How can DMOZ find us

Whether or not we can submit

[Powdork]

Given the current state of DMOZ submissions and the fact that editors seem to prefer finding our sites naturally rather than through submissions, how do we make our sites stand out and say "Here lizard lizard lizard; here lizard lizard lizard"? Personally, when I am editing (at another directory) I find the local or topical niche directories to be an invaluable source for finding many sites on a particular subject. Also useful are the organizations that support a particular trade or industry. Chambers of commerce would also fit in this category.
What do you consider good ways to be found, or better yet, as editors, how do you prefer to find sites?

[John_Caius]

As an editor looking for sites, I'm not usually looking for any old sites to add to the category, I'm usually looking to see if there are any gems out there that we haven't got yet.

It's a fair bet that sites linked from highly reputable sources, such as the BBC or online newspapers are worth reviewing. However, most commonly I still utilise the Google search function typically with a multiple word phrase and will often drill down ten pages or more to find quality content on unoptimised sites.

[victor]

For some of the topical categories I edit, I find Teoma is a useful source of good and new sites I wouldn't otherwise know about. I also keep an eye out on various bulletin boards, chat lists and so on.

For the regional categories edit, I keep my eyes open: URLs in shop windows, sides of trucks, ads in local papers, etc. I occassionally look through the town council's sites, Chamber of Commerce etc. But they are usually way behind -- I think they are mining DMOZ.

[Powdork]

Perhaps it is different here. I often find sites in the chambers that are unoptomised and not listed in search engines. It seems businesses sign up for the networking oppotunities and are asked if they have a site to link to. Often times these end up being sites with no other marketing going on. Of course this is for relativelysmalltown. I imagine it would be very different for larger cities. Also, i am with a much smaller directory, so the chances of finding sites that aren't included already is much greater. That makes hopping from site to site a good way as well.

[flicker]

It depends on the topic... I usually Google way down in the same way John Caius describes, but in regional or academic categories, those niche directories can be great.

My #1 recommendation for getting an unsolicited review from the ODP is "make sure your site doesn't look ANYTHING like an affiliate farm at ALL"... if it's sitting in unreviewed I'll take a careful look at it before junking it as an affiliate, but if I'm surfing for sites myself, I don't even bother taking a second look at anything that looks suspicious.

In the same vein, my #2 recommendation would be "make sure the original content is RIGHT THERE and REALLY OBVIOUS from the VERY FIRST PAGE ON." If a page I surf to hasn't got any serious content on it, I'm unlikely to go digging around all the site's other pages looking for some.

Look out for sites that don't work with certain browsers or have an unskippable Flash intro, too.

My guess is that these things would help reel in *any* surfers, not just ODP editors, and would therefore be time well spent anyway...

[Shak]

Chambers of commerce

Chambers of WHO?

:0

Shak

[John_Caius]

Here's another good tip:

In my experience, quality sites have titles like:

Bob's furniture store - for all your furniture needs in Chicago

and not

Bob's furniture store, the best in the world, chairs, tables, wooden sideboards, beds, double beds, single beds, bookcases, shelves, pine shelving

so when browsing through Google results, I tend to bypass the second type. Overhype and keyword stuffing almost invariably means more hype, less substance.

NB so remember that too when you're writing your dmoz submission. It's in the guidelines for a reason...

[Powdork]

What about site to site? I am finding that if I find a really good site, it usually links to at sites of higher quality, especially those links within the content. When I find one, I usually just keep that window open while I explore where the leads will go.

[coconutz]

Local web designers portfolios.

[Powdork]

Local web designers portfolios.

I'll go try that.

[ettore]

Industry-related niche vortals. I happened to build up categories from scratch mining those "elbonian crystal widgets directory" sites.

Also, if your site has more than one language version, be sure that the links to the other versions are proprely displayed and visible, possibly in the homepage. Several category editors do send [other] language versions of a site in the proper World/ categories, and several editall+ editors tend to do the same, or directly list the site in the proper World/[something]/ categories if they speak the language.