by Michael Manley
Directory Marketing is a little known term which gets kicked around a lot and can be taken to mean different things. Internet marketers would call Directory Marketing an avenue to make money by building many different types of niche directories and embedding them with Google Adsense Ads and making money from it. While this is an effective practice, there is another way to look at Directory Marketing. You can build quality backlinks with web directories and they will help market your website by enhancing your search engine rank and position.
Directories might appear to be nothing but a link farm to some, but the reality is, a superbly established SEO Friendly web directory can be the M16 in your SEO arsenal. Whyis this? The understandable reason why, is a directory which hand approves website for the directory, can create a high value source for internet visitors; and Google and most other search engines know this. Thus, when you submit your site with a web directory, it gets instantly recognized as a qualtiy backlink to your site.
What is a value added or quality backlink? By looking up the Pagerank (PR) of the sites you submit your site to, you can check the value of your backlink. The essential part is submitting to a decent range of sites which vary in Pagerank to give your backlinks a even flow and not a rigid or pre-planned appearance. You definitely want more PR5's than PR0's, but there is a method to our madness here.
Different methodologies in your lisitng plan will get you further in the long run. A lot of directory webmasters are very keen about enhancing their own Pagerank and will stop at nothing to get to a higher rank. This is awesome when you get in on the ground floor of a directory which jumps up from a PR0 listing to a PR5 in a short time. Instant link popularity for your indexed site and a natural graduation of your site's status. Also, you might jump into a situation, like the Aviva Directory, which only accepts paid listings and has a 14,000 rank in Alexa and a PR6 rating.
Submit your site in as many directories as you can. The essential part here is not to do it too quickly. You do not want to hire a freelancer or submission service and have them list your site to 500 directories in 3 days. Google looks at this like link bombing. Search engines will think you are trying to work the system to get a higher rank and then delist your site, rendering your hard earned backlinks to mean absolutely nothing.
Submit your site mainly to Free Directories, but also use Paid Directories, especially Bid for Position Directories as the value in these types of directories is only starting to be seen. When submitting your site, remember the importance of using anchor text. Identify your site's specific string of keywords and start with about 5 solid word combinations which fit. Do not just use one word listings. ALway use 3-7 words as this creates keyword doorways to your site via the search engines.
Understand, creatin quality backlinks is simple. Just make sure you have a plan and realize it takes some time. Backlinks are not created overnight, but building them through Directory Marketing will help you create higher quality ones.
Mike has several highly rated and well established Free SEO Friendly Web Directories, Article Directories, and he is an authority on <a href="http://www.totalwebpro.com">Building Backlinks</a>. This and other <a href='http://www.uberarticles.com/home.php?id=15820'>unique content backlinks articles</a> are available with free reprint rights. | 
