There are a good number of people that submit to web directories and have no idea which directories are actually worth paying for an express submission review.  So today I am going to briefly cover this topic.

First, let’s be blunt.  Most people that spend money to be listed in a web directory are doing so because their link will appear on a page with pagerank.  This is evident by the number of people that complained after their $200+ link on Alive Directory was no longer on a page with pagerank.  The Alive Directory had been penalized, and some of the people with links in that directory claimed they got nothing for spending over $200.  But yet their sites were still listed.  The bottom line is this.  Paid directories charge a fee for a listing review, and not for pagerank.  Pagerank does fluctuate, and can be taken away at any time by unethical link building practices.  So let’s look at how you can visually identify the better directories and get a better return on your submission expenses.

One of the easiest ways to build one way links back to your site is with Web Directory submissions.  In this post I am just going to discuss free directory submissions.  Paid directories have their place too, but that’s something I’ll discuss later.

There are basically three methods to submit to free web directories.  Those methods are fully automatic, semi automatic, and manual.

Automatic directory submissions should be avoided at all costs.  Why?  Because spam bots and link spammers try to post at many of the sites that have no CAPTCHA.  There is no benefit to being listed on sites that are potentially “bad neighborhoods” filled with spammy links.

In my portfolio of domain names, I have a few good ones that I just can’t ever see myself parting with.  The reason?  They have a lot of type in traffic.  But I’ have a domain name that someone else has wanted for years, and this post chronicles some of my dealings with this domain name stalker.

Every few months I get an offer for one of my domains.  The initial price they suggest is always around $300-$400.  Then I get into discussions with the person and they ask how much I want to sell it for.  I tell them $x,xxx, which I feel is a good value.  They always respond saying the most they will pay is $800.

In the forums, I see a lot of people posting how successful they are with Adsense, and soon to follow comes dozens of replies asking what the niche is.  The original poster normally never gives away their niche or only offers a very general idea.  The question is, if a profitable and low competition niche was dropped right in your lap could you monetize it?

I’ve been keeping an eye on a specific forum topic about a supposed high paying site that earns just under five figures per month in revenue.  What is interesting about this topic is that a lot of people criticized the poster for what they believe is impossible.  But on closer inspection, this very simple site might be earning a boatload of money.

As Webmasters, many of us have personal projects we would like to work on in the future.  A lot of this work involves the creation of new sites.  There’s a good number of us that have domains just sitting around, begging for our attention.  Instead of letting these domains sit around, let’s look at domain name parking and how it can generate some additional revenue.

Those that are familiar with domain parking tend to have their favorite parking providers.  I’m no different.  I’ve tried quite a few domain parking companies and the revenue earned per click does vary widely.  So let’s take a look at two of the better known parking companies.

Everything that we just completed really should take no more then an hour and a half.  All things considered, it’s really a small amount of time needed to get indexed in Google quickly.  Plus, we also got the ball rolling for Yahoo and Live/MSN as well.  Now what?

It will take some for your pages to show up in the index.  Established and high authority sites can get pages indexed in an hour or two.  New sites that have little trust or authority can take up to a week to appear in the Google index.  My quick launch method normally gets new sites indexed within 3-5 days, and if you follow the guide your results should be similar.

Many Webmasters and SEO professionals will tell you that the fastest way to get indexed is to get some backlinks for your site, and I agree.  In the previous step, we already created two high profile links to your Website.  Now let’s spend about twenty minutes or so submitting to some free Web directories.

There’s a lot of software on the market to submit to free directories.  There are even form filler software titles available.  Let’s bypass the lower performing and most time consuming software options.  Digixmas has the fastest and easiest to use directory submission software around.  The best part is that you can submit to 150 Web directories for free while using a trial version of their software.

In addition to submitting Sitemaps directly to search engines, another great way to be found fast is to get some links on high traffic Websites.

In Websites I have recently launched, I have found that only a couple high profile links are needed to get indexed fast.  And my preferred links come from Digg and Craigslist.

Live/MSN Search does have a Webmaster Center, and on November 12, 2007 they released Webmaster Tools.  It’s still in Beta, so there are some bugs to be worked out.  Live Search may have bugs?  Ok, I won’t get into that here!

First, you need to gain access to Live’s Webmaster tools.  If you do not have a Live ID, click hereand signup for one.  Once you have a Live ID, go to Live Search Webmaster Center and sign in.

To submit a Yahoo Sitemap, first you must go to Yahoo Site Explorer.  At the top of the screen, you will see a sign in link.  Click this link and enter your Yahoo login details.  If you don’t have a Yahoo ID, signup for one by clicking on the sign up text link in the lower right hand part of the sign in window.

Now that you are logged in to Yahoo Site Explorer, enter your full Website URL in the textbox and click on the add my site button.  Your URL will now appear in My Sites.