Web Directory Submissions part 2

Although there are thousands and thousands of directories on the web, we will categorize them into two primary groups.

These two type we will call;  Regular directories and Advertising directories

The regular directories are the largest group of directories and their content can be general in nature (all categories), or specific one category (niche directories). Their content may be websites listings only or listings of articles and/or blogs.  These directories may offer free submissions or may require a fee to submit your website to these directories.   As previously mentioned there are thousand and thousand of these directories.  A few things that most of them have in common are:

1. You probably have not heard of them and you never will, nor will you or any one you know ever use them to conduct a search.
2. If you are doing a specific search for a product or service on Google or Yahoo chances are they will not come up.
3. These directories primarily will not drive actual traffic to your website.

We will address why you should be concerned about these directories later in this article.

The second major type is what we call advertising directory (sites)

These are directories that come up high within the search results of the major search engines for a specific search term(s).  These advertising directories (sites) usually have a slightly more professional unique appearance since they are usually individually and or professionally designed for a specific market and not a template design as most general directories are. Additionally their structure is usually designed to allow users to find what they are looking for quickly.  How they work is quite simple.

Lets us say that you are looking for a lawyer in New Jersey, you would probably go to google or yahoo and type in new jersey lawyers  (happens to be the most popular search term that people use in this case) What comes up on the first page consistently is the following

New Jersey Lawyers Directory – Find a New Jersey Lawyer in NJ …

New Jersey Lawyers Directory. Lists of New Jersey Lawyers by New Jersey Town, NJ County, Lawyer Practice, Lawyer Name. Find New Jersey Lawyers in New …
www.new-jersey-lawyers.com/

A individual will see this listing and click on the link bringing them to http://new-jersey-lawyers.com once there, they can either search for the type of lawyer they need by type of law or by location.

The user then finds a list of lawyers who do exactly what they need within a certain area.  And of course the person can click on the link into the lawyers website to make a buying decision.  Simple and focus results for the user and a sale for the business that is advertising on that directory.  What could be better than that?  Thusly these types of Directories (advertising sites) deliver focused search result that the user is actually looking for they can actually bring in not only traffic to their clients websites (those business that are advertising on the directory), but also sales to the advertising business owner.

Another example of an advertising directory would be njlawfirms.net using the same parameters of finding a lawyer in New Jersey; a user might use the search term of NJ Law Firms.  In which case the first listing in google is

The New Jersey Law Firms Directory (sm) – New Jersey Lawyers & NJ …

Lawyers in New Jersey. Search New Jersey Lawyers directory lawyers and law in New Jersey.
www.njlawfirms.net

This directory is similar in design concept and how it is used by the public, which Ultimately results in the user finding a lawyer and the business getting a sale.

Another quick note; this particular directory example has numerous advertising options including what is called their statewide listing package which includes listings in all twenty-one (21) new jersey counties and up to nine (9) headings (areas of practice) of your choice for a total of $250.00/year.  That’s 30 listings and 30 back links for $250.00.  That’s only $8.33 per listing.  Compared to other type of online and offline advertising programs that’s cheap.  Bear in mind this directory is number 1 on google for a very popular search term and they want only $250.00/year for their clients to be listed with not only an extensive advertising program, but based on how they have designed their directory they also give you 30 back links!  That’s 30 back links from a number 1 rated site.  That’s fantastic.

Here is another example

Lets continue with our search for a lawyer in New Jersey with the search term of NJ lawyers (another top search term)

The number 3 listing in google is www.newjerseytoplawyersites.com/

New Jersey Lawyer Sites :: NJ’s Lawyer Websites & NJ Legal Resources

New Jersey Lawyer Sites – Features a directory of some of New Jersey’s lawyer websites and legal resources. Find a New Jersey Lawyer by name, location, …
www.newjerseytoplawyersites.com

They also have numerous advertising campaigns, and they also have a statewide listing program for $250.00/year, however their program includes Listings in 9 headings of your choice, and Listings in ALL 21 counties in the state and also Listings under every town within the counties of your choice.  That adds up to a total of 565 listings and yes 565 back links.  That’s $.44  (44 cents) per back link

If you are a lawyer in New Jersey and are looking for a cost effective advertising program check out those three sites listed above as examples.  they are New-Jersey-Lawyers.com, NJLawfirms.net and NJlawyers-NewJerseyLawyers.com

more on Directory submissions on our next post.  in the meantime if you would like to learn more about directory submissions contact Advertising Solutions Inc.

Web Directory Submissions part 1

What are web directories?

In the early days of the web, directories were the main method of finding relevant information. They are essentially a catalog of website links which are sorted by relevant topics. General Topics (headings) would be listed on the home page of the directory and the user would simply click on the most appropriate topic, which would bring up more specific topics. This process would continue until the user drilled down to the lowest most relevant topic (heading) and until they found what they were looking for within that specific directory database of website links. These original directories tended to have relevant information about a specific topic because they were human edited, meaning that a human had to submit their website link to the directory and then another human on the directory side had editorial control of this submission by either denying the submission altogether or approving the submission and the appropriate category. Did you know that even Yahoo originally started out as a directory. Today search engines like Google and Yahoo are the main sources of connecting people to what they are looking for, because of technology advances in the ability to perform searches and bringing up relevant results.

Because of these changes and abilities of the search engines, very few people today would prefer to drill down through categories to find the correct category and what they are looking for versus performing a simple search. Therefore most of these directories have little value in terms of generating direct traffic on its own.

If most of these directories are of little value when it comes to driving direct traffic from the directory to the business website.

Then two questions arise

1. If not many people are using directories any more, should I care about them?
2. Are there any directories that will generate traffic to my website?

The answer to both questions is Yes.

Yes, general directories can help your site in your overall website marketing. However they must be the right type of directory.

And yes, some directories can actually generate a tremendous amount of traffic. However they also must be the right type.

To address what is the right type of directory in both cases above, we must understand that there are different types of directories and we also must understand how they work in today’s market.  More on this topic in our next post.  If you would like to learn more about directory submissions contact Advertising Solutions Inc.