Well one thing my little editing break is allowing me time to do, for better or worse, is its allowed me to add some content to this blog. One thing I have always offered on my editing website is a “Tips For Website Suggestions” section for submitters, to help an editor find their suggestions faster.
It is no secret that the ODP allows for public suggestions of sites for consideration, nor is a secret that the public suggestions are but one small resource that editors can use to find and list sites. It is also not a secret that public submissions can sit waiting for an editor to look at them anywhere from a few days to several years. This really does vary depending on the category and the quality of resources found in the sites being suggested. What does this really mean? Simple, some categories have public submission pools that are extremely useful making the public suggestions a vital resource, small regional localities for example. Other categories however, have submission pools made up of nothing but spam and other unlistable suggestions rendering them useless resources for building categories.
There is no way to insure a speedy review time for a suggestion, but there are things that may be useful in helping call an editors attention to a site of value sitting in a pool of otherwise useless resources. The following are a few personal opinions that I find useful when deciding on whether to seek out sites on my own or review some waiting in unreviewed. They may not be shared by any other editors, and are not going to guarantee a listing or even a faster review.
Before you suggest your site
- Make sure you have selected the smallest most relevant sub-category. Sites submitted to the wrong category often spend a large amount of time in unreviewed, then are moved to the more appropriate category and sit in unreviewed again until someone has a chance to review.
- Do not submit multiple times. Multiple submissions of the same URL are considered spam and will be deleted rather than reviewed. Only the most recent submission will be retained for future review and in most cases that review will not take place immediately because all of the editors free time was just spent removing the duplicate submissions. One resubmission, for the purpose of correcting a category, URL or fixing a better title/description is not bad and will not be treated as spam. Spam is when there are several (sometimes hundreds) of submissions from the same submitter or their agents of the same site in hopes that one will be reviewed quicker. In these extreme cases, the sites are all deleted, the sites will be tagged as spam and therefore not considered listable.
- Make sure site is complete and functioning. Sites “Under Construction” cannot be added if there is not sufficient working content. Sites that have a wealth of dead links, links that are not functioning or are out of date will not be listed. Providing good location information is recommended as well. It is much easier (particularly in Regional) to list a site when there is a clear presentation of contact information showing actual location which includes address and phone numbers (where possible).
URL
- Use the “true” URL of the site. Do not use a redirect URL or a “Deep Link” of the site. A redirect is most commonly a vanity URL that when entered redirects to the “true” URL and “Deep Link” URL is a URL of a sub-page within the site. Both are not listed, only the actual URL (Homepage) will be listed. Submitting one of these will result in a longer review time, while an editor searches for the actual URL to list.
- Use the shortest URL possible. Drop unnecessary URL information such as /index.htm unless they are required to open the home page.
Title
- Use the actual name of the company, organization or individual the site pertains to.
- Do not use any promotional or hype wording.
- Avoid using terms such as The, Homepage, Site, Our, My, or Best, Greatest, etc. in the title.
- Do not use all UPPERCASE lettering.
Descriptions
- Write brief, clear and concise descriptions for the category.
- Spelling, grammar and punctuation are a must and are required for descriptions to be accepted.
- They should not include any hype or promotional wording.
- Do not use repetitive words (key-wording) or repeat the category heading in the description. These are viewed as hype and will cause the editor to re-write the description.
- Do not use unnecessary capitalization or abbreviations.
- The descriptions should describe both the company, organization or individual and describe what the site offers.
- The formula for a good description is simply Description = subject + content.
Nothing above is a magic bullet for getting your site listed or even reviewed quicker. These are just my opinions of what makes a site more appealing for a review. Hopefully it will help you in suggesting your site.
) commenter, “Pear” darling I am not a woman at all. At least not according to my wife. I find it quite humorous that in the last week or so I have:
