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Ten Web Site Promotion Tips For DMOZ - Open Directory Project
By Robert K. McCourty

The dmoz directory is not a search engine. It's a directory, like
a phone book. It has been categorizing the Internet since 1998.
Dmoz currently has over 590,000 categories and sub categories.
The main directory itself has sixteen main categories. All 
subcategories fall under these top sixteen. Imagine, everything 
in the known universe able to be categorized under a mere sixteen 
main subject headings. Seems impossible, but it's true.

The project has a lot of help categorizing the sites submitted 
to it. There are currently 64,739 human volunteer editors, which 
give freely of their time to help bring organization to the 
chaos. How would you like to pay that payroll each month?

Although there is a built-in search function in dmoz, within a
directory the idea is to click your way down inside of it, until
you've found what you want. You can move forward, backward and
even sideways and up and down. Within several seconds you should
have arrived at the intended category and will be presented with 
a list of relevant sites. You decide, (not the search engine) 
which site looks like the best and click the related link. Sound 
simple? It is simple! So why don't more people use it?

Probably because we've become spoiled by the big search engines.
All you have to do is type in a search word and get a whole 
page of results. Much quicker and more accurate. Right?

Before you answer that question answer these ones:

How many times have you clicked on a search result presented by 
a popular search engine and had to scroll way down the page or 
view several deep pages of results to find something close to 
what you intended to find? How often are the top 10 results not 
what you were looking for at all, because your search term was 
not accurate enough?

One point for the directory. Search engines can only return data
based on specific search criteria. They are after all machines.
Within a directory you get to decide which category is the most
appropriate and the fastest way to get there. Search engines pick
results on the relativeness of the search term, usually putting 
a heavier emphasis on the first few words. In dmoz however, your 
own brain tells you to choose from the list. Brains work better 
than machines.

How many times have you clicked on a link from a popular search
engine to find an abandoned or missing page or an expired URL at
the other end?

How many times have you reached a page and had to click backward
to try another listing?

Although you might have to do this in dmoz as well, I have found
that I can usually find -exactly- what I am seeking within one 
or two back clicks.

This is subjective of course. See the next two questions.

How many times do you have to retype your search query more than
once to try and narrow down the search?

Come on admit it. The big search engines are very sophisticated
but how often do you use any of the advanced search features?
That's worth a lesson in itself. You can quickly narrow the
parameters of your search this way, but most folks I know
simply retype the original query in a different order and hope 
for the best.

How much time (on average) do you spend during each session on 
a "Major" search engine? 

Think about it for a moment. Sometimes you get lucky and find 
an answer in less than ten seconds. Sometimes you're on there 
reviewing results for over a minute before choosing one. Other 
times you can spend quite a chunk of time going back and forth 
between selected sites and presented search results.

Add up all of the aforementioned time and effort and you 
may come to the conclusion the big engines are not quite as 
'convenient' as you thought.

Now compare this to a dozen or so -accurate- clicks from 
within a directory structure and using your own brain for the 
elimination process. You might find it faster using a directory.

Many of the Major search engines use the dmoz directory as a
foundation for search results. You may ask, if dmoz searches are
already part of many search results, why use dmoz by itself?

Type this search query into Google, then dmoz:
"chile recipes rattlesnake". You'll get different results 
because Google uses many different criteria to weigh their 
results while dmoz takes a web site at face value.

Tips on Getting your site accurately placed within the dmoz
Directory.

Because dmoz is staffed by volunteer editors, it can often take 
a while to get your web site included. Here are a few tips to 
speed things up.

1. Find a category WITH an Editor
First of all, when you reach the category in which you would 
like to include your web site, scroll to the bottom of the page 
and find out if it has an 'Editor's' name or handle.... Should 
you find a text line which says "Volunteer to edit this 
category," it means the category you have selected has NO direct 
Editor. Thus, it could take even longer to get your site listed.
Find a category WITH an Editor to improve your chances.

2. On the very bottom of each category page you can read the 
date the last time a page was updated. Very important tip. If 
it says August 2001, pretty good chance no one is going to be 
updating that page quickly. Find one with a recent date. It 
shows someone has actively been updating that category.

I found my category but it has no Editor, now What?

3. Go back to the top of the page and select the next best
category or backstroke to the main sub category. All dmoz main
categories have 'Meta Editors' which are in charge of several
(if not hundreds) of sub categories. Submitting to the general
category often gets the Meta Editor to pass it along the line.
Bet you didn't know dmoz editors could do that. They often pass 
or redirect submissions along to each other. I happen to be a 
dmoz editor and I find my 'inbox' always has several new entries 
from other Editors of similar categories.

Still no luck, now what?

4. Did you know you are allowed two (yes two) listings within
dmoz? The first is subject specific. The second is Geographic.
Drill down through the "Regions" portion of the index to find an
appropriate category. e.g. business/northamerica/us/ohio
Chances are, the regional portion of the database will list your
site based upon your country, village, town or city. Enter your
listing there. (when you do, don't forget tip #-1)

Still no luck, now I'm getting frustrated!

5. Relax. Find the closest category that does have an editor and
write them a -very pleasant- email explaining your situation.
Most editors I am aware of will write you back. Write a nasty
email and you'll get no response. We volunteer our time. They 
don't pay us to take abuse. You can find how to email an editor 
by simply clicking on their name at the bottom of the page.

Other Tips and Suggestions.

6. Read the category description before submitting your site.
Yes, more reading. Most Editors have taken the time to write a
description for their respective categories and often supply 
tips and hints for helping to process the submission faster.
Suggestions such as "20 words or less," means 20 words or less,
not 50, 40 or 30 or 21. Writing long flowing paragraphs for your
description defeats the purpose and it might take longer to show
up (if it shows up at all). Why? Because the editor has to go
and personally review your site to maintain the quality of the
database. They must then manually edit your description so it
makes sense and fits on the page. Bottom line. You are wasting
their time by not adhering to the rules. Remember, these are 
real people doing the work, not machines. The easier you can 
make it for them the better. Read the category description first.

7. Recently there has been some inaccurate speculation concerning
dmoz Editors which are in charge of categories similar to their
own business interests, thus not allowing competitors into the
same category. This has always been taken into consideration by
dmoz administration. In fact, there are new rules and a review
process to address this very issue. Each current dmoz editor
(or requests to become an editor) are now required to state which
URL's they are personally involved with or work for, especially
in business. This 'association' review process will assist dmoz
administrators in selecting or rejecting editors from conflict 
of interest categories. All editors are currently under review.

8. Dmoz is fair. There is no "race to the top" of the listings.
You can't buy your way in, nor purchase auctions or paid listings
or clickable advertising. You can't hire someone to try and get
you a number one listing. Everyone in dmoz is on an equal playing
field. The listings are in alphabetical order. It may be argued
that sites beginning with "A" get more viewing than those
beginning with "Z" but the listings are not presented this way
within the search results, so there really is no distinct 
advantage. You'll only find them in alphabetical order if you
drill down through the categories.

9. Why go through all this work to get your site listed in dmoz?
It's worth it. At last count dmoz was supplying its database to
over three hundred and twenty-two other engines, directories,
intranets, and databases. That's pretty good coverage for a free
listing.

10. Volunteer to become an Editor. Find out how the project 
works from the inside. It's been  an interesting and rewarding
experience for myself and I've gained a much better understanding
of how to market more effectively online. It doesn't take much 
of your time and quite frankly, it's fun.

Check out dmoz open directory project: http://www.dmoz.org/

================================================================
Robert K. McCourty, is a founding Partner and Director of 
Marketing for Metamend Software and Design Ltd. The firm 
specializes in search engine optimization technologies and 
solutions for the improvement of web site placement within the 
Internet's top search engines. http://www.metamend.com/
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