January 01, 2005
Web Atlas & Uncover The Net Directory Gossip!
Off late, webmasters and marketers on the ball would off heard about the recent problems certain web directories have had recently. Web Atlas is accused of some wrong doing because Google has removed its pages from its index. Honestly, Google removes pages, drops pages, etc etc, all the time. Hell, the amount of times I have just happened to been looking and, oh no, my entire site shows nothing for any sort of indexing. Funnily enough, a week later, all the pages are back again. It is nothing new people that this occurs, so for all those who have a dig at the owners of these directories for some wrong doing, wake the hell up to yourselves and get a life. You obviously need to find something more appealing to do. Nandini, the owner of the directory is doing nothing more than finding her feet with a new directory, nothing more, nothing less.
The same goes with Uncover The Net (UCN) directory, owned by Shawn Walters. People are scrutizing his directory for suddenly popping up so high (#41) on Google for a new directory. How about, the man has invested so much money in his business to market it correctly, it should be as high as it is. Have a look around the webmaster neighbourhood, and you will see web atlas / UCN on pages everywhere. Why? Because the owners of these directories are conducting online marketing, no different from everyone else. The only difference is, is that people who can't afford or can't achieve such standings, are jealous.
There where some minor problems with both directories having excessive pages indexed and pages indexed that should not be, which have been rectified as far as I know with some simple robot inclusions. I think people need to get something new to talk about, or possibly they are just board because nobody likes them and doesn't want to spend Christmas with them! Let me just say for the record, that Nandini nor Shawn have done any wrong doing, nor anything that was purposely malicious or devious. With the amount of money invested in both directories, I don't think neither wish to lose that investment by placing it under undue risk. Jealousy is the main offender here I believe, nothing more.
If anyone wishes to take me up on a debate in regard to this matter, then please do respond and I will take it from there with you.
Posted by Anthony at 02:13 PM | Comments (5)
December 13, 2004
A Directory Influence
An amazing trend of late is the new introduction of many, many directories. Why? Well the obvious reason, is that the search engine optimization forums have made it quite well known to get your site submitted into directories, thus this just opened up an avenue for one time bandits, scammers and spammers to get a quick fix directory up, charge some small bucks for a one time listing, and get the cash whilst the property is hot. Its quite ironic really, in that the SEO community started such a craze, they then complain about that craze, and then will no doubt influence the end of the craze. Funny ha?
So, do you need to be listed in them? Unfortunately, yes you do. But which one's? Well, for starters, such directories that run static URL's ensure they can be listed by all search engines, and not just a few major one's. Ensure the link placed is static and not a rollover redirect or such. Ensure the directory contains quality listings, and not just everything and anything that gets submitted. Commonsense really plays a productive role in directory submissions.
I created a site specially for this recently, Directorylist.org, where it contains nothing but directories. Even that list does not contain all quality directories. Why? Well, some I wouldn't know the intent behind some of those directories, others just contain large pages of links, some contain those rollover redirects, etc etc. So why list them? It's not my place to show bias towards a directory. The site was designed to list directories, not pick and choose which one's you should submit to.
What I will say is this, be careful. The directory boom is high, something like the dot com boom back in the 90's, and it went bang. The directory boom will also go bang. It only takes one person to enter as many directory sites into the algorithm as possible from the search engines, to filter them or simply provide no backlink weight from them. This then means that for all those people who paid out thousands to get hundreds of one way links, have just wasted their monies.
Use commonsense in all online marketing. Submit to directories that are going to be around for the long hall. The big one's are a good start, Yahoo, Goguides, Gimpsy, Skaffe, DMOZ, Business.com, BCentral, etc etc. What people don't understand, is that the search engines give priority to sites listed in some of those major directories, as it means an editor (human) has visited that site and ensured it has complied with a set of guidelines. This makes less work for the search engines, thus gives good weight to the links themselves, as they have been reviewed by a human and are listed in those places.
Don't get caught in the directory bubble. Use commonsense and apply it to all your online marketing needs. A link from a related niche site is better than one is a directory. Contact those sites and help each other out by providing homepage or sitewide links. Don't target those sites that are the same, but instead similar or contrasting. A good example would be, if you sell computers, maybe exchange sitewide links or homepage links with a site that sells software; web design and SEO, gifts and wrappings, etc etc etc. Everyone needs something to go with their products or services, or something that could enhance or contrast the product / service.
Think outside the box, and goodluck!
Posted by Anthony at 09:51 PM | Comments (0)
