How to create a good links directory   by Ramona Iftode

Every webmaster is spending a serious amount of time online in order to promote a new site or even an older one. We are all talking about quality of content and layout and the truth is, for a site traffic is also important. If nobody has got the chance to see your work, then it just doesn’t count. This is why we all try to index our sites in as many search engines and directories as possible. The good news is there are plenty of them to chose from, but are they all good?

In this article I will try to highlight some of the details we should have in mind when creating a web directory or just a small link section in our site. Since we all submit our links to big or specialized directories, I’ll redirect my advice to people who are already running one or have the intention of starting such a project.

I have come to the conclusions I’ll describe after spending some time doing promotion work for my sites and having to get in touch with a variety of directories and search engines. Some of them were a pleasant encounter, but there were also projects that offered me a lot of frustration. After this I came with a set of ideas I also try to apply in a small webmaster directory I own.

1. The way the site/directory looks

In our daily life we have come to the conclusion people tend to respect us more when we are wearing a costume or a nice outfit in general. Unfortunately, although we are sure it’s just a sign of superficiality, people tend to rate our sites just as they do with our person. A nice looking site will always attract people and gain the respect we want to receive for our work. Having a good directory is not a layout creation feat itself, but the collection of links has got to be presented in a pleasant manner.

Some quick tips for a better look for our directory site:
• As in a “normal” site, use a nice color theme and try to put an image or two of good quality, crisp and clear. From the start your directory will remain simple and fast loading, but it will be also nice looking
• Try to make the links change color on mouse hover. It’s a simple CSS trick, but it’s so nice and easy to manage. It immediately gives your visitors a sense of a “dynamic” site
• Make sure all the elements look good and the page is constructed logically and easy to see and read.

As a conclusion, spend some minutes trying to get the best color theme you can come up and take care of the details and afterwards you’ll be ready to work on the content and promotion of the new directory.

2. Have a clear navigation and categories

The best directories are easy to navigate, with clear categories and links. This is what your directory needs to achieve too. Whether it’s a specialized directory or a general one, you have got to make sure people can find ALL they need in there. A good idea would be to visit some similar projects and try to understand how they are constructed and what the category organization is and perhaps why the author has made the directory that way.

It is important to have your own ideas and principles, but this could help you organize your job better and perhaps won’t let you forget some other categories that would be suited for your site.

For a directory site, categories and links are the content and the most important section, this is why this problem has got to be dealt with great care. You should make sure people can find their way through the site. Place the “add site” link on a good spot so that people are able to see it.

3. Submission ways

This is the part you have to think about seriously: do you want to be paid for the indexing or do you provide this service for free? There are some directories that offer only one of the two solutions and some others that have blended them. If I was to give you advice on this I’d say it’s better to keep it free and validate the links as soon as possible. It gives people the sensation that it’s reliable and good. You can make some money by placing ads and perhaps some “sponsored” links.

In the end it’s your decision, but make it clear for the visitors. The problem is you’ll have less sites indexed if you ask for payment, since many people won’t pay for this, and having an empty directory won’t help with the success either. Since there are literally hundreds and thousands of directories online, people might go with the free ones only. I have done the same thing and I cannot complain about the traffic either. Even in Yahoo I have indexed my site for free and it gives me relevant results.

4. Make it simple

This is the most important thing to have in mind when trying to make your visitors add a site. I have prepared a list of some tips for this “make it simple”:

• Don’t make people create an account just to have the site indexed.

Reason: any webmaster knows the SEO work means having the site listed in as many locations as possible. That means having to submit the link (personally it’s better that with auto submitters) and you are working with 400 or more directories and search engines. Now imagine having to create accounts in all of them just to place a link!
Result: people tend to leave to other places where they don’t have to surpass so many obstacles.

• Don’t ask for too many details

As a webmaster myself I just hate the directories that ask me for all information possible: age, location, address, shoe number and so on. Keep it simple, again. To index my link you need the following: the URL (you could do the rest by yourself with the crawler you have on your directory) or some more information: site name, a short description, some keywords (if you really think it’s necessary) and perhaps the category in your site you think my site can go. That’s all.

You don’t need my address, phone number, fax and all the other info some ask. A very complex submission form can have again the result described above: I leave to another place and you lose a link or more.

• Don’t make people have to send an email to submit the site

The greatest mistake of all. Making visitors open the mail client and send the mail. I don’t think 10% would do this .. the percentage could be smaller. Provide people with an online form they can fill in 1 minute the most and then let them go. Everything that’s more complicated than that means they’ll just leave.

I’ll repeat this again: we have to visit many similar projects and unfortunately many of us are too lazy and occupied to go into too much detail. I usually open 10-15 directories in separate tabs and look for 2-3 seconds on them. I look foe fast, easy and free site submission. Everything that’s paid, too complicated and too detailed as information I need to provide goes, just gets closed and forgotten. In this way I can keep up with my schedule and get fast and good results.

5. The indexing itself

We are at the point the submission form has been received and I wait and wait … still nothing. Again .. you need to work this aspect too, if your “clients” have to wait for more than a week. I can understand there are some huge directories that could have such a delay, but we are not all DMOZ. So let’s speed it up a bit.
The solution could be a script that can offer you the listing to be viewed and validated and 3 important buttons: visit (so that you can go directly to see the site), add and delete.
This is how it works for me:
• I log into my admin account into the 2 directories I own once or twice a day.
• I see “new listings”.
• I visit the pages listed, takes me 2 seconds to know if it’s OK or not, “add” link when I’m pleased with it and “delete” if I know the site doesn’t belong to my webmaster resources directory or the Martial Arts one.
It takes me 10 seconds to validate a link. That’s all.
I don’t keep people waiting for days or weeks, usually the site is indexed in a matter of hours. When you cannot cope with the crowd anymore, get 3-4 people to help, give them access to the validation section and you’ll be again fast and reliable.

6. Quality

Whatever you do, seek perfection and quality. Remember these tips, perhaps they will help you. A good looking, very well organized, easy to navigate and use directory will always be successful. That means a lot of traffic, respect from your visitors, some good page impressions and why not, revenue.
This article has been created based solely on my own ideas and feelings towards this. I think some hints are very important although we sometimes forget the basic rules of a good directory.
Best of luck with your project and may you have many links ...