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To Get Listed in Yahoo!
by: Willie Crawford
Getting listed in Yahoo! (The Very Top Search
Engine/Index) is a lot like getting a date with the most beautiful girl in high
school - often all you have to do is ask PROPERLY. I can make that statement
because I have NEVER submitted a site to Yahoo! that wasn't listed. I've read a
lot about how difficult it is getting listed, and how frustrating it is - so
maybe I am just very lucky. Then again, if you follow the same steps that have
ALWAYS worked for me, there is no reason to believe that they won't work for you
too. So I wanted to share with you in four short steps how to get listed.
The first step is ensuring your site is READY.
The staff at Yahoo! is very busy. A person has to physically look over your site
and decide if it's appropriate for the category submitted and if it's worth
listing. They get thousands of submissions to review. So begin by putting
yourself in the reviewer's shoes; if you would be unimpressed by reviewing your
site, then the reviewer probably will be too. If that's the case, fix the
problems with your site before submitting it. The reviewers are humans - with
all the quirks that humans are subject to, and you must account for that.
Site readiness means two major thing to me: (1)
It contains sufficient content worth listing and (2) It is complete enough that
it contains absolutely no dead links, and it can be easily navigated. Every site
should be under constant update - so that's not a real problem - just leave off
leave the unnecessary "under construction" gifs.
Most people who visit the internet are looking
for free information on some topic - furnish this information and your site
fills a need and is therefore worth listing. My main site is a perfect example
of this. It contains articles on internet marketing by a variety of diverse,
experienced authors. A surfer gets a lot of very useful CONTENT from visiting
and therefore my site is "worth" listing. I am constantly adding to this
storehouse, so it is never really complete, but it was ready for listing when
first submitted. Every link led to some real resource, and not a disappointing
"file not found."
After you know that your site is ready, step
two is simply submitting it properly. Using the Yahoo! search box, find sites
similar to yours. Click on the "suggest a site" icon and suggest your site in
the same category. Fill in all of the fields completely and accurately. You're
not going to fool the reviewer and if you submit to the wrong category you annoy
a very busy reviewer - and guarantee that you won't be listed.
Step three is probably the hardest - you wait.
While some search engines list your site within days, Yahoo! may take months. So
after you know that you have properly submitted your content rich, submission
ready site in the proper categories, you display a little patience.
But not too much patience; step 4 is
resubmitting. If your site isn't listed in about 6 weeks, resubmit. Keep
resubmitting until it is listed! That's partly how I can honestly say that I
have never submitted a site that wasn't listed - I am very, very persistent. In
marketing, whether on or offline, persistence is the key. Sort of like asking
that pretty girl out again - eventually she would probably say "why not." While
my main site at http://www.williecrawford.com was listed the very first time it
was submitted, and shows up under "INTERNET MARKETING 101" (with quotation
marks) as the first listing, I have client sites listed in Yahoo that I did have
to submit several times - but they all got listed.
It all boils down to realizing that of all the
search engines and indexes, Yahoo! generates the most hits. So it's definitely
worth the effort! You will not get listed if you don't submit your site, and you
probably won't get listed if you don't submit properly. Do it right the first
time and profit from this most cherished of listings. |
