How to advertise your directory submission service business in forums?

Directory submission is a very popular off page Search Engine Optimization – no doubt. Earlier I’ve talked about Off Page Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in details. Anyway I’m not going to talk about it this time; rather I will try to discuss about different aspects of Directory Submission as a profession.

I’ve been an active member in different SEO forums, iWEBTOOL Talk, DigitalPoint, SEO Forum, UKWebmasterWorld, iGuides Forum, Computer-Juice. Everyday at least 5/10 threads are posted offering directory submission service. But few of them manage to promote their business and earn some money. I’ve tried to find out their business planning shortcomings. Let’s talk about business:

1. Decide type of Submission Business: submission business of may be of different kinds – Directory Submission, Search Engine Submission, Social Bookmarking submission. Personally I’m not a fond of search engine submission, as in my personal opinion only 4/5 search engines matters in SERP, Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask – that’s all. So it would be a good business plan. Social Bookmarking submission is a nice option to business but please make sure all your accounts are created and all the bookmarks are submitted from different IP otherwise there is a high change of account ban. As directory submission is the most popular SEO method, everyone is interested to have this business and it can be done for less effort. I’m going to talk mainly about directory submission and its attractive advertisement in forums.
2. Do Some Research: before jumping in adding directory names in your directory list, try to do some research. Though PR is not related with SERP, still webmasters like to see higher PR directories in submitter’s list. So try to search high PR directories those accept free regular links and group them by PR. Even you may research on their number of backlinks and add the numbers against the directory name.
3. Join high traffic forums: high traffic in SEO forums means high percentage of success rate. Sign up for high traffic SEO forums like, DigitalPoint Forums, SitePoint Forums, HighRanking Forums, iWebTool Talk, SEO Forums, UKWebmasterWorld Forum etc. Don’t just advert your business or offer your service in your 1st post, in first post introduce yourself and read marketplace rules from FAQ sections. Otherwise advertisement without having knowledge of forum rules may lead to account ban. Generally most of the forums allows to post thread in marketplace section after a certain number of post, so be patient and carry on posting thread or comments, but PLEASE DONT SPAM.
4. Thread Posting: after you are eligible to post in marketplace section, please keep in mind a format for your post, don’t just worthless post – “I want to submit your website in 100 directories and I’ll charge $15″ – no it’s not a professional way to approach and it have less success rate.
   
   Threads should have the following sections:
   1. Title: a nice title will increase the rate of success, so please careful about the wordings in title. Please mention number of directories, PR range and Service Charge etc. Example: 150 PR7-PR2 Directory Submission Service for Just $20.
   2. Introduction: just few words about you or your company and some past track records. Example: We have been providing directory submission for last 2 years with a great success and trust. We have list of 150 SEO friendly PR7 to PR2 directories … blah blah.
   3. Features: this will have some features about your submission service, like 100% manual submission, detailed report provided after job done, total number of different PR directories etc.
   4. Scheduled Time: please provide an exact time you need to submit websites to all those directories. Time should be less than a week. Don’t mention any unbelievably short time span.
   5. Price: check what other people are charging for submission service. Even though their price may look low, you should start from lower price. After you have completed a number of jobs, you may charge more. Ask for a regular price to single website and a discounted for your multiple website. Again you may ask for a special discounted price for first 10 or 15 people.
   6. Payment Method: Please make it clear what you want – do you want payment after submission or otherwise. Again what would be the method of payment, paypal, cheque, moneybroker etc.
   7. Required Information: this is the most important part. Please don’t forget to mention the data you need from the members:
   1. Website Address / URL
   2. Title – 70 to 90 characters
   3. Description – 150 characters
   4. Meta Keywords – some directories accept Meta keywords, so it’s safe to ask for the keywords at the beginning. Around 100 characters separated by comma.
   5. Meta Description – same as keywords, but characters count within 150 characters.
   6. Owner’s Name
   7. Email Address
   8. Category name
   9. Subcategory name

5. After Submission Service: as soon as you finish submission, please send your report to buyer. Don’t forget to inform them some directories take 2 days or more to accept links. Report should contain directory URL, submitted category, submitted subcategory, possible date and time etc. If your buyer pay your service fee without any delay or was friendly in communication, don’t forget to award them buyer’s iTrader reputation and encourage them to reward you iTrader reputation too. This number will show how many sellers / buyers were happy with your service. In future, you may mention this number in introduction section as well.

I hope this article will help you to establish your directory submission business. Please make sure you give extra attention on thread posting. I have seen professional threads have excellent success rate even though they might be charging more the usual price.

Sometimes, I talk like a SEO guru, but trust me I’m not. I just pretend … hahahaha!