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Get
Listed in YAHOO! - Learn the Secrets Today
By
Kevin Wakefield is the founder of WiredMarketer.com,
Edited by Rehan Ahmed Founder Rehan.com
Recent
web traffic surveys have shown that approximately 40% of all search
engine traffic comes from the Yahoo.com directory. The smaller your
company, the more important Yahoo is as a free traffic generating
source.
For Pakistani Companies i think its CRUCIAL that they should be
listen in Yahoo, to really take advantage of the service available
to us for FREE.
Would
you like to learn the secrets to get your web site listed in Yahoo?
Great! Keep reading...
Yahoo
is a directory, not a spider (Automated) generated search engine.
Each and every web site submission to Yahoo is evaluated by a "content
editor" - a human being actually looks at every web site and
grades it for worthiness (at least that's what Yahoo advertises).
Some people say that only 25% of web sites submitted ever make it
into
the Yahoo directory - but the actual percentage may be even lower
than that!
I'm
going to show you how to raise your odds of getting in. But, you
should know three things before we go on...
As
a Pakistani Web site, I would recommend you to go for Yahoo REGIONAL
directory category. This will make your site appear in Yahoo Much
Faster and you will have 100% more chances of getting listed.
The URL is http://asia.yahoo.com/regional/Countries/Pakistan/
I would
also recommend you to make a new category that Yahoo asks for your
site, I.e. say you sell Rice in Karachi and there is no category
for rice, so make a new category i.e. http://asia.yahoo.com/Regional/Countries/Pakistan/Provinces/Sindh/Cities/Karachi/Business_and_Shopping/Business_to_Business/Traders/Rice
This
will get your site appear more when any one search for rice only
even.
1.
Content is King.
Your
site should have an ample amount of "on target" information.
Your information should provide value to your users. Remember, a
human being will be visiting your site. They will be looking for
relevant, high value content (depending in which category you submitted
your site).
2.
Your Web Site Should be Professional.
Your
web site should have a professional and polished look. However,
this doesn't mean that you have to spend thousands of Rupees on
a web design. Your site should load quickly and include a simple,
but robust navigation system. You should use appropriate colors
and design elements. (Look at some of your competitors or other
web sites for examples of professionalism). And lastly, make sure
that you don't have any typos, grammar errors or spelling errors!
3.
Your Own Domain Name.
You
should have your own domain name, i.e., www.mycompany.com - although
Yahoo still accepts a small portion of sites with sub-domains (
www.geocities.com/yourname/ ). I *strongly* suggest that you have
your own domain name - not only for Yahoo – but because it
makes you appear to be serious about your business to everyone else
as well. If you are not a .Com yet go to www.freedomain.com.pk and get your self
a 100% Free .Com Domain name. I recommend the DomainZero.Com Service
for it as its 100% Advertisement Free also.
4.
Dear Links.
One
final comment here is that make sure that none of your sites liks
are broken, and that the site looks real nice and every thing, other
wise yahoo will NOT list your site.
You
should go to www.websitegarage.com
and run free test on your site to get a professional answer, about
broken links.
Also make sure that your site runs perfectly on internet explorer
and also on new and old netscape, or again yahoo will NOT list your
site.
Now
on to the instructions...
1.
TITLE
The
TITLE of your site is important. You should use your most important
keyword in your title. Make you title short, sweet and to the point.
I like to use a title that's less than 5 words, but use your discretion.
Do not add promotional language or hype! The Yahoo editor will cut
this out - or worse may even reject your site.
2.
URL
You
are limited to submitting one URL per domain. And in most cases,
you should submit your root URL, i.e., http://www.mycompany.com/.
If you want to submit a URL other than the root, you'll need to
justify it in the FINAL COMMENTS section (see below).
3.
DESCRIPTION
Your
site DESCRIPTION Meta Tag should be less than 25 words. And you
should use your most important keyword at least once in your description.
But, I'm going to give you a tip... use 15 words or less - in one
sentence - with no commas. You'll be more likely to get *exactly*
what you want listed in Yahoo that way. If you use 25 words and
more than one sentence, the content editor may chop your description
into something they think is more reasonable. Lastly, just like
the TITLE, don't use any marketing hype - if you do - you run the
risk of being shut out of the Yahoo directory!
NOTE:
The use of your keywords in your TITLE and DESCRIPTION are very
important. When someone enters a search phrase in Yahoo, their search
engine looks for your keyword in the TITLE and DESCRIPTION you enter
when you submit your site to Yahoo – the search engine does
not look in any of your meta tags or anywhere on your site for the
keywords!
4.
CATEGORIES
Choose
your CATEGORIES on Yahoo carefully. Since you most likely have a
commercial site, you should probably start in the BUSINESS_AND_ECONOMY
section. You can list your site in two categories within this section
- use both of them! You should go to Yahoo ( http://asia.yahoo.com
) and search on your KEYWORD phrase or phrases and see what categories
pop up, Also search for your competitors and see where they are
listed. You should also drill down into some of the categories to
see where your site will best fit.
Decide
if there is another category which might be more appropriate for
your site. Once you chose your two categories, write down the category
URL's (or copy and paste into a blank text editor document). Put
these in order of importance, since Yahoo may only list your site
in one category.
5.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Make
sure you have all your CONTACT INFORMATION handy. Yahoo requires
your Full Name, E-Mail Address, Company Name, Company Phone, Company
Fax, Company Address, City, State/Province, Postal Code, and Country.
I would suggest you have this all ready in a text editor file, so
that you can simply cut-and-paste when you go to submit - this also
helps to avoid typos.
6.
FINAL COMMENTS
Your
FINAL COMMENTS can include a short info about your site or it can
include anything you would like to explain about your site. This
section will be read by the content editor, so this is your last
chance to convey information. Use a maximum of 200 characters in
this field!
OK, now your are ready to submit your site to Yahoo!!!
Connect
to the Internet, fire up your web browser and paste your number
1 rated category URL into your browser and hit "enter".
Congratulations, you should now be viewing the category page where
your site belongs. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on
the "SUGGEST A SITE" link.
You
are now on the "Suggest A Site" page...
Remember that you if you use asia.yahoo.com there are MORE chances
of you to get listed faster, then the www.yahoo.com.
STEP
1...
Your
category 1 URL should already be displayed, since you came from
that URL. Enter your TITLE, URL and DESCRIPTION. Follow the instructions
for each entry in each step carefully. Don't violate Yahoo's rules
or you may get bumped!
STEP
2...
Enter
your category 2 URL and follow the instructions.
STEP
3...
Copy
and paste your info and follow the instructions.
STEP
4...
Copy
and paste your info and follow the instructions.
Click
the "SUBMIT" button and you're done!
If
you aren't listed within 2 weeks, submit your site again. It's possible
that the Yahoo content editors just didn't get around to your site.
Keep submitting your site every two weeks - you won't be penalized.
If
you aren't listed within 8 weeks, check your web server log files.
Look for a visit from "add.yahoo.com" which is the Yahoo
spider that validates your URL. Next look for a visit from a referral
page "http://surf.yahoo.com/submissions/" - if you see
a log file hit, one of the Yahoo content editors has visited your
site. If you aren't listed within a few weeks after a visit from
an editor, your site was most likely rejected.
If
your site was rejected, you probably need to take a long, hard look
at your site. Can you improve it? Do you really deserve to be in
the Yahoo directory? Remember, Yahoo prides itself on providing
the *best* and *most relevant* content on the web.
If
you've done everything above, and still get rejected, is there anything
you can do? Sure - try the old fashioned way - telephone, fax and
snail mail! You'd be surprised at how effective this avenue may
be for you. Most folks never go this far - and if you do - Yahoo
may give your site a second look. Following is Yahoo's contact info:
Yahoo!
Corporation
3420 Central Expressway, 2nd Floor
Santa Clara, CA 95051
USA
email:
url-support@yahoo-inc.com
Telephone
Support for URL Listing: (408) 731-3333
Tel: (408) 731-3300 8:30am-5:00pm PST
Fax: (408) 731-3301
Remember
to build your case and support it with FACTS! Use stats like site
visitors/hits, testimonials from customers, and independent reviews
of your site. Be honest with them and promote your case.
OK,
now lets assume you get into the Yahoo directory. Take a second
and pat yourself on the back - your site should show immediate traffic
from Yahoo! And you should have received an email from Yahoo that
looks something like this...
"The
URL you submitted <url:http://www.mycompany.com/> has been
added to Yahoo! It will appear after our next update..."
Hey
partner – you’re in Yahoo! Simply by following the procedures
above, you've turned your web site into a heavy hitting, net traffic
site!
Happy
surfing.
About
the Author
Kevin
Wakefield is the founder of WiredMarketer.com, http://www.wiredmarketer.com,
a free resource portal targeted to home based internet business
owners, web marketing professionals, and aspiring entrepreneurs.
He also publishes a companion ezine, "Wired@Home", which
is sent to his net friends once a month. You can subscribe at http://www.wiredmarketer.com/newsletter.htm
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