SMALL
PROFESSIONAL TOPIC-SPECIFIC DIRECTORIES
VS.
BIG SEARCH ENGINES AND DIRECTORIES
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 http://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 http://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.
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