Planting Seeds in All the Right Places, Continued

The main difference between a search engine and a directory is human intervention. With a directory (such as Yahoo), a human being reviews the submission and decides whether to accept it. With a search engine, no human intervention occurs. It's an entirely automated submission process.

The most widely known directory is Yahoo, though many hundreds of others exist as well. These include The Mining Company, LookSmart, and Magellan. To locate directories that are right for your site, take a look at Yahoo's amazing list of directories.

Now is the time to get subject- or topic-specific, too. A great place to begin looking for subject-specific directories, search engines, and other resources is the DirectoryGuide maintained by the folks at Submit-It. It will give you a sense of the process and can help you find that perfect industry-specific search engine. Don't be lulled into thinking they cover everything, though. I can assure you from experience that they barely scratch the surface.

If all this research has you dizzy, don't forget you can hire help with submissions. For more information, check out the list of paid promotion resources published by Steve O'Keefe.

DirectoryGuide
Search for directories in a certain subject.

SEARCH.COM
Lists subject-oriented sites and directories.

I-Sleuth
Find directories by subject.

Beaucoup
Features over 350 search engines organized by category.

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