Help with dmoz

[cisslybee2012]

Hi,

I actually have a couple of issues I need help with. The first, is with dmoz. I'm trying to follow the instructions on their website to submit my new Yahoo! store that I opened just two days ago.

But when I click on their links, it just takes me from the page I started with, then to the categories page, and back to the starting page after clicking "suggest url". I actually tried to do this yesterday for the first time and it was okay. But I didn't submit my website because I was unsure of what category to identify my website with. And I didn't bookmark the page. Sigh.

I have what I consider to be a general merchandise store. I'm selling varied products under different categories, such as sporting goods, housewares, baby items, etc. It's sort of like a K-Mart knock off. But when I tried to find other websites like mine, using the search term "general merchandise" I got back "wholesale merchandise". This is what confused me and made me withhold submitting my site.

So I sent a message to Yahoo! to ask them to identify the type of store I have. I need to know this for sure before submitting my site to dmoz. But they haven't gotten back to me on that issue yet.

Now today, when I went back to dmoz to try, I get this page switching back and forth to one another. As I explained. What happened? Is it because I tried yesterday and didn't complete it and now they don't want to be bothered with me? Could that be it? I can't find a contact link on their website.

Organic seo is the way to go for me at this time because I have no money to invest in ppc, and I'm not sure I would if I did. There's a lot of ppc fraud going on. If I can get my site out there for free or practically free, I think that's the best way to go. If anybody has listed their site with dmoz, please help.

The other issue is with Yahoo! I started with the Merchant Starter Plan and they say that with that plan, you can't link to other sites, or something like that. Is there anyone else who is using Yahoo!'s merchant starter plan? Am I understanding this correctly?

If I am, than what do you think my chances are of being picked up by the search engines? To my understanding, the search engines prefer sites that are linked to other sites over ones that are not. The ones that are not linked to anybody get pushed down to the bottom of the pit. Am I understanding this correctly? Also, the search engines love content rich sites and/or sites that have a lot of pages; at least 100 or more. My site has about 300 pages, and is fairly content rich, with about half of the pages.

Anyway, I apologize for the long post, but I know practically nothing about seo. Any replies are greatly appreciated.




http://www.bargaintrekker.com/

[SunDevil]

Hi,

I actually have a couple of issues I need help with. The first, is with dmoz. I'm trying to follow the instructions on their website to submit my new Yahoo! store that I opened just two days ago.

But when I click on their links, it just takes me from the page I started with, then to the categories page, and back to the starting page after clicking "suggest url". I actually tried to do this yesterday for the first time and it was okay. But I didn't submit my website because I was unsure of what category to identify my website with. And I didn't bookmark the page. Sigh.

I have what I consider to be a general merchandise store. I'm selling varied products under different categories, such as sporting goods, housewares, baby items, etc. It's sort of like a K-Mart knock off. But when I tried to find other websites like mine, using the search term "general merchandise" I got back "wholesale merchandise". This is what confused me and made me withhold submitting my site.

So I sent a message to Yahoo! to ask them to identify the type of store I have. I need to know this for sure before submitting my site to dmoz. But they haven't gotten back to me on that issue yet.

Now today, when I went back to dmoz to try, I get this page switching back and forth to one another. As I explained. What happened? Is it because I tried yesterday and didn't complete it and now they don't want to be bothered with me? Could that be it? I can't find a contact link on their website.

Organic seo is the way to go for me at this time because I have no money to invest in ppc, and I'm not sure I would if I did. There's a lot of ppc fraud going on. If I can get my site out there for free or practically free, I think that's the best way to go. If anybody has listed their site with dmoz, please help.

The other issue is with Yahoo! I started with the Merchant Starter Plan and they say that with that plan, you can't link to other sites, or something like that. Is there anyone else who is using Yahoo!'s merchant starter plan? Am I understanding this correctly?

If I am, than what do you think my chances are of being picked up by the search engines? To my understanding, the search engines prefer sites that are linked to other sites over ones that are not. The ones that are not linked to anybody get pushed down to the bottom of the pit. Am I understanding this correctly? Also, the search engines love content rich sites and/or sites that have a lot of pages; at least 100 or more. My site has about 300 pages, and is fairly content rich, with about half of the pages.

Anyway, I apologize for the long post, but I know practically nothing about seo. Any replies are greatly appreciated.




http://www.bargaintrekker.com/

Classification is a tricky thing. Knowing that you have products of all sorts makes it hard to decide what topic to submit to.

i am going to redirect you to http://forums.digitalpoint.com/forumdisplay.php?f=66

When every i post my DMOZ questions they are answered.

Good luch

[cisslybee2012]

Thanks Sundevil. Your reply was very helpful. I clicked on the link in your reply, and then clicked on another link in that reply and inquired about seo services. I will definitely need help with the entire process of getting my site submitted and accepted by dmoz.

But I know that there are plenty of other sites out there just like mine, and they have to belong to a category. With help, I will able to locate these sites and find the right category for mine.

[RealStores]

Here are a couple of links to useful sites. Both were started by Danny Sullivan.

http://www.searchenginewatch.com <--- you can find a lot of information from basic to advance SEO. Danny no longer works for this publisher. He sold this site to Incise.

He created a new website (along with his long-time friend Chris Sherman) called http://www.SearchEngineLand.com.

These are great websites. Another site to review is http://www.grantasticdesigns.com/ Shari Thurow is a terrific SEO designer. She even wrote a book (Search Engine Visibility) you might want to purchase.

I hope this helps.

[The Old Sarge]

cisslybee,

As for your submitting to DMOZ ...

The first and foremost thing you need to know is that sites like yours belong in the general category "Shopping".

The second thing is, your site will probably never be listed. DMOZ does not list individual e-stores that are "attached" to bigger sites like Yahoo!Stores. Don't ask why and please don't debate the point. I've done it for years to absolutely no avail. DMOZ is firm and unmoving on this one.

Third, if you have a brick and mortor store that maintains inventory and does it's own shipping you might get the website listed in the appropriate category in "Regional".

As for the problem with the DMOZ site during your attempts to suggest your url, I can only say that DMOZ, like the rest of us, experiences periodic glitches, server problems, etc. Wait a day or so and try again if you think you can get listed.

Hope that helps.

[cisslybee2012]

Thanks Sarge, your reply was very insightful and helpful. I completely understand. I'm sorry that I took so long saying thank you, but I'm caught up in trying to get my website out there, and I'm faced with issues that I have yet to learn about. Today is the first time I've been back here since my last post.

So DMOZ is out of the question. I can live with that. I mean, I don't even know what the big deal is with being listed with them anyway, so I'm looking on to other options. But at least now I'm straight on where my site belongs, thanks to you. Yahoo refused to help me with that issue. When Yahoo store owners go to Yahoo with a problem they don't want to bothered with, they simply ignore you.

[cisslybee2012]

Thank you Michael. Your reply was very helpful. I apologize for taking so long to say thank you. But I've been a busy girl lately, and haven't been back here since my last post until today.

Anyway, I fully understand the concept of SEO and what it involves now. The only thing that's got me on the ropes right now, is building links. Yep, that's my present dilemma. I'm gonna go now and search for the subject on links and post a cry for help there. Thanks again!

[The Old Sarge]

No problem, Cislybee. I understand ... and you're welcome.