Best Of The Web 20% Off Directory Listing Coupon Code

Best Of The Web is a fantastic and trusted web directory to be listed in and you have 3 days left to take care of a nice 20% off discount before it expires. Using them is getting a quality link from a well trusted source and now is your opportunity to do so. The coupon code you need to take advantage of this offer is SAVE20 and it will automatically knock off 20% of the regular price which ends up being a nice savings. There are only three days left to take advantage of this offer so you need to decide quick which sites you want to get listed or you can wait for the next discount to be offered as they usually do this a few times a year. I am taking advantage of it on quite a few of my sites this go around. I have used and advertised them for some time now.

Lower Priced Trusted Directories

I was asked by email what low priced paid directories I use, so I thought it would make a good blog post. I do not submit to these until around the 2 month mark or so of launching a site as I want to first get a good read on the profitability of the site. Also I will not use them if I have been able to pick up good solid backlinks from like sites along the way for free. It is judged on a site by site basis. The lower priced ones I use are below. I would suggest BOTW and the Yahoo Directory if you can indeed justify it, but I understand most of you are on tight budgets. If you do decide to submit to any of these, make sure your site is solid. If it is thin, beef it before spending your money. Throwing good links at crap sites is worthless in my opinion. Like most directories free or paid, the traffic is very sporadic, if any, but the higher trusted the directory, the better quality the backlink.

http://www.gimpsy.com/
http://www.goguides.org/
http://www.joeant.com/
http://www.skaffe.com/

Are Link Directories Totally Dead?

I still submit to link directories. There, I said it. While it is not a link building process I spend a ton of time on, it still helps in getting a foothold in both Yahoo and Bing. Google on the other hand will give you credit, but at what extent relies totally on the quality of the directory. Do I get a ton of traffic from the directories I submit to? Absolutely not, very little if any over a course of a month. Yahoo and Bing still respect the backlinks, but for how much longer we really do not know. They can help though. When submitting to them, make sure to rotate out the anchor text you use between 3 or 4 keyword phrases, as this makes it a little more natural looking. Also the site description should be rotated as well, time permitting. I have used Submit Edge for years to do this and will slide in a few of my own submissions as well from time to time. I have several thin sites that get the majority of their traffic from both Yahoo and Bing as they are just not thick enough for Google. Link directories are what they are, just a very small part of your link building process. They may be on life support, but they are not totally dead.

Save 15% On Best Of The Web Submissions

I’m a firm believer in using BOTW. BOTW stands for Best of the Web and they currently have a 15% off promotion running which will save you nearly 40 bucks if you purchase a year long link submission. BOTW is a trusted directory that will indeed help improve your rankings as I use it myself. Use the code below when ordering and you’ll get your discount. This current offer expires after May 31st so there is not many more days left. Follow the submission rules closely when submitting.

15% Off Coupon Code: MAYDAY

Edit Those Free Article Backlinks If Needed

After helping one of my blog readers with her site today, I noticed she had several backlinks on some free articles she had submitted that were not using effecting anchor text links in the bio footer. MOST of the major free article sites will let you edit both your article and article bio footer links should you need to. Merely log into your account and navigate to the proper article edit area for that article ezine and just edit the article. Your major directories like ezinearticles.com and goarticles.com make this a very easy process. ezinearticles.com will need to be re approved, but should only take a few days to be live again. So have a look at the ones you have submitted and are live and see if you can improve that backlink anchor text, to better reflect what indeed you are trying to rank for, for the linked to page.

Is EzineArticles Targeting Ebay Niche Stores And BANS Sites?

Just got an email last night from a student of mine that informed me that one of his latest original articles was denied because links in his bio section pointed to what the editor termed "an auction site". Below is the email he received minus a few things to protect the students identity.

The article "XXX XXXXX XXXXXX XXXXXX XXXXXXXXX" is in
problem status because it links to an auction site. I'm sorry, we
are no longer accepting links to auction sites. Please edit the
article to link to a page which is not an auction.

Thank you,
Jacob
Member Support
http://EzineArticles.com/

Now I personally have yet to receive an email like this myself and am curious if others have received one similar. The current sites I submit articles for my own being use the Wordpress BANS templates and look more like a blog e commerce store than a BANS store. Not sure if that is helping it get pushed through or not or if this one editor just has it in for eBay niche stores.

If you have received a similar response from Ezine Articles, please comment to this post. Before I initiate a full blown jihad on the EzineArticles forum or contact form, I would like to know how wide spread this is. While I do think articles should be denied that link to thin sites, I know for a fact my students site offers great content on his sites as well. If ANY site offers value more than just auction listings and ads, it should be accepted in my opinion. Why else submit free unique content to article directories, if not for the backlink? I think we need to get to the bottom of this quickly.

Have you been denied from EzineArticles because you link to auction listings?

Making A Good Article Directory Submission Bio

Article submissions to free article directories as most know is a great source of backlinks for your Build A Niche Stores. I see many submissions though that do not take full advantage of the links available in the bio section footer. First and foremost, make sure to read the submission rules of each and every article directory and make sure you know what type of links are allowed and how many you can have. These rules differ from directory to directory. Some will not allow html links at all so in that case make sure you use the proper format. For directories that do not allow html make sure to use the full domain including the hypertext transfer protocol or the http. So that would look like this:

http://buildanichestoreblog.blogspot.com

Other directories that do allow html in the bio footer often limit you to a max of three links. Make sure to utilize as many as allowed and deep link to pages in your store with the target keyword phrase in the anchor text for each link. If I were writing a bio for this blog and were allowed 3 links it would look something like this:

Soggy owns and operates a Build A Niche Store blog, where he offers Wordpress Build A Niche Store templates and standard BANS templates for sale.

Simply html code to make a link is below:

<a href="http://www.google.com">Google</a>

Of course there are word number limits in the bio section as well, so make sure to stay within the rules.

10 Google Trusted Article Directories

Article submissions in the world of SEO and Build A Niche Stores is here to stay. Most people do not have the time or money to pay for total syndication of their articles so I have compiled a list of 10 Google trusted article directories. These should be on your short list to submit to. By trusted I mean at the time of this post all directories listed have what are called site links.

When submitting to these directories I suggest you make sure it is original content and that you rotate out the links in your bio to point to as many pages in your store as possible and make sure to vary the anchor text on those links. This is the best way to take full advantage of these top directories and the links they allow you to have. Make sure to thoroughly read the rules of each site. Submitting to these 10 only will make a difference. These are all popular directories and it is likely your article will be picked up by bloggers or other webmasters and published on their own sites with the backlinks still in tact. So if you are cramped on time or cash, make sure these 10 are on your short list.

Ezine Articles
Go Articles
Ezine Hub
Search Warp
Articles Base
Buzzle
Amazines
Article Biz
Article Alley
Article Trader

Making Use Of The Info Domains

I have read where quite a bit of Build A Niche Store builders have suffered getting info domains deindexed for the time being. Some have made it through and most have not. Luckily I did not get caught up in this on BANS stores, but do own a couple of info domains myself. It could be a Google glitch or it could be a filter on Google as well. Personally I feel Google will let these creep back into the index over time. Perhaps a solid backlink or two will get them back in. Here is my suggestion for those uneasy with it.

If the domain name is niche specific in nature, I suggest putting a niche specific directory up on the domain name. You really have nothing to lose. There are great free scripts out there, more notably PHP Link Directory. If you can set up a Build A Niche Store, this script is a breeze. I am sure you are saying not another stupid directory, but I will tell you that there is a shortage of good niche specific directories out there. I would populate the directory with 12 to 20 good categories and fill in some links in each category. Throw up some Google ads and a few niche specific ad banners from Pepperjam or Commission Junction and let it fly. I would also set it to demand reciprocal links for submissions as well and set the feature link price at about $3.00 each. Demanding reciprocal links from like sites should not be a problem, because even I have no problem linking to a site on a link trade that is in the same close realm as I am. The best part about being the niche directory owner is you can also link to your own BANS store. Perhaps you have moved the initial build to a top level domain already. If you haven't, this might not be a bad idea. Lets face it, you already bought the domain, so why not take an afternoon at put it to work for you. Google likes niche specific directories a ton more than the standard all encompassed crap that is out there. Make sure the submissions you receive pass the mustard and are relevant to the directory. Do not take just any submission. You can also submit your directory to some of the directory list out there. There are a ton of list that will list you, just do a search for them. Also if you have a US Free Ads account, make an add asking for link submissions. Tons of affiliate marketers browse those as well. Turn those lemon info domains into juicy lemonade.

Go Deep With Articles, Blog Comments & Social Bookmarking Post

As we talked in the past about directory submissions, most only let you submit the root domain as a link. Over time you need to be getting as many backlinks as possible to interior pages of your Build A Niche Stores as well. If you are submitting an article to an article directory, most allow 2-3 links in the about/bio section of the article. Make sure you take full advantage of these and link to pages inside of your niche store with relevant keywords for the anchor text of the page you are getting a link to. Make sure with all comments on blogs you try to link to interior pages as well. A good tool when submitting to Social bookmark sites is Bookmark Demon. This tool will help automate this process and help in getting those deep backlinks out there in a hurry. I recently bought Bookmark Demon and have been very happy with it and it has already paid for itself with the results it produces. You never know when one of those backlinks to an interior store page might get a higher PR love from Google when then in fact helps pass that love throughout the rest of your store pages. It also helps in the overall backlink process and appears natural if not overdone.

Directory Submissions Explained

I see a ton of confusion related to link directory submissions and how you actually benefit from submitting to free directories. First of all these backlinks you get will provide very little traffic if any. Submitting to directories helps initially in getting the spiders to crawl your niche store and ensure you get indexed. Secondly by varying your anchor text of the links you are submitting helps slowly increase on how Google and other search engines will start recognizing you for search terms. It is always good to vary this anchor link text amongst 3 or 4 keyword phrases you are targeting ranking for. It is unnatural for a store to continuously show up with backlinks for just one anchor text, so make sure to vary it every 30-40 submissions. Link directory submissions is just one of the many evils needed in starting your climb up the search engines for specific keyword phrases. I hope this clears up some confusion on why you do these.

Free Directory Submission Software

I might have two post today time permitting but wanted to knock this out just in case my day goes long. I know many of you are on a tight, tight budget and all can't afford the link submission service that I use. Here is a great video on how to turn firefox into a quick and free form submitter for directories. You can use that along with this list of over 500 search engine friendly directories that are free and do not require you to provide a reciprocal links back. Also if you are that tight on cash, I expect you to sit there and submit to every last one of them. I would vary your anchor text and descriptions about 3 times through that list.

How Long Does It Take To Make Money?

I see this question pop up from time to time on the Build A Niche Store forum. It is unpossible to answer not knowing what you are doing, what niche you are promoting and how you are promoting it. I will tell you if you have defined your micro niche the right way, submitted to link directories, traded links with like sites and written a few articles for the article directories you should see results very quickly. Remember it is not how fast as it is building a niche store that adds value and is authoritative. Do not put time limits on it. Build, promote, learn and move on to your next site. Do not over analyze things as you will learn as you go.

Making your BANS store appear natural in Google

One of the toughest tricks in promotion of your Build A Niche Stores is to appear natural in your backlink building of traffic to your store. We all like to social bookmark and submit to free link directories, but do not go overboard too quick. Google knows you need backlinks, but also knows when you are trying to game them as well. 100 directory submissions a pop is plenty. Half will never get approved and the other half will be approved over time. Same with the social bookmarks. Just spread out your timing on these things and keep a record of when you did what. You can come back once a month and always add more, but remember that Google wants you to appear natural in your baclink building.

Do the dirty work

I see poster in the Build A Niche Store forum complaining all the time that they are not getting traffic or conversions. If you look deep inside yourself, I am sure that you are probably not doing the dirty work. What is the dirty work? The work involves writing an extra article and submitting it to the various free article directories and also submitting your site to non-reciprocal link directories. Also you need to have some unique, original content on site as well. In addition to those things, you need to attempt to do some link trades with similar type sites. I hate to keep giving you a slap of reality, but it is a reality you need to hear on a regular basis. There are no short cuts!! Do not follow the herds to the latest and greatest thing. DO WHAT WORKS FIRST, then play with the other things.

Don't give free directories a second chance

Let's face it, submitting to directories is not a fun job. I use directory submitter standard to go through and submit. On the flip side while I go through and am submitting, if a link is down or they have switched to pay or claim to being backlogged, I simply hit delete and will not go back. If they claim to be free, they better be free. There are a million of ones out there that will gladly take your submission, so do not waste anymore time than you have to. I feel we are doing them a favor of having our quality sites listed. Directories are really only good for a little backlink juice. You are not going to get much traffic from them. My rant is over for the day.

Directories and you!

Everyone always clamors to submitting to directories for back links. What a lot of people do not understand is they do not hold much weight anymore with Google. I would limit to only submitting to PR5 or higher free directories and in no way would I submit to a directory that requires a back link from me. The only sites you should be linking to are sites in your niche. You are much better off paying Yahoo and getting into their directory, as it holds more weight. sometimes it can have an effect of 50 back links as it is a highly trusted directory in Googles eyes.




You will notice in the pictures above how trusted directories show up in Google searches. Back links from these type of directories hold great weight. Yes, most are paid submissions, but if you are serious about your BANS store I suggest paying the price!