An article offering information on how to market a general Web directory in year 2024.
· Marketing a directory requires both white hat and black hat techniques.
· Marketing requires On-page optimization and off page optimization.
· Marketing a directory requires a vision for how you will attract traffic.
How to market a general Web directory in the year 2024
Marketing a Web directory requires a mix of both white hat and black hat SEO techniques. White hat SEO is when you are improving your Website’s rank in the search engines while maintaining the integrity of your Web site and staying within in Google’s terms of service. Black hat SEO is when you break the rules by using too many keyword rich terms to help your Web site rank. The trick with this is to use mostly white hat techniques and a slight amount of black hat techniques.
On-page SEO:
On-page SEO refers to the art of making your Web site readable by the Google bots.
1) Proper meta tag usage:
– Create a title tag/name of your site
– Create a description tag otherwise known as a snippet. This is the short description of your Website that appears in the search results.
2) You should optimize your directory by incorporating long-tail keywords instead of short-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords are longer words that are 3 words or more. Short tail keywords are 2-word keywords and are much too competitive to shoot for when starting out.
3) Create a proper site map.
4) Create a blog for your Web directory.
5) Proper use of inter-linking.
Inter-linking is when you link various posts on your site to other posts. Particularly important is the inter-linking of blog posts. By creating a blog for your directory that uses inter-linking you help ensure Google bots understand how exactly your Web directory is structured and however everything is connected. Also, important is to create a menu for your Web directory that links to all other top-level pages such as a menu that contains links to Home, Submit Link, Blog, About and Contact Us.
6) Link out to at least one other Web site. This can be a Wikipedia page containing the keywords that relevant to your directory. The reason for this is that linking to other sites makes your site look natural in the eyes of the bots.
Off-page SEO:
Off-page SEO refers to ranking your Web site by the building of backlinks and creating a social media presence which can send your Web site traffic.
1. Create a X.com and Facebook page for your Web directory.
2. Post videos about your Web directory on youtube, vimeo, and TikTok.
3. Submit press releases on sites like PR.com.
4. Submit articles to article submission sites and guest posts to blogs that contain a link to your Web directory.
5. Create posts on forums about your directory. A good forum for this is digitalpoint.com
6. Leave comments on blog posts with a link to your directory
7. Submit your Web directory to other Web directories
8. Submit your Web directory to the free, paid, trusted, and niche directory list on WebDirectories.info. Their free directory list is free to submit to for free Web directories. Their paid, trusted, and niche directory lists each cost a one-time fee of $179
When creating your Web directory keep in mind a very important concept. Ask yourself, what makes your Web directory that you are envisioning a useful resource for Internet users. In the case of a free directory, you are already attractive because you are offering a free submission option that is of use to all business Web sites. However, in the case of a paid directory you are going to need to find a way to attract Internet surfers that are coming back to the directory because they are finding utility in your directory. One way to do this is to offer high quality content on your directory. This will keep visitors returning for more and will send a signal to Google that your Web site is worthy of ranking there-by helping send your Web site viral.
Finally, let’s touch on the marketing pros of Web directories in the year 2024, and see an example of a directory which offers these marketing pros.
Web directories boost the chances of being noticed:
By being featured in a Web directory, you increase the ability for potential clients to be discovered and also improve your Search Engine Optimization standings, which will bring more people to your website. You will also gain link juice by having your site listed in Web directories.
Web directories convince users that your business is trustworthy:
Before purchasing a product or service of some sort users will want to see some establishment of trust. By being listed in Web directories that are high quality users will see signs of being able to be trusted. Also, some Web directories offer feedback and star ratings for Web sites that are listed in it. This feedback and star rating will ensure users will trust a business provided users are offering positive feedback and ratings.
DirJournal.com is a great example of a directory that passes an abundance of link juice to Web sites listed in it. They go above and beyond in what a general Web directory can offer and for this reason they are successful in this day and age.
Reasons why DirJournal.com is a great directory to be included in:
1. They have been around since 2007
2. They promoted their directory heavily both externally and internally.
Externally:
– The writing of press releases, some of which have been featured on several news outlets
Internally:
– They published high-quality articles on their Web site which attract frequent viewers.
– They offer the ability for users to leave star reviews for all links listed in their directory.
3. They offer a permanent link submission option (the cost for this is $159.95 per link)