A typical web directory, created using one of the dozen or so directory scripts on the market, usually contain various categories and sub-categories. The sites are listed in a category or sub category, in alphabetically order, sometimes on a first come first served basis. Some directories are based on a theme or a niche.

Most directory themes or niches seem to have been exhausted, leading to the emergence of a new kind of directory: bid for position directory. The idea behind bid for position is quite simple, the more money you bid for your site listing, the higher your site is listed, the top ten or so highest bidders are even listed on the homepage of the directory.

This is a dramatic departure from the first come first serve basis of the traditional directory, where you pay a flat fee for your site listing but you cannot influence how highly your site is listed. Bidding directories still use categories to determine where your site is listed, but the more you bid for your listing, the higher your site is listed on the category you choose.

Gradually, the bidding directory has gain prominence in the directory market, carving out a unique niche for itself on the Internet. There are now several thousands examples of bidding directories online, mostly powered by one of the leading bidding directory scripts on the market. The most widely used is a free PHP based bid directory script called Link Bid Script. Link Bid Script is search engine friendly out of the box, It is free to download, install and use. It comes with extensive support including free installation. Link Bid Script is supported via its support forum where you can register and post your support enquiries.

If you every decide to be a part of an evolving established Internet fad of starting a bidding directory, Link Bid Script could be your vehicle, you can download it free of charge from the bidding directory script download page.

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Developing such a website can often be a tedious task for web developers, but one solution is a pre-developed solution such as phpMyDirectory. phpMyDirectory offers web developers an easy way to jump start their yellow page style website with little effort. It includes features such as automatic sign ups and payments, content approval, business list importing, and many other features allowing the developer to make their directory unique.

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• March 13, 2008 -- SEO 102: Evaluating Web Directories (3)

Submit your site to relevant directories such as the Open Directory Project and Yahoo!, as well as to other industry-specific expert sites.

The problem is they only specifically mention two; the Open Directory project and Yahoo!. Both are very hard to get listed in, in the US Yahoo! offer an express inclusion for $300 which isn’t much help for those of us with UK websites.

There are a ton of directories out there after your money and even more free ones, so how do you evaluate them to work out whether it is worth submitting your site and parting with your cash. Read on and I will give you some tips.

1. Does the website look professional or would a visitor hit the back button immediately?
2. Is there evidence of editorial control? Are there typos in the entries or even worse irrelevant or inappropriate sites?
3. Is the site indexed by Google and the other main search engines?
4. Check some of the listings and see if any of the backlinks are being picked up by the search engines. e.g. use link:www.domain.com in Google.
5. Can you do some basic Search Engine Optimisation on your entry – some features to look out for:
   • the ability to create a unique page for your site with 200 to 300 words of content, some sites allow you to create several pages.
   • configurable Meta Description and Title for your page(s).
   • the ability to use html in your entry to create links to your site with appropriate Anchor Text and the ability to add Heading Tags.
6. Are the links”no-follow”? Or is a script used to track external click? If you don’t know how to check for this don’t worry, it would result in no results  being picked up by the search engines above (see 4 above).

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• May 12, 2008 -- Create a web directory (5)