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Does anybody have a definitive list of criteria to vet a site before submission to the Y! 'editors' (for want of a better word).
I would like to get it right before they take my money.....
Thanking you all in advance
Rusky
I don't know that there's a definitive list. For one thing they're looking for "unique content" and that could possibly have a subjective element to it. I would think that it must have unique content to even thinking about submitting for $.
The best advice I've seen is to print their instructions out and follow them to the letter, carefully crafting title and description according to their guidelines, and making certain to choose the correct category to submit to. Even if they say more words are allowed,imho it's best to keep it around 15. I would not go over 16; I once submitted one with 11. The more descriptive and precise it is, with the fewest words, the less there is for them to edit out.
There must be browser compatibility for *certain* and according to some, javascript navigation is not acceptable because of compatibility issues. Some surfers surf with it turned off, and your site must be viewable to all.
Make sure it's on a server with a good record of up-time. It must be accessible 24/7.
Keep the site free of hype. Descriptive, no hard sell. I've heard that it's best not to have products sold on the index page (which I wouldn't) and heard a long time ago that they like nice heading graphics. Never know what's 100% accurate with something like that, but it's a safe route.
Load time is very important. The quicker loading the better. The editors have been known to glance at the homepage and promptly leave, using "lack of unique content" as the refusal reason.
All links must work, no images must be broken. I'd hesitate to display affiliate programs. They just look commonplace and Yahoo looks for unique.
For load time, make sure the site is checked without a cached copy being brought up. A good idea is to have a couple of friends or associates check it on other computers with different browsers. You'll need to have it in a reasonable loading time for - yep some people still have 28.8 or 33.6 modems.
This is what I can come up with right off the top of my head right now, look through your chosen category to get a general feel for what's acceptable, and make yours equal or better.
You might also have a couple of people take a look at it and give a subjective, non-professional as well as professional objective opinion.
Hopefully someone will come along with a bit more to add to this. Meantime, run through all the posts in this forum, just about everything is covered.
[webmasterworld.com...]
-this is a pretty good one
Thank you very much for taking the time to answer.
That's a good project for me. Most of the guidelines have been mentioned and discussed in this forum, but we haven't compiled them together into a checklist. Thanks for bringing this up.
In the meantime, make sure you spend a LOT of time on crafting a good title and description with your main keywords mentioned as often as possible. Also, Marcia mentioned most of the main points.
Finally, try to add something unique to your site, something that no other site has in the category you're submitting to. This should make your submission "bulletproof".
Good luck, let us know how it goes!
I'd also make sure that all the target words that you've included in your description occur prominently enough on your home page that the editor will immediately see that your site corresponds to your description.
