Everyone knows that submitting to free web directories is one of the best ways to get quality, one-way links to your site. Unfortunately, it can take several boring hours of filling out submission forms in order to get all those free links. This article will explore a few tools and tricks that can be helpful in speeding up the submission process.
Manual directory submission services are the best substitute to doing it yourself, but they can also be quite expensive. For webmasters who operate only a handful of sites, benefits outweigh the cost of manual submissions. Unfortunately, those submission costs begin to add up as you build more sites, so a more permanent solution may be a better choice.
If you do opt for a manual submission service, look for one that gives you reports of your submissions and acceptances. Many services do not tell you upfront exactly which directories they will be submitting your site to, so be careful. You don't want to waste your money getting backlinks from worthless directories. Also, there is some speculation that the search engines will penalize you for having links from "bad neighborhoods", so it is probably best to steer clear of questionable directory sites.
Automated submission software can be useful if done properly. These tools make it very easy to submit to several sites quickly, but that also means an incorrect submission may go out to several sites instead of just one. Be extra careful about checking for typos and spelling errors before sending out mass submissions.
Even if you do not have the money to spare on any of these paid submission solutions, there are still a few decent free options that will cut the amount of time it takes to fill out the forms.
If you use Firefox, you can open many tabs in the same browser window. This makes it easy to open several directory sites all at once without cluttering up your desktop with windows. Also, Firefox has a great extension called InFormEnter you can download to help fill-in form fields. It is similar to Roboform, with different profiles and customizable fields.
Roboform is a handy little utility program that can be used for almost any repetitive submission task. They offer a free version that never expires and allows you to save 2 profiles with 3 user-customizable fields. The customized fields are useful to store site descriptions, keywords, and anything else that is likely to be found on the directory submission forms. For only $30, you can upgrade and get an unlimited amount of profiles and user fields.
Always remember to mix up your titles, keywords, and descriptions, regardless of which submission method you choose. The search engines, especially Yahoo!, prefer some variation in the anchor text of your backlinks so that the links look more natural. After all, if people were linking to your site just because they liked the content, they probably wouldn't all use the exact same linking text.
With new directories appearing every day, it looks as though time-consuming directory submissions are here to stay. Webmasters who are able to speed up or automate this process will have a huge time advantage over their competitors. After all, which is a more profitable way to spend your time: Filling out forms or working on your sites?
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