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You just got your website online. Everything is setup and you're
ready to go. Excitement is high and the time has come to open
your virtual doors to the millions and millions of Internet
users around the globe. You put out the cyber welcome mat and
declare your site ready for action. But, instead of sitting and
watching the users trample over one another to get to your site,
you see little to no traffic.
Don't worry! This is something every webmaster goes through and
is to be expected. (Well, webmasters in the late 90's expected
to launch their site and be millionaires the next morning, but
times have changed since those wonderful days!)
But there are some quick and easy things you can do to begin
building your 'link network,' which will ultimately help drive
traffic to your site. Since the Internet's conception, the
notion has been that sites link to one another, while web
surfers click from place to place. Thus, the challenge begins:
Get your site linked to as many others as possible.
You can start contacting other websites offering to trade links
(but be prepared to invest a lot of time); you can buy links
(but be prepared to fork out some cash); you can join
link-trading programs (but be prepared to get a lot of
irrelevant sites linking to you); or you can start submitting
your website to web directories.
What Is A Web Directory? A web directory is a compilation of
sites organized by category or topic. Most web directories have
multiple levels of categories, progressing from general to
highly specific. In addition, a web directory editor will likely
have to approve your site, lending it at a certain degree of
credibility. Being listed in a directory ensures that if a web
surfer finds their way into a specific category, they don't just
see your competitors, they see you! And, if they can see your
link, they can click it, producing traffic to your site.
A Web Directory Listing Helps with SEO If you have a website,
you undoubtedly know the importance of ranking well in Google
and other major search engines. These search engines count links
from other sites as votes for your site, which helps determine
your ranking, or position in the search results. There are a lot
of other parts of the algorithm and this brief explanation
doesn't do it justice. However, it serves the point that links
improve your ranking, and that's something every website owner
needs to know.
A link in a directory that is spidered by Google (and a lot are)
will count as a vote for your site. This improves your ranking,
and yet again helps drive traffic to your site. It's important
to note that not all directories help with SEO. Sometimes, a web
directory will link to your site through a special URL that is
often a programming CGI script. If the URL is not a direct link
to your site, then the search engines don't count it as a vote.
Therefore, it's best to pick directories that offer a direct
one-way link to your site. (This way, you get more bang for your
buck: traffic from the directory and improved search engine
ranking.)
Relevancy Matters If you trade links with random sites, then you
are theoretically building your 'link network,' but you are
sacrificing the quality of that network. Web searchers who are
looking for information on a particular topic often use
resources that link to a variety of sites related to what they
seek. This makes web directories the perfect destination.
Since directories are categorized by topics, a person can arrive
in the directory and have one-click access to a variety of
resources. You definitely want to be one of those resources!
Plus, when the other search engines pick up your link, it will
count for more since it is surrounded by relevant content, which
is most likely filled with your important keywords.
As you build your link network, you'll continue to see
increased traffic. And if you use web directories as your
vehicle, you are essentially paving more paths to your site.
Several good submissions in popular directories will help get
you rolling. The best part is that many directories are free, so
this jump start won't even hurt your bottom line.
Good luck and happy submitting!
About the author:
Robert Burko is president and founder of Eliteweb.cc, an Internet
portal featuring a best-of-the-web search engine and a
comprehensive search-engine-friendly web directory.
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