Our system is running on an older engine and we will proceed with an update today where we are not sure if the directory will still function properly after the upgrade. If ever the directory will go down, we will do everything to get it back up and running again.

However, today in the eyes of SEO, directories have lost a lot of value, with so many bad directories emerging from the bunch. Directories these days require a submission fee to a directory that may not pass any link popularity and drive zero traffic. Make sure if you are paying a directory submission fee, you are getting some value out of it..

If you are paying a directory to list your site, or even paying just to put it in the submission queue, you need to make sure you are getting your bang for your buck. With that being said, you need to do a little directory research before you make any type of payment. A quick way to check if it’s worth it is to check the PR (even though it’s not worth much anymore, it’s still a good indicator of authority).

If a directory has hundreds of listings in a specific category, you have to realize that “Link Juice” will be spread to all of those websites in that category, thus, devaluing each new site added to the category. On the other hand, if that directory brings in a lot of traffic to your site, it may as well be worth it to keep it in that directory. These are just a few of the pro’s and con’s you need to consider when submitting to a directory.

Here are a few guidelines to follow when deciding whether or not to submit to a directory:

1. No Traffic – If a directory is not getting any traffic to it, your website, in turn will not get any, making it useless to waste your time/money submitting.
2. No Substance – Even if a directory has a wide list of categories, if there aren’t any links in them, it is the same thing as a website with no content.
3. Not Indexed – If the directory is not getting its pages indexed in Search Engines on a regular basis, they will not find your site, unless they specifically go to the directory, which is rare.
4. Low PageRank – Like I said before, it’s good to be in a category page that has some decent PageRank.

So before you disregard submitting to directories altogether, like the Yicrosoft Directory, you should really weigh in on a few select ones and do your research to try and squeeze as much SEO value as you can from the dying breed of quality directories.

I have not heard of the Thirty Day Challenge, until I found this video on YouTube about directory submissions and visited their website. It is a program that shows you how to make your first $10 online, in 30 days I’m assuming. You can watch all 30 videos if you want, but right now I am going to talk about Day 29, which is Directory Submissions. In the video, they recommend either outsourcing or purchasing directory submission software to help you in your program.

There is a website, addurl.nu, that lists a number of search engine friendly directories to submit to, but submitting to each one manually is very time consuming. So he recommends a program called, Directory Submitter, which is free and can help you speed up your submission process.

Because most free directories (Yicrosoft Directory) are human edited, they take a long to review your website to add to their directory. The video suggests submitting to hundreds of directories at once, and wait for the each directory to drip in. That way, search engines see you getting more and more backlinks, but not all at once, so it looks more natural.

The way the software works is you enter the typical information you would enter when submitting your website to a directory, like name, email, and URL. There is a preloaded list of directory with various PR that you will be able to submit to. You open each directory in the built-in browser and when you get to the page where you enter your information, the software will automatically fill in the fields for you. All you have to do is verify the information and click submit.

Because you still have to go to each directory and submit, it is not automatic, but that can be a good thing. Sometimes automatic directory submission software will not fill in the correct fields and cause you to get rejected from directories. This way you can oversee everything that goes on, but not have to sit there and type in your information each time.

The video also recommends RSS submitter software that will submit your RSS feeds to free RSS directories. You can find that at: http://www.allscoop.com/tools/rss-submit/. I have not tried that software out yet, but may write about it in a later post. You can find the Directory Submitter software at: http://www.directorysubmitter.imwishlist.com/

Final note: you can add individual directories to the pre-loaded list, so you make sure you add the Yicrosoft Directory.

“InFormEnter adds a small, clickable icon next to every input field in a web form, from where you can select the item to be inserted – no typing required. You can configure it to display your frequently used information such as name, email, address…”

1. Install the InFormEnter Firefox plugin.
2. Configure the plugin by left-clicking on the blue arrow and going to “InFormEnter Options …” on the lower right corner of the browser statusbar.
3. Change the default input menu items with information you enter regularly in forms when submitting to web directories like: Name, Email, Title, Description, URL. Click OK
4. When a page loads with any type of input field, there will be a small blue clickable icon to the right of each input field. Click it and you will be able to select which input you want.
5. You can create different profiles with specific information for each website you are submitting.

This will help shave off a lot of time when submitting to hundreds of web directories, without having to pay for the automated software or paying for web directory submitters. And a good place to see if this plugin works for you would be to submit to the Yicrosoft Directory.