Hello vegashighriser-ga.
I hope I can clarify and answer your question since I am one of the DMOZ editors.
First of all, you are talking about indexing, which comes AFTER your
site gets accepted into DMOZ.
Now let?s get to the point.
Here are several suggestions by following which you will make your
getting into DMOZ much easier and possibly even faster.
1) You should understand that DMOZ editors are busy people most of
which are volunteering at DMOZ in their spare time. I hold a full-time
executive position at a PR agency and have tine to manage only few
DMOZ categories--one of then has just over 80 sites in it.
2) With that comes the next point: make job of DMOZ editor as simple
as possible, meaning make it possible for him/her to approve your site
with just one click. How? That is a great question! And the answer is:
* FIRST
Find the most related DMOZ category for your site. Choose more
specific category rather then submitting to top categories (most of
them are closed for submission anyway).
* SECOND
Study naming patterns, descriptions in the chosen category:
formatting, informational layout, what and how the information (often
revealing a commercial offer) is presented in the way that does not
sound like an commercial ad or a list of services, provided by your
firm. There are clear guidelines that DMOZ editor have to scrupulously
follow while editing submissions. Editors get penalized and often
loose the right to be DMOZ editors for abusing those rules. That means
that if you copy the style, formatting and language of already
approved sites in the chosen category you help editor to do his job.
As a DMOZ editor you can always see and feel if person who submits a
listing has done the ?homework?. It makes us smile, check if the
information provided corresponds to what the site really holds, if the
site works, possibly fix small inaccuracies and approve it?all within
a minute or two.
You should also know, that some editors show up at their category once
a month or so, officially an editor has to work on her/his category at
least once in FOUR months period. That alone explains the delays with
some approvals. Plus if an editor sees that she has to completely
rewrite a submitted description and she has only limited amount of
time, she often skips over that submission to one that needs less
corrections.
So, do your homework and compose your submission mimicking those
listings that has been already approved.
* THIRD
Les?s say you have submitted your site ONCE in a RIGHT category and
your title and description reflects the style adopted by DMOZ
directory. What is next?--you ask. You have to be patient and wait for
at least two weeks. (You also can check the date of last category
update shown at the bottom of the every DMOZ category page to get very
rough notion about how often the category is updated).
Before there was a possibility to query about the status of your
submission at <a href=?http://resource-zone.com/forum/?
target=?_blank?>A Public Forum Sponsored and Moderated by ODP (Open
Directory Project) Editors</a>. That possibility is now officially
closed, but you can still pass by the Forum and AFTER studying the
style of communication there. Register and find a discussion related
to your category, perhaps it would be one of the Regional forums?there
to my knowledge requests about the status of submissions are still
posted and replied. BUT FIRST find a discussion where among latest
posts you will see status of submission queries and ANSWERS. You
surely will notice that just polite and patient questions are
answered. For example the site of the <a
href=?http://promo-ua.com/eng/? target=?_blank?>PR & BTL agency
?Formula of Success?</a> I work for has been approved (from the second
try!) in two weeks after submission and a polite question posed on the
Forum to the top category editor.
But do remember, that since several months that status requests are
not official any more and no editor is obliged to respond to your
request.
*FOUR
Here I will give you another tip, that can be fatal for me as a DMOZ
editor (hopefully it is just a joke).
If none of the above worked you can actually contact the editor of the
category where you have submitted your site. The contact form can be
found under a link located at the bottom of the category page?the link
over a USERNAME of the category editor. At the page that opens you
will find a name of editor (use it to personalize your letter :) and a
line:
Email: Send to USERNAME
Click it and write your?I must state it again?polite request. You can
also send a copy of your request to DMOZ staff, but I would not
suggest it for a regular status-of-submission request. Please, never
abuse that contact form. Send your request only once and only after
you have tried every step I have mentioned above, after waiting at
least 2?3 weeks.
NOTE
If none works, you should revise your submission and submit it again
BUT NOT EARLIER THAN 2?3 MONTHs AFTER THER FIRST SUBMISSION.
Remember:
? be patient;
? be polite;
? choose your category right;
? do not try t submit mirrors of the site (under different domains,
redirected or other sneaky ways that include but not limited to
creating a separate domain for a section of a site, for full list of
those NOT TOs read the DMOZ rules)
? yes, you can submit different language versions of your site to
corresponding Regional or World categories;
? do not submit sites under construction, doorway pages e t.c.
P.S.: there were talks about bribing of DMOZ editors. Please, do not
even try. Just the thought of it ruins the whole purpose of the Open
Directory Project, a small part of which I am very proud being of.
Good luck with your submission and business.
Sincerely yours,
<a href=?hhtp://mactep.name/eng/? target=?_blank?>Boris Khodorkovsky</a>,
business consultant in the fields of Public Relations,
usability and creative development. |
