Internet directories are sites that list other websites into easily findable categories so that people who use them can quickly find what they are looking for. While search engines have overshadowed them to an extent in recent years, they are still a valuable tool for reaching potential customers.

By listing your store traffic site with internet directories:

You gain an additional backlinks to your site

This helps your site rank with search engines

You provide another place for people to find your site at

This helps you get more targeted traffic from non-search engine sources

Before you start submitting your site to directories

Since quality directories generally have sites which are submitted to them reviewed by people, I highly recommend that you only submit your site to them once it looks to be complete. This means that:

• Your site should not have broken links
• Your site should not have "Work in progress" or "Under construction" type notices on it

Once you have reviewed your site and made sure that it does not have broken links or notices state it is incomplete, start by submitting your site to at least a few good directories.

Initial Directory Submissions

When submitting to directories, it is entirely possible that they will decline to list your site. If that happens, don’t worry about it. Instead, simply note the directory on your to do list and submit it again in a few months once you have more content up.

To start with, I suggest listing your site on at least the following directories:

DMOZ.org

This is one of the main directories on the internet.

To submit to dmoz:

Go to DMOZ.org Add Site Information.

Read the instructions there and make note of the following:

• You shouldn’t have broken links on your site
• Don’t be promotional with your description. State the facts plainly without a bunch of keywords.

Browse DMOZ.org and find the category that best fits your site.

If in doubt, choose the one you think your site fits in best.

Use the "Submit ULR" link in that directory.

Enter your site with its full url (http://www.whatever.com/)

Finish submitting your site

Editors will review it by hand and let you know if it is accepted or not.

This could take quite some time, so don’t worry if you don’t hear back for a while.

WOWDirectory

This is another excellent directory.

To submit your site to WOWDirectory:

Wait until the weekend

Seriously. You cannot submit for a free listing except on weekends…

Go to The WOWDirectory Site Adding page

This might take some time to load as the instructions are via video.

Find the category your site belongs in

Go to WOWDirectory.

Browse to the category your store traffic site should be under.

Once in the proper category and subcategory, browse to the proper local area.

Submit your site

Select "Add URL"

Read the instructions

Fill in the form

Select "Submit" when done

Like the others, this can take some time to be processed.

Further directory submissions

Once you have submitted your site to the above directories, I recommend looking over The Vilesilencer Top 100 Directories Page and submitting your site to at least a few of the ones listed there as well.

Illumirate, Turnpike, and InfoListings would be a good start.

Finding other good directories

Besides Vilesilencer, another good way to locate directories that perform well is to do a search for your targeted keywords in Google or Yahoo and see if any directory entries come up in the first few pages.

If you like selling locally, searching for your keyword plus a local city or county name will often bring directories up on the first page. Look them over and submit your site to any which look promising.

An example of a category directory

Below is an example category directory, displayed using the Atahualpa theme for WordPress.

The above category directory does the following for a store traffic site:

It provides quick navigation between category showcases

It also provides some information about each category.

It provides links to categories on your store which you have not created showcases for

This can be useful when you have a large number of categories and do not want to take the time to create showcases for them all while building your site.

It can also bring in occasional customers via search traffic.

Creating your own Category Directory

To create a category directory like the one above, you will need the following:

• A WordPress site
  • See my store traffic website page for details.
• (optional) The Atahualpa Theme (version 3.2)

Note: These instructions do not work with newer versions of Atahualpa due to changes in the theme.

Setting up your Category Directory Page

Before you create a category directory page, you should decide where you want it to show up on menus.

I recommend placing it in one of four ways:

Use it as the top level page which all category showcases are children of.

This is especially effective when you have a lot of categories on a well structured store.

I recommend using one of your site keywords to name the directory if you go this route.

Place your main category showcases as top level pages and additional category showcases as children of your directory page.

This works well for stores with a large number of categories that are not necessarily related to each other.

Create multiple category directories with a few category showcases under each one

This works well if you sell items which group nicely into related categories.

For example, cat related items, computer hardware, and clothing.

Don’t use a category directory at all

If you have only a couple of types of things you sell and they are not related to each other, I would skip this and simply create each category showcase as a top level page.

Once you have decided on where to place your category directory (or if you want one at all), you will then need to create the page.

Step 1: Add CSS entries to your site

The category directory above uses a single CSS setting to take care of look and placement of each category displayed.

You may want to add more css entries for finer display control.

Add the below stylesheet information to your site

• Atahualpa Instructions:

Copy the contents of the box below

Click in the box

Select "Edit" → "Select All" from the file menu

Select "Edit" → "Copy" from the file menu

Login to your wordpress site

Select "Appearance" → "Atahualpa Theme Options"

Select "HTML/CSS Inserts" from the theme options at the top

Paste the copied code into the end of the CSS Inserts box

Scroll down to the end of the CSS Inserts Box

Click at the end of the last line

Select "Edit" → "Paste" from the file menu

Select "Save Your Changes" from the bottom of the screen

• For most other themes, copy the contents into your style.css file.

.pws-cat-list tr td {
    vertical-align: top;
}

Step 2: Create your new Category Directory Page

To create a category directory page like that shown at the top of this page, use the following code snippet for the body and edit it to suit your tastes.

INTRODUCTORY BLURB
<table class="pws-cat-list">
<!-- start individual category description -->
<tr>
<td>

<b><a hef="CATEGORY-LINK" title="CAT-LINK-DESC">CATEGORY X TITLE</a></b>
	CATEGORY X PARAGRAPH
</td>
</tr>

<!-- end individual category description -->
<tr>
<td>

<b><a hef="CATEGORY-LINK" title="CAT-LINK-DESC">CATEGORY X TITLE</a></b>
	CATEGORY X PARAGRAPH
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>

<b><a hef="CATEGORY-LINK" title="CAT-LINK-DESC">CATEGORY X TITLE</a></b>
	CATEGORY X PARAGRAPH
</td>
</tr>
</table>

Create a new Page in WordPress

Log into WordPress

Select "Pages"Add New" from the admin menu

This will bring up the new page dialogue.

Enter the name you want for your category directory page

If possible the name should use a site or category keyword.

Copy the above text into the body of your new page

Click in the box above which contains the page pieces

Select "Edit" → "Select All" from the file menu

Select "Edit" → "Copy" from the file menu

Click in the body of your new page

Select "Edit" → "Paste" from the file menu

Set the page order and parent if wanted

Fill in Description and Keywords for Platinum SEO Pack if installed

Select Save Draft

Edit the page contents for your site

Edit DIRECTORY BLURB

This should provide descriptive introduction to the store categories and category showcases that you are going to list in your directory.

Add your categories

You can have as many or as few category showcases and store categories displayed as you want.

To add more category showcases or store categories, copy one section and add it before the </table> tag.

• A section consists of the 6 lines located between the <!– –> lines.

To list a category showcase or directory:

Edit CATEGORY-LINK

This should be changed to the URL of the category showcase or store category you want to link to.

Find the URL for the category you want to link to

Visit the page you want to link to.

Look for the box containing http://… located at the top of the browser.

Copy the URL

Click in the box containing the URL

Select "Edit" → "Select All" from the file menu.

Select "Edit" → "Copy" from the file menu.

Paste the URL between the quotes after href=

Place your cursor between the quotes

Select "Edit" → "Paste" from the file menu.

Edit CATEGORY X TITLE

This should be a descriptive name of the category you want listed.

It will be used as a link to your store category or category showcase.

Edit CAT-LINK-DESC

This gives a description to the link.

It is normally shown when someone places their mouse over the link.

Edit CATEGORY X PARAGRAPH

This should contain a short description of the category you are linking to.

Repeat this process for each category you want to link.

Set extra information for the category directory

If using Platinum SEO, enter your meta description and meta keywords

Note whether you want to allow comments or not ( I recommend not )

Specify any parent page if necessary

Specify a menu order if you are manually ordering your pages

Save your changes as a draft

You could just publish it, but I recommend always looking at new posts and pages before actually publishing them.

Publish your category directory

Once you are satisfied with the look, publish it.