Australia/States_and_Territories/ New_South_Wales/Cities_and_Regions/Sydney/Business_and_Shopping/ Shopping_and_Services/Automotive/Rentals/
and not general Yahoo rental car category:
http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Shopping_and_Services/Automotive/ Rentals/
I find it useful to submit a slightly different description of my client’s sites for each directory submission. That way, I can gauge which descriptions are more effective in terms of encouraging people to click and also which directories are providing my clients with most traffic. Many directories feed their database results to other engines and directories, so if I have a description unique to each directory and I see that description pop up on other search sites, I know it is result of that original directory submission and immediately recognize value of that original submission.
Remember that directory editors don’t care about your site’s ranking in their search results. If they are reviewing a site submission that contains an obviously keyword stuffed title and description, they are unlikely to find it appealing or beneficial for inclusion in their database! Always make sure your submission details are relevant, interesting and accurate. Try to highlight your site’s benefits for visitor and unique content that makes it stand out from others in same category. If your site sounds just like a cookie-cutter version of others of same topic, there is no incentive for editor to include it.
Submitting to Yahoo! Directory
There are a couple of sites where you want to take extreme care and do advance research when submitting your site. One of these is Yahoo! Directory. The way you submit your site to Yahoo! can make or break your site’s ultimate ranking in Directory and if you’re not careful, could also cost you USD 299 for nothing.
With Yahoo!’s huge market share and popularity worldwide, I believe it’s vital that your site is listed in Yahoo!’s Directory. The best way to get listed quickly is by paying fee for Express Submission. Yahoo! Express is an expedited fee-based site suggestion service for web sites submitted to Yahoo! directory. A member of Yahoo!'s editorial staff will look at your site, consider your suggestion and respond to you within 7 business days.
