Web Directories

Here’s my list of quality web directories. Quality is a matter of opinion so please understand that this list is based on my personal opinion. The criteria I look at when adding a directory to this list are: domain name, uniqueness of content and design, backlink profile, PR, age and approval procedure.
General Directories:

• Alive Directory
• BOTW
• Business.com
• DirJournal
• CannyLink
• DMOZ
• Elib
• Ezilon
• Family Friendly Sites
• Gimpsy
• Go Guides
• Hot vs Not
• JoeAnt
• Web World Index
• Yahoo Directory
• Submit Site
• Face an Face

Local Business Directories:

• Biz Journals
• City Search
• Dex Knows
• Hot Frog
• Insider Pages
• Kudzu
• Local.com
• Manta
• Merchant Circle
• Think Local
• Yellow Pages
• Yelp

Google Search Favors Big Brands over Small Businesses

Kick a man while he’s down! That’s kind of how small businesses feel when it comes to search engine rankings.
If you use Google search as often as I do, you’ll notice that most of the top results are represented by big brand websites. Well, it’s not a fluke that those big brands are almost always in the top 10 for just about any search you run. There’s a reason why big brands are dominating the search results, but it’s not because Google has anything against small businesses.
If you must blame something, then it is Google’s algorithm that you must blame. The algorithm is the program that automatically calculates the search results for every query. Google says that there are over 200 different factors that determine how they rank websites. Hundreds of algorithmic updates occur every year, but once in a while they release a major update which changes the SEO landscape.
There are some reasons why big brands are able to influence the algorithm in their favor:

• Big brands naturally have stronger backlink profiles.
• Big brands usually have aged websites.
• Big brands usually have strong domain names.
• Big brands have the resources to create top-notch content in high volumes.
• Big brands have the money to invest in full-on SEO campaigns.

While the big brands have plenty of positives to help them rank, there are some negatives for small businesses which make it more challenging for them to be found at the top of the search results:

• Google Sandbox effect (part of algorithm).
• Vince algorithm update in 2009 (part of algorithm).
• Lack of SEO / marketing power.
• Lack of resources to regularly add quality content.

As you can see, there are some big hurdles for small businesses to overcome before they can be found and start competing for a piece of the pie. No one said it was fair, but it’s a necessary system for rewarding strong/popular sites, while filtering out low quality/spammy sites.
This is just another reason why small businesses need to invest in SEO.

Do Follow Article Directory:  Article Directory

Domain Names: Why Your Business Needs One

When most people think about domain names, they think about the early days of AOL, old blogging sites like Geocities, and major brands like Google or Wikipedia. All of these are creations of the modern day Internet, but the history of domain names goes back much further.
Below is a bit of history on domain names, where domain names are at the current time, as well as why every business should register and own their own domain.
History
Domains were first used during the ARAPNET era. ARAPNET, short for Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, was an early predecessor to the modern Internet.
On this network, computers were assigned host names and numerical addresses. Over time, the network grew large enough that the Domain Name System was introduced to maintain an organized registry.
While ARAPNET was crude and underdeveloped by today’s standards, it set the groundwork for how the Internet would work, and how domains would be assigned in the future.
The Current State of Domains
Today, domains are overseen by the Internet Corporation For Assigned Names And Numbers, or ICANN. It was created in 1998 to coordinate and manage the Internet’s IP addresses as well as the current Domain Name System.
ICANN is charged with promoting competition on the Internet, and authorizes domain name registrars, like GoDaddy, Domain in Domain to sell domain names to their customers. There are currently over 19 million domain names registered.
Domains are available in a number of extensions with varying price points per domain name. The most common are .com, .net and .org. Country specific domain name extensions have been introduced lately. Many businesses have incorporated their business name with their extension out of convenience as well as for branding purposes.
Why Every Business Should Register a Domain Name
In this day and age, there is no reason for a business not to own a domain name. This should be the bare minimum. While some businesses may feel that domain ownership holds no benefit for them, they are almost always mistaken.
Domain ownership accomplishes two important tasks:

• Owning a domain for your company allows you to head off domain squatters and others who may wish to harm your reputation.
• When you take ownership of a domain representing your business, you can reach new clients that may not have found your business through offline, traditional means.

The first point may not be a major concern to most businesses. Small businesses and those who operate in local markets will most likely never have the same reputation management problems that larger businesses face.
The second point should of a concern to every business owner. Even if you operate exclusively in the offline world, a professional looking website still allows for an online “face” to be put on your business.
This allows those who may be researching your business to see what your business is about. The people who may benefit from this information include potential clients, members of the press and even investors.
Considering the relatively low cost for set up and maintenance, it makes little sense to not register a domain name and put up a nice looking website with basic company information and contact details.

Conclusion
The offline and digital worlds are merging at a rate faster than ever. While domain names were once an organizational necessity, they are now a small part of the cost of doing business.

Why Every Business Needs SEO?

I may be a bit biased on this topic because I’ve been doing SEO for over 12 years and I know it works. But seriously, there is no reason why a business should not be implementing SEO as part of their overall marketing strategy.
Years ago, if you had a website, you would’ve been called a high-tech business. Nowadays, most businesses have gone online, or at least have thought about it. But, having a website doesn’t mean you set it and forget it. You need to keep working on it and promoting it. There are different ways to get online traffic, but SEO should be your main source.
Let’s examine the pros and cons of SEO:
Pros:

• Can save you a lot of money in the long-run.
• Targeted traffic.
• Higher traffic volume vs other sources.
• Higher conversion rate vs other sources.

Cons:

• Takes time to learn and do right.
• Results come gradually.
• Could be costly. The price of SEO services vary greatly depending on who you hire.

As you can see, there are more upsides than down.
I think most businesses can benefit from SEO, whether or not you’re in a competitive industry. The rule of thumb is the more competitive an industry is, the tougher it is to rank for keywords within that industry. Just because it’s tough, doesn’t mean you should not bother. If you want to succeed, accept the challenge head on and go for it.
Let me give you an example of what is possible. Seven years ago, I developed a credit card comparison site from scratch. Nearly every day, I added new content and did some link building. Within 1 ½ years, my site was ranking on the first page of Google for some very competitive keywords at the national level. My site was ranking for high-volume keywords like “credit cards,” “credit card,” “compare credit cards,” and many more. If you don’t know how difficult that is, let me tell you, it really doesn’t get any tougher than that.
Ranking a website on the national level is much harder than ranking a website at the local level. This is common sense. At the national level, you’re naturally going to have more competition because you’re targeting a broader audience. At the local level, you have less competition to face, so SEO generally becomes a lot easier.
Click here for a free Submit Site
Local Business SEO
More than ever before, local businesses are flocking to the Internet to attract more customers. They have realized the power of Google and local business listings. You need to do the same.
So many small business owners are skeptical about the power of Google. They wonder how a search engine could bring them local business. If you haven’t noticed these last few years, Google has drastically improved their local search results. This means that local businesses are receiving highly targeted traffic from Google for free – that is, if you have a website or business listing optimized for a specific geo-area.
What can free, targeted traffic do for your business?

Free Bookmarking: Face an Face 

Link Exchanges Effective for SEO in 2013?

Preface: Back in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, link exchanges were one of the most popular ways to build links to your site. Everyone was doing it and nearly every website had a dedicated page strictly for reciprocal links. It was not only easy to do, but the success rate was pretty high because it was mutually beneficial for both parties.
Today, link exchanges are not nearly as effective as they once used to be. Search engines have become smarter and shady linking schemes have become detectable. By participating in link exchange schemes, you bear the risk of getting penalized or even banned by the search engines.
How Does Google Feel about Link Exchanges?
According to Google, they oppose “Excessive link exchanging.” (Source) The keyword there is “excessive.” Don’t over do it!
What Does Matt Cutts Say about Link Exchanges?

Use your gut. Trading links is natural and it’s natural to have reciprocal links. At some level, natural reciprocal links happen, but if you do it way too often, it looks artificial. My advice is to go with your gut and if you’re worried, you can use nofollow. 

My Experience with Link Exchanges
Back in the days, I did a whole lot of link exchanges and they did wonders for my search engine rankings. Today however, I don’t even think about it. It’s not that I don’t think it works. It’s more that other people are not doing it. Plus nowadays, most people don’t even respond to link exchange proposals anymore. They just delete the email or mark it as spam.
Here are some things to think about when doing link exchanges:

• Don’t exchange links with non-relevant websites.
• Be selective with who you exchange links with.
• Ask yourself – “is this a resource that I would want to share with my visitors?”
• Link exchanges should not be your only method of building links.

Conclusion
I believe link exchanges are still effective if done right and conservatively. If you focus on quality and relevancy, you should not have any issues. Remember to diversify your backlink profile and do it naturally.

Best do follow web directory: Submit Site

Web Directories Worth Submitting to Anymore?

Preface: Prior to 2005, directories were one of the easiest and most effective ways to build links for SEO. However, this led to a massive problem in the SEO industry where people were creating directories solely for the purpose of selling links. At the same time, SEOs were buying all kinds of directory links to boost their search engine rankings. This SEO method worked up until the Google Jagger update of 2005. Jagger was introduced to fight against the widespread practice of search engine ranking manipulation, and it killed much of the web directory industry.
So, now the question – should you submit your site to directories? If you want the short answer, sorry there is none. For the long version, I’ll explain why directories can still be an effective way to promote your site.
First and foremost, directory links can still pass link juice.
SEO has many gray areas, so a blanket statement that says all directories are no good is inaccurate. Directories, like any other site, serves its purpose on the Internet. When developed with the right intentions, a directory can be a very useful tool for users. Isn’t that what Google wants from site developers? Yes, Google wants us to provide useful information and tools for users. If we’re able to deliver that, then we’ve done our job. Google isn’t stupid, and they’re not out to kill an industry. But, Google will take measures to weed out spam, low quality sites, and try to fix the problem of search engine ranking manipulation.
Secondly, directories can also be a source of traffic.
Some of the popular directories receive a good amount of organic traffic every day. If you can get traffic and also reap the benefits of SEO, why not? You’d be killing 2 birds with one stone.
When it comes to directories, it’s all about quality.
Submitting to low quality directories, will bring you little to no results. On the other hand, submitting to high quality directories, may help you quite a bit. For this reason, you need to understand the concept of what makes a directory, a quality directory.

Best Do follow Directory: Submit Site

What is directory listing?

What is directory listing?

There are those embarassing moments in life when you feel naked when someone sees at you something they aren’t suppose to see. The same happens with a site, when someone gets to a directory where there is no “index.php” or “index.html”. When those files are missing, the site shows the visitor the directory listing with all the files that are inside it.
For example, if we type “www.somesite.com/images” in the browser, if the settings are not right, the browser will show the listing of the files that can be found in that directory. For security reasons, it’s better not to show the files inside the directory of the web server.
Most of the web servers are configured in such a way that they don’t show the listing of the directory. And yet, there are web servers that are not configured that way.

How can I prevent directory listing?

There is a simple way to prevent directory listing. Just put the any one of following code (after which make sure you press an Enter, the file must end with an empty line) into the .htaccess file.

Options -Indexes

or

IndexIgnore *

If you place the .htaccess file in the root folder you will prevent the directory listing aswell the directory listings of the sub-folders.

What if I want to prevent the listing of certain extensions?

Let’s suppose that you don’t want to list “.jpg , .gif and .zip” and you don’t care about listing other files of that directory then you can out the following code inside .htaccess.
You will have to write:

IndexIgnore *.gif *.jpg *.zip

If your server is setup with preventing directory listing then you can add the following code in the .htaccess file to allow the directory listing.

Options +Indexes 

Best Article Directory and Link Directory: Submit Site

Web Directory For Submitting Your Business

A business directory is actually a traditional marketplace device employed by an incredible number of corporations in order to become more available for their customers. End users with regard to their part treasure business directories for the reason that record records all companies in a like category alongside one another, making it simple to find the type of organization that the shopper desires. Even so, if you don’t make use of your detailing suitably in a cost-free directory, you will not get the form of direct exposure obtainable with a business directory. The most beneficial listing is one which will get hold of your customers’ consideration, and make sure they are concerned about your goods and/or expert services. Many firms are not aware that there is a secret guiding producing a successful posting. Whether or not you use a cost-free directory or perhaps a paid one, being sure that your listing sticks out from the rest is the finest to help boost your bottom line.
An important thing to remember about producing a good business directory listing is to be sure that you pick the right free directory. Whilst you can still go with a standard business directory where you can list your enterprise, it is best to decide on a directory which includes a category for the particular field of your enterprise. When consumers are looking to find a specified product or service, they will likely enter some targeted words to find what they desire. If you can to get your listing straight into the appropriate classification, you are going to enjoy a more significant possibility of getting visitors to notice. Let’s say you sell camping tents. Then you need to record your organization in a business directory beneath camping. Listing your tents under simply a all round heading can get you numerous of hits, but not specifically belonging to the consumers that you need to aim for.
Your specific record must stick out from others. The ultimate way to accomplish that is to apply graphics, your brand visuals, a mantra and even photos of your apparatus, manufacturing unit, merchandise or anything else that can underscore your enterprise best. Your corporation’s logo design should really be in the listing, as well as all of your contact info. The other essential thing to list is all of the items and/or professional services that your particular business delivers. It’s the only way that customers can ascertain whether you might have what they need. Make it as extensive as possible. Just keep in mind that it must be creatively arousing and minimalist. A disorganized detailing will turn consumers away.
Knowing how to produce an effective itemizing is one thing which will be discovered through trial and error. Should you create a listing and you don’t get any visitors then it should be time to change things up and try out something totally new. All the same, bear in mind a wonderful listing in a business directory with out traffic will get you no where. This means that in addition to the correct listing you should be certain that the directory you end up picking has high volume or else, you might as well not worry about a listing in any respect.

Best Do follow Web Directory For Submitting Your Business: Submit Site

Web Directory For Registering Your Corporation

A business directory is really a common business tool used by millions of corporations in order to become more available to their consumers. Potential customers for their part value business directories since the listing records all businesses in a like category collectively, which makes it easy to find the type of company that the customer wants. Having said that, if you don’t use your listing correctly in a totally free website directory, you simply will not obtain the variety of publicity that can be found by using a business directory. The top listing is one which will grab your customers’ consideration, and cause them to become curious about your merchandise and/or professional services. Almost all businesses are unaware that there is a strategy driving creating a highly effective listing. No matter whether you use a free of charge directory or even a paid one, making sure that your posting shines from the rest is the best way to help supercharge your profitability.
One thing to remember about building a good business directory listing is to ensure that you pick the right free directory. While you can always go with a basic business directory where you can list your enterprise, it is advisable to choose a directory that features a category for the distinct sector of your organization. When people are trying to locate a specified product or service, they’re going to enter some specific words to uncover what they need. If you are able to get your posting in the proper category, then you’ll enjoy a better possibility of getting individuals to see it. Let’s say you sell tents. Then you need to list your organization in a business directory underneath camping. Listing your tents under only a overall heading can get you a lot of visits, but not essentially belonging to the consumers that you would like to target.
Your actual posting should stick out from everything else. The easiest way to accomplish that is to utilize trademarks, your brand visuals, a mantra and even photos of your apparatus, manufacturing plant, merchandise or everything else which will reflect your organization best. Your firm’s emblem should definitely be in the listing, as well as all of your contact info. The other vital aspect to list is all of the products and/or services that your particular enterprise delivers. It is the only way that buyers will know whether you have got what they desire. Insure that it is as complete as you can. Just bear in mind that it needs to be creatively inspiring and uncluttered. A disorganized listing will turn people away.
Knowing how to produce a good itemizing is one thing that will be learned via experimentation. In case you build a posting and you don’t get any visits then it is time to change things up and check new things. However, keep in mind an amazing record in a business directory with no traffic can get you no where. This means that in addition to the appropriate listing you should make certain that the directory you ultimately choose has high amount or else, you might as well not utilize a listing in any way.

Submit Site is a Best Web Directory: Submit Site

Submit Your Site For Free

Submit Your Site For Free

The first step to getting your site online and to get better rankings in Google is to submit your URL to search engines. An example of an URL is www.yoursite.com. Eventually the search engines will find your site but this will help expedite the process.
Once you submit your URL, it could take several days, weeks, or months for the search engines to index your page(s). Results may vary so don’t write this in stone. Factors such as other websites pointing to your site can affect this time as well.

Submit your URL to Google:

1. Go to the following link: http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl
2. Type in your URL, example: http://www.yoursite.com
3. Enter comments about your site. This is optional. Usually I enter the genre of the site and a few keywords. Example: Website design in Hollister, CA.
4. Enter the captcha text shown in the box
5. Select “Add URL”

Submit your URL to Bing:

1. Go to the following link: http://www.bing.com/docs/submit.aspx
2. Enter the captcha text shown in the box
3. Type in your URL, example: http://www.yoursite.com
4. Select “Submit URL”

Submit your URL to Yahoo:

**UPDATED NOVEMBER 2012**
1. Go to the following link: http://search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html
2. Click on “Submit Your Site for Free”
3. You will be redirected to Bing. Follow the on-screen instructions for submitting your URL.

Submit your Sitemap to Ask:

**UPDATED AUGUST 2012**
Ask does not have an URL submit feature. Until recently, you could submit your sitemap to them. But Ask.com has now retired this feature and says they will be crawling sites instead. So, the next best thing is to add a directive in your robots.txt file that specifies auto-discovery of the XML sitemap.
Like this:

SITEMAP: http://www.the URL of your sitemap here.xml

The sitemap location should be the full sitemap URL.
That’s it! Once you complete the above steps, just sit back and be patient. It takes time for the search engines to index your pages. If you submit more than once, some search engines may consider this spamming which could result in not indexing your site at all.

Submit your Link to Submit Site:

Submit your website link on Submit Site. Submit Site is a best web directory. You can easily submit Article, Link, Signature etc. Big Web Directory Submit Site.

1. Go to the following link: http://submitsite.asia/links/index.php?mode=submit&cid=site

2. Login in Submit Site

3. Click on “Submit Your Site for Free”

Do Not Use an Automated Submission Program

Using an automated submission program to submit to multiple search engines at once may be considered spam attempts and is frowned upon by search engines such as Google.
Also note that you do not have to add all of your URL addresses for your entire site. For example, you do not need to add http://www.yoursite.com/about.hml and http://www.yoursite.com/contact.hml. Simply enter the home page URL and let the engines do the rest.