Getting your site an optimum listing in
Open Directory (http://www.dmoz.org) is vitally important as far as search engine positioning is concerned as Google gives a lot of importance to sites being listed in Open Directory.In this article, we focus on how you can get your site an optimum listing in Open Directory. Even if your site is already listed in Open Directory, you should read this article to find out how you can get multiple listings in Open Directory.
Before you submit your site, go through your entire site and ensure that there are no missing graphics, no links leading to empty or non-existent pages and no "Under construction" symbols. Also, check for typos and grammatical errors. Furthermore, your site must provide good content. If your site simply contains links to various affiliate programs, you will find it difficult to get through. The Open Directory does not mind sites containing links to affiliate programs, as long as you provide proper content.
You now need to select two most important keywords for your site based on their popularity. If you don't yet know keywords which are applicable for your site, have a look at my article on "Choosing correct keywords for your site", available at http://www.1stSearchRanking.com/t.cgi?4901&keywords.htm In this article, I have mentioned that while selecting keywords for your site, you should look at both popularity of keywords as well as their competitiveness. However, for purpose of this article, don't worry about competitiveness - select keywords only on basis of popularity.
We now discuss how you should write Title and Description of your site's listing in Open Directory. You don't really have much choice regarding Title as Open Directory insists that Title be official name of your site. There is no way around it.
When you write description, your aim should be to make Open Directory editor's job as easy as possible. You should not give editor feeling that he/she needs to edit your description in any way. The moment an editor starts to edit your description, you risk having your keywords removed from your description.
Your description should be a single sentence which conveys what your site is all about and contains two keywords you are targeting as close as possible to beginning of description. However, your description should not just be a list of keywords - description that you use should be a proper sentence and should be grammatically correct.
Broadly, here are rules that you should remember when forming description:
i) Make sure that description can tell a visitor what your site is all about. Things like "Have a look at our site" or "Welcome to my site" does not tell a visitor what your site does.
ii) Avoid hype of any sort. Avoid using ALL CAPS or exclamation marks. Phrases like "The best web site dealing with widgets!!" or "Offers BEST QUALITY, CHEAPEST WIDGETS you can find anywhere" are inappropriate.
iii) Don't capitalize every word in your description - capitalize only first word. Of course, if some of words in description are proper nouns, then you should capitalize them.
iv) Write description in third person. Don't say "We offer financial planning and credit counseling services", say "Offers financial planning and credit counseling services.".
v) Don't make your description too long - limit yourself to 15 words at most. If you are lucky, you may be able to get accepted with a description longer than 15 words. However, longer description, higher probability that editor will want to edit it.
vi) Check your description for typos and grammatical mistakes.
vii) End your description with a period. If editor has to add period to end of your description, she may also end up editing description, which is not what you want. Your aim is to have editor accept exact description that you had written in order to ensure that your keywords are not removed from description.
Now, we come to how you can select right category for your site. Go to Open Directory, and search for two keywords you have established. Does a particular category come up at top for both keywords? If so, go to that category, and see whether sites present in category are similar to yours. Also see whether that category has a Description and/or a FAQ. Read them and find out whether that category is applicable for your site. If so, this is category you should submit your site to.
If different categories come up at top for two keywords, go through all categories and find out which is most appropriate category among different categories.
For some keywords, you will find that Open Directory does not display any categories. In this case, find out which category most of top sites belong to and submit your site to that category, assuming it is applicable for your site.
Once you have selected right category, click on "add URL" link at top. Type in address of your site in first text box, official name of your site in next text box, description that you have earlier developed in third text box and your email address in fourth text box. Although Open Directory says that including email address is optional, I would recommend that you include it - if, for some reason, your site is not accepted, Open Directory editor may want to tell you why your site has not been accepted.
