Free online directories are a fast and easy way to get people to come and visit your website. However, it's not as simple as getting links to your website splattered all over the internet. Some people think that getting their links shotgunned far and wide guarantee success, even to the point of using viral marketing programs - tailored viruses which replicate banners and links for a certain site and spread them whenever and wherever possible. This approach leads to disaster. When using directories, there are a few simple tips you should remember to keep your presence known without getting a negative rep. Volume means coverage, not spamming! - this is one mistake a lot of people make - usually the lazy or unskilled ones who also happen to possess no people skills or planning ability. one marketing tactic is to get your presence spead as wide as you can - this is true. However, some people tend to take the spamming approach, and believe me, there are very few things on the internet as annoying as a spammer. When placing your website links on a directory, place one discreet entry per directory you can get access to. I repeat, ONE. Some people think that slapping ten or more different links to various pages on their site into one directory will get a lot of people. It just makes people irritated. If this is what you're doing, stop being a lazy underachiever and find a lot of DIFFERENT directories and get a link into each one. ONE link apiece. Yes, I'm repeating myself. Spammers annoy me. Selective posting is the key - it's not just about getting your links into every directory you can get your hands on either. Different directories have different topics and fields of specialty. Prioritize getting your website's links into the directories which are all VERY (not vaguely!) related to the topics you host. There's no use placing a link to a golf website onto an extreme sports related link directory. I'd have to assume there are SOME extreme sports fans who play golf, but what are the odds of that? Unless you happen to be talking about a new sport involving kicking people with golf shoes on, and aiming for people's heads with the ball instead of into a puny hole in the ground. That might work... Know the directory rankings and their criteria - different directories work different ways. Most will simply list their links alphabetically, and by criteria. The really good ones will have ranking systems though, and these will be through several different ways. Some have forums and rely on user feedback. Others have a team of website reviewers and critics who look at each entry in their directories and rate them. Still others will base it on the number of hits and pageviews the website has received. Whatever the case, study the criteria used to rate the different links in the directories, and do what you can so improve your rankings. The higher you are up a list, the better the odds people will notice you. These three simple tips should allow you to improve your reputation and get more notice for your site on the internet. Granted, they're not as easy as they sound - they take hard work, effort, and alertness to keep up with the latest trends and changes in the directories. Which is why the lazy people usually just resort to spamming and automated programs... and usually get blacklisted from various directories as a result. |