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Self-Promotion

In 2003 Firda Beka's Award-o-matic (http://wannabegirl.org/awards/) awarded me the wannabe 2003 weblog award in the category "Most Shameless Self-Promotion". While I won other awards this one I always displayed with pride. Only to find much later selfpromotiononline.com, Ilise Benun's artofselfpromotion.com, or that workingforchange.com has a whole category for it. There's even Ilise Benun's Paperback "Self Promotion Online: Marketing Your Creative Services Using Web Sites, E-Mail and Digital Portfolios".

Listing your site in Web directories is a way of self-promotion, it's cheap, it works. A few hints will help...

Welcome Wanderer from the Wierd Wild Web

Or do you prefer to spell it Weird Wired ? Anyway, I'm surprised that you did find the way to this little place. You are very early indeed, there isn't much yet I have to offer.

What's Coming?

I plan here to publish hints how to write effective descriptions for Web directories.

Background

I'm working as an editor for SiteLibrary.net and OpenGrid.org, Web directories.
Someday, it was a bright Tuesday, November 01, 2005, I stumbled upon http://trafficgeni.us/ a newsletter just launched for traffic building ideas. Instead of fresh ideas they asked for I submitted:

"My idea is old fashioned, boring and works: learn how to write a description for Web directories before you submit. You'll have to avoid any marketing language, 1st and 2nd person (no 'you-centered' text), imperatives. Only then submit to Web directories. If you submit a good description without those errors an editor might even approve 404 sites. "

I didn't expect to hear back, but within hours Roxanne from trafficgenius got back asking for more details.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, November 04, 2005 6:21 AM
[...]
Working as an editor at SiteLibrary.net I always
wonder why even good sites come in with an
unacceptable description. Here is just the one
from the top of my list, I only removed the URL:

http://www.example.com/
Server Administration
We provide Windows, Linux and FreeBSD server installation,
security and server administration services.
Keywords: We provide Windows, Linux and FreeBSD server
installation, security and server administration services.

The site is very ok, take my word for it.
Otherwise I would not bother to rewrite the description.
I will (now) not make a good description, just correct the
basic error: DO NOT USE "We, our, I, my, you, your, ..."
So, maybe I would accept:
"BumbleB Media Inc., Montana provides Windows, Linux,
and FreeBSD server installation, security, and server
administration services. "
It's still not good, but it might pass in some directories.
(2nd person would also be unacceptable: "Get your Windows
server installation...", also imperatives I would not accept).

I could provide hundreds of real world examples.
Those will fail in directories like SiteLibrary, JoeAnt, GoGuides,
Illumirate, MavicaNet, Zeal... . And DMOZ and Yahoo editors
will hardly accept anything like that. What the webmaster
did is annoy the editor, and unlike a spider the editor is
human, and if s/he is annoyed...

On the other hand a good submission is rare. SiteLibrary
now honors the "Perfect Submission", see
http://www.sitelibrary.net/community/forum/sitesubm/489
and also on http://www.sitelibrary.net/community/ .
[...]

The rest, as they say, is history.

Learn and Help

A blog with real world examples of descriptions
Describe Your Web Site:
"Hints how to write effective descriptions for Web directories."
Can you improve on the descriptions posted there ?
Go ahead, post Your description as reply to the posts.
However, you'll need a blogger account to reply to the posts. If you don't have one you can easily create one at http://www.blogger.com/signup.g You'll have to choose a user name, a password (minimum six characters), a display name (that's the name used to sign your posts), and an email address. Don't forget the checkbox "Acceptance of Terms". After signing up you can immediately reply to the posts.

If that's too complicated, drop a URL and description in my guestbook. No signup, no questions asked, here is what I would like to see:
Name: you can put in a short label of your site, or your name, or just an 'x' if you are shy;
Location: you can put in a city and country the site belongs to;
Homepage: this is the most important field, of course, enter the URL of your site, start with http://
Message: start your message with the title of the site, followed by a short description.

NO commercial hard-core pr0n, please.
ELSE I'll send the yellow dotted page monger.

Self-Promotion

Welcome Wanderer from the Wierd Wild Web

What's Coming?

Background

Learn and Help

Other Links