Submitting Websites to Web Directories

There are millions of websites on the internet, and you want to find new ways for your website to stand out and be found when your customers are looking for a supplier of the products or services you sell. Everyone knows about submitting your website to search engines, and most business owners are familiar with the concept of optimizing your website content so that search engines find your site more often. But one of the other effective ways of getting your website noticed by the vast amount of internet users is to submit your website to a website directory. A website directory is not a search engine, and the right directory can really help you increase your web traffic.

A search engine takes the keywords that a user inputs, and then sets out across the internet to find websites that return results based on those keywords. If your website is optimized to that particular keyword, then the search engine will list you high on the search results. A website directory is a listing of websites that is categorized and broken down so the user can browse through websites based on what they are looking for. If a user needs to find websites that deal with video games, then they would click on the video game category in a web directory and browse through the available links. A website directory consists only of websites that have been submitted to the directory, they do not search the internet and randomly add websites.

Just like anything else in the business world, there are pros and cons to being listed in a website directory. Some directories only deal with certain industries, and others only cover certain geographical regions. The success you will find with a website directory is dependant on what your plan is when you submit to that directory.

Some directories allow free submissions and others will offer a one time fee for submission. Most directories offer premium services where your website can be featured more prominently in a particular category, and many directories allow a website to be included in more than one category. Regardless of their inclusion policies, the one thing that binds all website directories is that you must be approved before you are listed. You follow the application process to include your website in a directory, and then the directory owners review your application and your website to determine if they want to include your website in their directory. It is not unusual to be rejected by a website directory.

Most website directories require that you post a link to their directory in a prominent place on your website in order to be included in the directory. This may seem intrusive on the part of the directory, but the pros on this one far outweigh the cons. If everyone is required to post the directory link, then all of that web traffic sees the link and some will use it. Some that use it will require the services of a website like yours and they will find you in that directory. These sorts of directory link swaps do not improve your statistics on the major search engines, but they can be great ways to increase your web traffic and attract more potential customers.

There are a few ways that you can improve your standing in a web directory. Some web directories allow you to purchase premium placement on their listings that can help to guarantee you improved exposure. Other web directories have a bidding system where the various website owners pledge bids to see who will be placed the highest on the directory listing. The more popular web directories can get quite expensive with their premium placement programs, but the reality is that most users do not go much past the first few pages of a listing so if you want exposure you will need to pay for it.

There are arguments for and against web directories. The biggest con with a web directory is that none of the activity that your website experiences from a directory affects your website's standing in the search engine results. The cost of being listed high in a directory may be worth it to some website owners depending on the directory, but that cost always needs to be weighed against the cost of optimizing your website content for better results on the major search engines.