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Small Professional Topic-Specific Directories
By Vad Borziak
©2004 All Rights Reserved
Many people in today's high tech world use the Internet as a tool to find or sell any specific product, service or information. One person can be a webmaster and a consumer at the same time. Let's talk about how your Internet search affects both categories of Internet users: webmasters, who offer services, products or information and consumers, who are just looking for those services, products or information.
90% of Internet users use major search engines and directories for Internet searches. Lets break the topic into two major categories of Internet users - webmasters and users.
WEBMASTERS AND SEARCH ENGINES
The good thing about search engines is that they are big. They have huge traffic. They have big databases with millions of links. If you can come up on top of the search result, then you are a winner. If you cannot, well, it does not matter. I am not going to start on big companies with millions of dollars of marketing budget. I will talk about small businesses that represent 95% of e-commerce today.
The thing that is not so good about search engines is that your position in search results depends on many factors. It is not a secret that it is not easy to get your site listed on top of major search engines. The right keyword is what you gets you there. Note that there is only one or two keywords which place your site high on the list. If a user types this word along with any other word your site may be listed anywhere between 1,000 and 10,000 search results or, what is even worse, you may not even get into the search result at all. Actually, both results do not matter for you anyway, because we all know that the listing after the first 100 positions does not affect your traffic.
In addition to that, we were all witnesses as some search engines dropped off a big portion of their databases in order to clean up a bit of their listings. It did not matter at all whether you site was good or bad. It was just thrown out and lost for Internet users.
Today we mostly hear that search engines and big directories turn toward paid listings. I do not mind them doing so. It's their business and they decide. Does paid listing guarantee you the listing in a big directory? Absolutely not. However, what is guaranteed is that your money is not refundable! That's why many website owners do not list their sites.
On top of it all, it takes months to get listed in search engines and directories nowadays.
INTERNET USERS AND SEARCH ENGINES
All of the above leave you with much less choice in your Internet search. When you type in a keyword and then look at the search result you may find that all sites listed first may not necessary be the best to deal with. If you cannot find many other sites which, for some reason, aren't able to get listed in engines or directories, it's not only bad for those website owners: it's bad for you. You lose a lot because you could probably find a better or cheaper service if you were given a bigger choice. Moreover, you have most likely come across the situation when you had to check many sites which came up with a search result and those sites have absolutely nothing to do with your query. That is because your keyword matched a very wide topic. We all know how much time it takes! Personally, it's a big pain for me to find something specific on the Internet.
DO SEARCH ENGINES WORK FOR YOU?
For the past couple of years I have been submitting to major search engines and directories. I changed meta tags, used other tricks, resubmitted again. It was difficult to do because almost all search engines have been changing their rules constantly. I submitted my site to classifieds sites and free for all pages. Some sort of worked out, but most of it did not work at all.
I saw my site listed on top in some search engines. However, once again, this top listing absolutely depended on one keyword. Who can guarantee that all users will search on that one keyword? Nobody, of course. I spent quite a bit of time promoting in search engines and what I got in return was not worth the time and effort. The traffic produced by search engines was very low. Finally, I realized that I made a very common mistake that almost all webmasters make. They spend too much time on search engine promotion. I am not saying they shouldn't, but I am saying it should not be a major priority.
WHERE DOES THE MAJOR TRAFFIC COME FROM?
Three years ago I was involved in one of the biggest industries: Internet dating business. I have been running an international introduction agency at www.abat.com . The main activity of my agency is to introduce Eastern European women to men from all over the world. As you can figure out, my target audience is very tight , but it's widely spread throughout the world. It's a so-called "niche market". After doing search engines I registered my site in some smaller specialized directories which focus specifically on the dating industry. The result of this type of promotion was absolutely amazing! The traffic from those dating directories became the major source for my business. Some of the smaller directories produced about 90% of all traffic to my site. For example, the dating directory www.bestcupid.com alone produces so much traffic that all the "big guys" (you name it) together cannot even come close. Do I have to worry about search engines ? I do, but not much.
HOW DO SPECIAL DIRECTORIES BENEFIT YOU?
-You get the most targeted traffic you can dream of. It is very important that you list your site in the correct directories. For example, if you are offering a product for single men you should list your site in the dating directories . If you list your site in any other directories which are not related to your subject, you may not be listed at all, or even if you get a listing it will not do you any good since it is not your targeted niche.
-You get your listing fast and it's free. Most directories will list your site for free. If a directory asks for a link back to the directory, go for it. It's worth it and it does not cost you anything. In addition, you can be listed in the directory very fast: it may take 1-7 days.
-The more directories have your link, the higher ranking you have in search engines. According to the latest big search engines' policies the sites which have many links from other related sites are ranked higher in search results. Therefore, you kill two birds with one stone.
- By listing your site in as many directories as possible you are doing yourself a big favor in the recognition and credibility of your brand name. These two are may be much more important than anything else. People buy names! You may have the best product, but no name recognition or credibility means that people will buy from a competitor with a well known name even though his product may not be as good as yours.
GET THE MOST FROM THE DIRECTORY
As you can understand, any special directory lists many sites offering the same or similar product, service or information as you. Your main task is to get listed on the best and most visible spots in the directory. You may want to pay some money to the directory owner for placing your banner on the highest visible spot in the category your site belongs to. You can also pay some money for placing your link with your site description in the first positions and possibly highlighting it. My experience shows that text links pull more traffic than a banner ad and it's cheaper. Advertising rates in special directories are significantly cheaper than in search engines and you pay for extremely targeted traffic. Remember that no matter where you are listed you are not alone. Your competitors are always around you. Get them behind! Your site position is crucial if the list in the directory is long. The money you spend on good placement will pay itself back many times.
WHERE DO YOU FIND SPECIAL DIRECTORIES?
The first proven way is to check you competitors' sites. On the main page (or "link" page) you can always find buttons, logos or banners pointing to the directories where your competitor is listed.
The second way, and maybe one of the best (which I personally use), is if you can find the directory which lists those smaller topic-specific directories, so-called directory of directories. I have found only one so far, http://allwebdirectories.com It's not a huge directory but you can find many directories listed there on different subjects. I think it's very useful for both promoting your site and your special Internet searching. For example, if you are looking for a hosting service, there are nearly a dozen directories at allwebdirectories.com where you can find a good hosting service within a few minutes.
The third and most difficult way (see about search engines above) is to search the Internet using search engines. Just type in several keywords related to your topic and see if you can find the directory you need.
SEARCH FOR THOSE DIRECTORIES AND LIST YOUR SITE TODAY!
Placement in the search engines is important enough to not be ignored, but the quality and interest of the person(s) visiting to your site is significantly higher when they are coming from a special categorized directory. Make your website work for you harder by choosing the right directory(s) and the correct category in that directory. Let today be the beginning of drawing new traffic to your website.
VAD BORZIAK
is an owner of Angelica Introduction, an international introduction agency and co-founder of FREE advertising Club located at http://www.abat.com. Please send comments about this article to 0012@usa.net This article may be freely distributed at no cost without any changes. Copyright @ Vad Borziak
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