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as far as I know, our site is not listed in any directory except for Yahoo (from the "old days" - entry is a bit outdated and I didn't bother so far to send them a recategorization).
Reading here about the importance of directory listings, the first thought is "What the hell are you waiting for?". Since directory listings seem to take a while to take up new pages, it might be a good idea to start to apply for listings NOW.
However our site is facing some major renovation, with lots of new areas of content added, with a US-branch added and with a third language selection added.
So I'm a bit reluctant to apply for listing now. What happens, when the editor visits the site and gets only old content? Well, the old content is not bad, and I'm not going to close down the site for two weeks and setting up "under construction" signs. But I AM going to change the CMS and therefore most likely the site structure will change - probably significant.
So should I better wait? The renovation - all in all - can easily take up to 8-12 weeks. Then again waiting several weeks to months to get listed?
Any advice?
So I'm a bit reluctant to apply for listing now. What happens, when the editor visits the site and gets only old content? Well, the old content is not bad, and I'm not going to close down the site for two weeks and setting up "under construction" signs. But I AM going to change the CMS and therefore most likely the site structure will change - probably significant.
Obviously who would love to visit a broken under construction site. My bet would be to keep the site active with all references to under construction pulled off. Build a new site in the background and replace the old one with new one without a downtime of any significant time.
I would suggest submitting immediately to the directories as waiting for almost 3 months is insane and if you get a listing in a directory in a week or so, it would take around 1-2 months for its effect to take place, such as the PR distributions, etc.
So the golden rule is to keep a clean working site, submit, build a new site in background, and overwrite without anyone knowing ;)
Good luck.
A site might be under construction yet already contain a significant amount of useful content. In such a case, I might decide to list, especially if I see that pages have been edited recently. On the other hand, if it says under construction, but nothing has changed in 18 months, the site gets deleted immediately.
You may know that a category hasn't been worked on in quite a while, and think it is "safe" to submit early. That might be the day that a senior editor gives the cat some time, and your submission gets deleted.
I realize webmasters are in an awkward position. They know many categories have long waits, and wanting to submit early is understandable. You might try this:
* get some useful, current, and unique content on the site
* submit
* "finish" the site (whatever that means)
* if not yet listed, submit again
Two submissions won't be interpreted as "spamming", especially if made a month or more apart. Even if an editor deleted the first submission, the second editor will likely see a note that says something like "site under construction". The work you have done on your site in the meantime will be apparant to the second editor.
"Useful and current content" is both subjective and bounded by obvious parameters. For example, let's say you submit a shopping site with lots of info about your products. However it doesn't yet have capability to accept orders. Your site does not yet serve a function, no matter how unique and cool the other stuff is.
-- Rich
