Both should take should take you to the same place. If not there is a problem! Personally, I don’t want to type in the ‘www’ and I don’t really see the need for it.  For example, when I go to SpiderSavvy.com or JamesMcWhorter.com I don’t type in www.

This brings me to an important SEO and usability tip that is often overlooked in sites with regards to those who find your site by typing ‘www’ before the domain name. Search engines may think spidersavvy.com and www.spidersavvy.com are two different sites. To avoid dillution of your Web site’s SEO you should set up a permanent redirect (technically called a “301 redirect”) between these sites. Once you do that, you will get full search engine credit for your work on these sites.

It works like this.  When you enter www.SpiderSavvy.com the redirect will automatically take you to http://SpiderSavvy.com.  This effectively funnels all traffic through one place instead of two or more.

This can be done by finding the .htaccess file, on your Web site, and entering:

RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.(.*) [NC]

RewriteRule ^(.*) http://%1/$1 [R=301]

There are many different ways to get websites to link to yours. For example, you could encourage members and partners of your organization to link to your site from their blogs or MySpace pages to show their support. You could also write articles or other content for other websites which contain links back to your website (these sites could include local “portal” sites, community event calendars, or comments on blogs).

Another approach is to look for niche publications specific to your field, and then offer to submit content. You may be thanked for providing helpful, relevant content, by receiving links back to your organization’s website. This works well for both print and electronic publications. You may find potential publications easily by just typing your subject matter into a search engine.

Write media (press) releases and submit them to distribution and syndication services. Some, such as PRWeb.com will distribute your release for free.

Note: be sure to call your release a “media” release, to include both print and electronic media.

Submit your website to web directories. Here is a list of some of the more popular web directories you should try to get your site listed in:

• Open Directory (www.dmoz.org)
• Yahoo Directory (dir.yahoo.com)
• Microsoft bCentral Directory (sbd.bcentral.com)
• GoGuides (www.goguides.com)
• Best of the Web (www.botw.org)

Look for directories which include sites for your local area, or for anything that you have a membership in (such as chambers of commerce or other groups).

Nonprofits also have a major advantage over businesses in SEO in that many governmental bodies and educational institutions frequently partner with nonprofit organizations and will provide links to your site if asked. For example, if you work with a student group on a university campus, you might ask if they would publish a flyer advertising your next event, with a link back to your website for more information. If you’re helping to organize a conference in partnership with a government body or a local library, ask if they’ll announce the event on their website with a link to your website’s conference section.

Participate in relevant online discussions. It is not only useful for improving your search rankings –this kind of posting also generates dialog on the issues your organization is actively concerned with, and can create a community of interest in your work.

Consider commenting on related blogs, again with a link back to your website. Take special care to ensure that your comments are on-topic and relevant to the blog article; blog spam is frowned upon, and can actually hurt your search engine rankings more than it helps you.

Whenever possible, try to have the sites that link to yours use your keywords in the link text, rather than always using your URL or organization name. For example, the Red Cross website may want to get links with keywords like “First Aid Training” and “Emergency Disaster Relief,” rather than simply “Red Cross”. The keywords used in the link text will directly influence your rankings.
You should develop links to your internal content pages as well as to your home page.

A word of caution: while link-building is a legitimate means of increasing your search engine rankings, some people abuse it. It is common for unscrupulous SEO firms to send out mass mailings asking for links to their sites in exchange for links back to yours. Many of these firms will also “spam” your blog or website pages with comments containing links back to their sites. Always be careful about the sites you link to from your site; one link to a site that uses questionable SEO tactics can get your site banned from the search engines completely, and ruin your reputation. Any website that asks for a link should be screened carefully.

Link building is not a one-time event. Continually search out and find new sources of links to your website. As you add more and more links over time, your site’s position in the search engines will continue to improve.

Here are a few SEO resources that I frequently use:

Keyword Research

YSM Keyword Inventory Tool – http://inventory.overture.com
Keyword Discovery – http://www.keyworddiscovery.com
Wordtracker – http://www.wordtracker.com
Google Traffic Estimator – https://adwords.google.com/select/TrafficEstimatorSandbox

SEO Tools

Marketleap Link Popularity Check – http://www.marketleap.com/publinkpop/
Back Link Analyzer – http://tools.seobook.com/backlink-analyzer/
SEO for Firefox extension – http://tools.seobook.com/firefox/seo-for-firefox.html
XML Sitemap Generator – http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/
Directory of SEO Tools – http://www.seocompany.ca/tool/seo-tools.html

Books

SEObook.com – http://www.seobook.com/buy-now.shtml
Search Engine Optimization for Dummies – http://www.amazon.com/Search-Engine-Optimization-Dummies-Peter/dp/0764567586
Search Engine Marketing Kit from SitePoint – http://www.sitepoint.com/books/sem1/

Other SEO Forums

Webmaster World – http://www.webmasterworld.com
DigitalPoint – http://forums.digitalpoint.com
HighRankings Forum – http://www.highrankings.com/forum/
Search Engine Watch – http://forums.searchenginewatch.com
SEO Chat – http://forums.sochat.com

Blogs of Interest

Official Google Blog – http://googleblog.blogspot.com/
Yahoo Search Blog – http://www.ysearchblog.com/
Live Search (MSN) Weblog – http://blogs.msdn.com/livesearch/
Search Engine Watch Blog – http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/
Search Engine Roundtable – http://www.seroundtable.com ]]> http://spidersavvy.com/seo-resources/feed/ 0 http://spidersavvy.com/how-to-suggest-a-site-to-the-open-directory/ http://spidersavvy.com/how-to-suggest-a-site-to-the-open-directory/#comments Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:28:25 +0000 SpiderSavvy http://spidersavvy.com/?p=35

The Open Directory Project is a web directory of Internet resources. A web directory is something akin to a huge reference library. The directory is hierarchically arranged by subject – from broad to specific. The ODP is maintained by community editors who evaluate sites for inclusion in the directory. They are our experts, and all submissions are subject to editor evaluation.

We care a great deal about the quality of the ODP. We aren’t a search engine and pride ourselves on being highly selective. We don’t accept all sites, so please don’t take it personally should your site not be accepted. Our goal is to make the directory as useful as possible for our users, not to have the directory include all (or even most) of the sites that could possibly be listed or serve as a promotional tool for the entities listed.

To keep the ODP running smoothly and to assist us in exercising our editorial discretion, we have set up policies for submitting sites for our consideration. We may reject, delete, or edit submissions that violate these policies or that we otherwise believe, in our sole discretion, should not be included in the directory. We may also reject, delete, or block other sites that we believe to be associated with a user who has violated these policies.

You should take a few moments to understand these policies and the steps to submit a site before you begin.  Failure to understand and follow these instructions generally will result in the rejection of a submission.

Step One

Determine whether a site is appropriate for submission to the ODP:

• Do not submit mirror sites. Mirror sites are sites that contain identical content, but have altogether different URLs.
• Do not submit URLs that contain only the same or similar content as other sites you may have listed in the directory.  Sites with overlapping and repetitive content are not helpful to users of the directory.  Multiple submissions of the same or related sites may result in the exclusion and/or deletion of those and all affiliated sites.
• Do not disguise your submission and submit the same URL more than once.
  Example: http://www.dmoz.org and http://www.dmoz.org/index.html
• Do not submit any site with an address that redirects to another address.
• The Open Directory has a policy against the inclusion of sites with illegal content. Examples of illegal material include child pornography; libel; material that infringes any intellectual property right; and material that specifically advocates, solicits or abets illegal activity (such as fraud or violence).
• Do not submit sites “under construction.” Wait until a site is complete before submitting it. Sites that are incomplete, contain “Under Construction” notices, or contain broken graphics or links aren’t good candidates for the directory.
• Submit pornographic sites to the appropriate category under Adult.
• Submit non-English sites to the appropriate category under World.
• Don’t submit sites consisting largely of affiliate links.

Step Two

Do a quick search in the directory at dmoz.org (the home of the Open Directory) to be sure your site isn’t already listed. This saves everyone time.

Step Three

Identify the single best category for your site. The Open Directory has an enormous array of subjects to choose from. You should submit a site to the single most relevant category. Sites submitted to inappropriate or unrelated categories may be rejected or removed.

Note: Some categories do not have “suggest URL” or “update URL” links. These categories don’t accept submissions, so you should find a more specific category for your site.

Step Four

Once you’ve selected the best category for your site, go directly to that category on dmoz.org and then click “suggest URL.” Follow the instructions on the submission form carefully.  Descriptions of sites should describe the content of the site concisely and accurately.  They should not be promotional in nature. Submitting a promotional description rather than an objective, well written description may significantly delay your site from being listed or prevent your site from being listed at all. Auto-submission software is (and always has been) a violation of this procedure. Sites submitted automatically are flagged and deleted after the submission is accepted, without notification to you. Persistent automatic submission may force us to ban you from the dmoz site, so we can provide resources to real human beings.

Procedure After Your Site is Submitted

An ODP editor will review your submission to determine whether to include it in the directory. Depending on factors such as the volume of submissions to the particular category, it may take several weeks or more before your submission is reviewed. Please only submit a URL to the Open Directory once. Again, multiple submissions of the same or related sites may result in the exclusion and/or deletion of those and all affiliated sites.  Disguising your submission and submitting the same URL more than once is not permitted.

Updating Your Site

If a site has been accepted for inclusion in the directory but you are dissatisfied with how the site is described or titled, you may go to the category where it is listed, and fill out the “update URL” form. If you are dissatisfied with the category in which your site is listed, you may send an e-mail to an editor for the category explaining your disagreement. Be polite and civil — threatening or abusive behavior will not be tolerated.

If (but only if) you are dissatisfied with the editor’s response, you may then use the “Feedback” link at the top of the page to “appeal” the editor’s decision. Be specific concerning your disagreement (including why you believe the editor’s response is inadequate). Comments made through the feedback link are reviewed by the ODP staff, who will make the final decision. Please do NOT send correspondence to Netscape, as that will only slow down and complicate the process. We take all feedback seriously and give it our thoughtful consideration. But please remember that we must exercise our discretion and make numerous judgment calls as to how to make the ODP as useful as possible — no matter what decision we make, we may not always satisfy everyone.

Getting Your Site Into Portals and Search Engines Using ODP Data

If your site has been accepted into the Open Directory, it may take anywhere from 2 weeks to several months for your site to be listed on partner sites which use the Open Directory data, such as AOL Search, Google, Netscape Search, Yahoo Search, and hundreds of other sites. We make updates of the data available weekly, but each partner has their own update schedule.

Editorial Discretion

Please recognize that making the ODP a useful resource requires us to exercise broad editorial discretion in determining the content and structure of the directory. That discretion extends (but is not limited) to what sites to include, where in the directory sites are placed, whether and when to include more than one link to a site, when deep linking is appropriate, and the content of the title and description of the site. In addition, a site’s placement in the directory is subject to change or deletion at any time at our sole discretion. You should not rely on any aspect of a site’s inclusion in the directory.  Please understand that an editor’s exercise of discretion may not always treat all submissions equally. You may not always agree with our choices, but we hope you recognize that we do our best to make fair and reasonable decisions.

The Open Directory team welcomes comments and feedback about the directory generally. Please let us know what you think, and how we can improve the service. Thanks!

Proceed to the Open Directory home at dmoz.org – Start here to find a category to submit to. ]]> http://spidersavvy.com/how-to-suggest-a-site-to-the-open-directory/feed/ 0