Submissions to directories do not guarantee that your site will be listed. Directory editors are known to be inconsistent and unpredictable while reviewing and selecting the site for listing. They have their own policy to add or reject sites.

But there are some common rules that exist in every directory editor's policy. Knowing them in prior will increase your chance to be listed. Besides that you should prepare the information you need to submit accordingly to harvest the best result from directory submissions.

For both free and paid directories, you will need following information

- URL

- TITLE

- DESCRIPTION

- KEYWORDS

- FIRST NAME

- LAST NAME

- ADDRESS

- CITY

- ZIP

- EMAIL ADDRESS

Here are some guidelines to prepare the necessary information

When entering your website URL,some directories require you to include 'http://' , while others don't. Follow the instructions given there. This is important because many systems create your listing automatically and without the http:// your link may not work, while in the other directories your site may not work with 'http://'.

In any case a good title should never exceed 4-5 words. Using a long list of keywords as title (keyword stuffing), excessive repetitions and inappropriate punctuation must be avoided.

It is good to alter the title and description while submitting to different directories. Have multiple tiles of 4-5 words each. Avoid excessive repetitions and inappropriate punctuation in the titles.

Links are evaluated using the link description. Prepare the description in such a way that it matches the site. Directories vary in the number of words they will accept in a description. Thus, when you write your descriptions, write 7-, 10-, 15-, 20, 25-, 30- and 50-word descriptions.

Make sure, the most important keywords are in every description, but do not try and stuff too many keywords into the description.

Your web site needs to be in the most appropriate category. IF you don't submit to the right category, then yours will be discarded.

When selecting the most appropriate Directory category to submit your site to, conduct a search for your main keyword phrase and view the various related categories.

Study the sites listed within these categories and choose the category that is most relevant to or closely related to your site content. Some directories like ODP have specific Category Descriptions you should read before submitting, to ensure you have chosen the most relevant topic for your site.

Many directories require an email address to allow them to verify your listing better to use a free email address instead of a company one to avoid thousands of spam mails.

Create a text file with all of the submission information on it, and cut and paste this information to the boxes on the submission form. This will save time and will reduce the likelihood of spelling errors, which may cause your site to be rejected.

Manual directory submission is very time consuming and a boring task as well. You could outsourcing the job to a low cost area and devote your time to other important tasks of operating the business