Directories have been around on the Internet for a long, long time. In fact, before search engines they were the primary way of finding what you were looking for on the Internet. Similar to a phone book, an online link directory contains listings organized by some manner with each listing containing a description and contact information. And just like phone books, a link directories primary purpose is to help someone find the information they are looking for.

When submitting to link directories you must keep the primary purpose of a link directory in mind. You don’t want to submit your link to directories where no one is going to find your link right? So how do you decide what directories you should submit to and which ones you should pass on?

1. Look at how the link directory is constructed. Is it eye appealing? Is it easy to find what you’re looking for? Would you use this link directory for anything other than submitting your link? These are all important questions to ask yourself. You want to submit your link to directories that are easy to navigate.

2. How visible is this link directory? Is it easy to find on the Internet? What’s the directories Alexa Rank and Page Rank? Where does it rank in the SERPS ( Search Engine Results Page ) on the major search engines ( Yahoo, Google, and Bing ). Where did you find this link directory? You want to submit your link to active directories with high visibility and regular traffic.

3. Does the link directory have a category that fits your website? Submitting your site in the proper category is crucial. Not only will it be easier for people to find your site if it’s in the proper category, but the search engines will also associate your website with the name of the category influencing what keywords you will rank for.

4. Are any of your competitors websites found in this directory? Are they getting any traffic from the directory? You want to submit to link directories that will send you direct targeted traffic. Don’t worry about what the link directory can do to get your site ranked higher in the SERPS because if the link directory is sending you targeted traffic you’re completing your end goal any way. Plus in general if the directory is sending you quality regular traffic chances are the increase in the SERPS will soon follow. If you’re not sure how to find out if your competitors are getting traffic from the directory simply ask them. It may seem nerve racking but 9 times out of 10 a webmaster ( competitor or not ) doesn’t have a problem giving you some information about a link directory.

So now you have a good idea on what types of link directories you should submit your site to. Before I end this post I leave you a small list of some of the best directories. Some are paid, others are free, and all of them have something unique to offer. In our next post we’ll be discussing another popular link building strategy. Thanks for reading and please feel free to leave comments.

1. DMOZ ( Open Directory Project ) – This directory is free, human edited, and can be very difficult to get in to.

2. Yahoo Directory – Arguably the best link directory on the Internet the Yahoo Directory will bring your website quality traffic and help you in the SERPS. However, it is a little pricey.

3. Best Of The Web – Best of the web is a great paid, human edited link directory that can really help your site get noticed on the web.

4. Search Sight – Some say that this is a search engine but it’s really a link directory with a search bar. Search Sight can really help you get some high quality traffic to your site.

5. Business.com – This is a great directory for B2B traffic. However, just like the Yahoo directory it is a little pricey.

First things first, before we continue you should read and have a good understanding of the major search engines ( Google, Yahoo, Bing ) webmaster guidelines. It is very important that you familiarize yourself with these guidelines so you understand how you should build your website and gain an understanding of what types of websites you be trying to get back links from. Here are links to these guidelines…

1. Google : http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769

2. Yahoo : http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/search/basics/basics-18.html

3. Bing : http://help.live.com/help.aspx?mkt=en-US&project=wl_webmasters

Once you’ve read and have a good understanding of those the next step is to truly gain an understanding of what a link is. So lets break it down….

<a href=”destination”>anchor text or image</a>

1.<a> : open anchor – used to define anchors and hyperlinks in html

2. href=”destination” : href attribute – defines the link address

3. anchor text or image : text or image that is click-able to take you to the href address

4. </a> : close anchor – closes the link

This is a link in its simplest form. There are many more elements which can be added that can affect the way the link is expressed and the value the link passes, but we’ll touch a little more on those in later posts. For now you should recognize that a link is really only meant to do one thing, and that is send a user from one point to another. This has and will always be the primary purpose of a link. A good link will direct the user to an appropriate page that corresponds with the content of the page and the links anchor text. So getting or placing links on pages with little or no traffic is worthless because the link doesn’t fulfill its main purpose, and hiding a link from users is worthless as well regardless of whether or not the search engines can find it because again it is not fulfilling its main purpose.

This concludes our first post on healthy link building. In our next few posts we’ll take a closer look at some of the common misconceptions about link building and begin to take a look at some healthy strategies to help any website get some quality back links. Thanks for reading and please feel free to leave comments.

1. Wordpress Store : Accompanying our new site we have added a Wordpress theme store. Throughout the year we will be offering both free and premium themes from our store, and will be adding new themes regularly. All premium themes will also come with support and have installation and customization options for a small fee. Prices for our premium themes will range based on a variety of factors including complexity but all will be offered at very affordable prices.

2. Blog : We’ve decided to add a blog to our new site. Through our blog we’ll be covering Internet topics ranging from web standards and SEO to web design trends and Internet news. Our blog will be updated with new posts every week so be sure to check back regularly for updates. You can also sign up for our RSS feed to get the latest information from our blog even faster.

3. Open Source Project : While we’ve always offered custom platform development we have never made an open source project which could be used by everyone. This is going to change in 2010, and while we can’t announce exactly what this open source script will be we can tell you that it will be some sort of content management system. We hope to have the script ready to launch for some time this summer.

In addition to the new things you’ll get from MR Web Design in 2010 you can expect to get more of the old things which have helped us be so successful in 2009. We still offer custom web design, web development, Internet marketing and web hosting services, and just like always we will continue to provide the best quality of service and experience to all of our clients. Thanks for reading our first blog post, and from everyone on the MR Web Design team we wish you a happy and healthy new year