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.

Some of the things I like best about Plumdrop:

• You can list all of your online selling venues on it
• It provides a blog with dofollow links
• You can give people extra information about you, your enterprise, and the things you sell
• You can join a variety of groups and meet like-minded sellers

For the purposes of driving traffic to your store traffic site, Plumdrop gives you an extra platform to notify people about the various things you sell…while allowing you to create backlinks to your own site however you want.

Creating a Plumdrop account

Go to Plumdrop.com

Select "Sign up in under 5 minutes"

This will take you to the signup page

Fill out the signup form:

• Your email address
• verify your email
• A password
• Verify your password
• A nickname (to display publicly
• Your zip code (to find people locally)
• Business title (the name of your enterprise)
• Descrption (yeah, it’s spelled wrong)
• Business Tags
• The best category for what you offer
• A photo ( if you want, can change it later )
• Agree to the terms of service
• Choose to signup to the newsletter or not

Select "Complete Signup"

Confirm your account creation

Once you have your account created, I’d recommend taking a look around and then doing some initial profile setup.

Plumdrop Profile Setup

When logged in, select "My Account" to see a variety of available options. The below are those I recommend filling in to start with:

"My Profile"

You filled this in when you created your account.

Used to update your store title, store description, store tags, main store category, and profile picture.

"My Groups"

I recommend joining groups for both your selling venue and the types of products you sell

You can leave posts in groups

"My Deals"

If you setup any coupons for your store, you can use My Deals to add coupons for fellow Plumdrop users

"My Venues"

Add your online stores here with names, titles, and urls.

Adding a blog entry to your Plumdrop Page

Once you have things setup, I recommend creating at least one blog entry with information about your store traffic site and/or online store.

Log into Plumdrop, if you are not logged in

Select "My Plumdrop Page"

This will display your plumdrop page

Select "View Blog" from the right menu

This will display your Plumdrop blog

Select "Post new blog entry" from the left side

This will open the blog entry creation page

Create your blog entry

This is like creating a new post in wordpress.

Enter a title for your blog entry

Enter the contents of your post (in design or html view).

I recommend an introduction, a link to your store traffic site, and a link to your online store for your first post.

Be sure to create good backlinks! Use keywords as links!

Note whether or not you want to allow comments

Select "Post New Blog Entry!"

Your entry will be posted.

You now have another quality backlink using your search keywords

Putting Plumdrop to Use

Going forward, I recommend at least creating occasional posts to your Plumdrop blog, especially when you create new product showcases, new category showcases, or new special offers.

Remember to avoid circular links and to create quality backlinks!

My Plumdrop Page

You can find me on Plumdrop under LibertyUnchained.

If you have a page with a lot of outbound links, you will have a much harder time ranking that page than if you would if you had fewer outbound links.

To avoid what is commonly called "bleeding pagerank", I recommend including the following attribute in links to other sites unless you specifically want to help them build pagerank:

• <a href="URL" rel="nofollow">Link-Name</a>

Additionally, you might want to also consider having links to external sites open in a new window so that your site will still be displayed once a visitor closes the external site. To do so, include the target attribute as follows:

• <a href="URL" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Link-Name</a>

By using both together, you avoid passing your pagerank on and ensure that visitors who follow external links have a better chance of comingback to your site.