Directory submission is a basic web promotion technique that’s easy and quick. Submitting your site to online directories can help create that baseline amount of traffic to your site.

The internet has seen an growing number of directories, both free and paid. With hundreds and thousands of directories, which ones should you submit to? Which ones should you avoid? This article hopes to clear up these questions and provide more information on each directory.

General rules about directory submissions

• Take time to browse the directory to find the most appropriate category to submit your site to.
• In general, submit the top-level domain instead of sub-pages, eg http://www.zann-marketing.com/ instead of http://www.zann-marketing.com/portfolio.html. The only exception is if you have a separate section on your web site quite unique, eg http://www.zann-marketing.com/developer/ .
• Use a short title that accurately reflects the name of your site.
• Use a short, descriptive description and avoid marketing and hype-laden language. Focus on the features of the site, what makes it unique and different from all others.
• Keep a record of the directories you have submitted to and include all details; URL, title, description, date of submission, category, email address and name.

Directories to avoid

Avoid free directories that guarantee a listing. If there is no human review or editing process, the sites that get submitted are generally of lesser value, some are down right spam.

Directories to submit to

The following directories have been proven to provide traffic to your web site.

Open Directory Project

URL: http://dmoz.org/

Information:

• Free directory
• Human edited
• Only lists quality sites
• Syndicated by many other directories including Google Directory
• Can take up to 2 years (some times more) to get listed

Tips: This is one directory where you really only submit your web site once then forget about it for months. Check back every 3 months to see if you’re listed, but DO NOT submit again! It’s possible to take over 2 years to get your site listed.

Yahoo! Directory

URL: http://dir.yahoo.com/

Information:

• Two options for submission: paid and free
• Paid submission requires an annual fee
• Free submission allows re-submission
• Human edited

Tips: If you have the time and patience, you can use the free submission and re-submit ever 2 to 3 weeks. This can get tedious quickly, so it’s probably more worth your time to go through the paid submission. Paid submission gets your site reviewed in a shorter period of time, but it doesn’t guarantee a listing.

Joeant

URL: http://www.joeant.com/

Information:

• Paid directory - one time, non-refundable fee
• Payment does not guarantee inclusion
• Human edited

Skaffe

URL: http://www.skaffe.com/

Information:

• Paid submission - one time, non-refundable fee
• Payment does not guarantee inclusion
• Alternate option of becoming an editor to submit your site
• Human edited

Illumirate

URL: http://www.illumirate.com/

Information:

• Free submission
• Human edited

Sootle Web Directory

URL: http://directory.sootle.com/

Information:

• Human edited
• Two options for submission: free and paid
• Free submission requires a reciprocal link
• Paid submission is a one time, refundable fee (if your site isn’t listed)

Zeal

Looksmart, the parent company of Zeal.com, has decided to close the directory as of 28 March 2006.

URL: http://zeal.com/

Information:

• Human edited
• Two options for submission: free and paid
• Free submissions only be for non-commercial categories
• Paid submission for commercial categories