We Can Help

[ihelpyou]

If you have a site and wish to submit it to Yahoo but are not sure if the site will get accepted, feel very free to ask in this forum.

Maybe we can give you tips on your site and help you get it listed in Yahoo.

[JuniorHarris]

I don't know much about Yahoo!, but I do think they require complete contact information on the webpage(s). This would include business name, phone number, address, etc.

[Hope]

Another bit of advice:

Don't use a lot of applications that require browser plug-ins.

[ihelpyou]

Don't have a front page with an extremely slow download time and make sure your site looks good with Netscape 4.04.

[Perfection]

Yup, just wanted to stress the points about making sure your site has its full contact info on it (and is easy to get to from the main page) and make sure the site fully works in all major browsers, since Yahoo reviews each site using Netscape, not IE.

[ihelpyou]

Have unique content. Give Yahoo a good reason to want to list your site.

[I.Q. bandit]

I don't think yahoo allows business/commercial sites submit for free. Can sites that have Misc. stuff still submit for free? or does everyone have to pay to get listed?

[JuniorHarris]

I had read that there may be some regional categories which one may still get added into for free, however I have no personal evidence. I'd be curious to know if *anybody* has had listings added for free on Yahoo.

[ihelpyou]

Yep, I have heard this also but do not know of any recently that have got in for free.

[Hope]

There are a few sites still getting in for free. Not many though. If you are selling something on your site, you don't have much chance of getting a free listing. Non-profits can still have a chance, but not a very good one recently.

[Mel]

I understand that you can get into some of the regional listing free, but the wait may turn your hair gray.

I put some overseas sites in for regional listings last week - I'll advise if they ever get in.

[ihelpyou]

Yes, let us know.

[Blue]

I have a site that I listed in the regional section for free, and it was indexed very quickly (about two weeks, as I recall), however, this was about 1 to 1-1/2 years ago.

[I.Q. bandit]

I don't understand this regional section. I've never heard of it before I came to this forums. What does it refer to?


Hope. Non-profits, so if I made a site that offered nothing, but free stuff I could possibly get listed?




P.S. I had a weird dream about vampires last night. Anyone know what this could mean?

[ihelpyou]

You probably watched a vampire movie last nite. :D

A regional listing in Yahoo is always easiest to get. If you dig into the directory you will find the regional listings like /states/Ohio/ or something like that.

Yes, a site that makes zero money has a chance to get in for free. I mean ZERO. No affiliate links, no banner adv., no nothing.... completely non-profit.

[I.Q. bandit]

No affiliate advertising? What if I had 99.9% free stuff and 0.01% affiliate advertising even then I wouldn't have a chance?



P.S. Part 2 ------ No that's the weird part I haven't seen a vampire movie in a good while. I think it means I have a sub-conscience desire to be immortal, or something. :scattered

[ihelpyou]

yea bandit, that is correct. If the Yahoo editor can spot the affiliate link, he/she probably will not allow you in for free...

[I.Q. bandit]

Man that ****s.

Ok what about this. Lets say I have my freebies site, and I don't have any advertising on it. Lets say that it gets listed. If I put up affiliate links after I'm listed would I get caught, and banned? Or what would happen?

[ihelpyou]

You could do that and it may work. I am not sure if I would risk it though cause if you are caught, they might not let you back in even if you paid.... don't know that. The question is pretty much up in the air.

[I.Q. bandit]

The worst they could do is ban that URL though right?

[ihelpyou]

Yes. Might be better off trying it with a disposible domain.

[Blue]

.....is....if your business or other site can benefit from local traffic, especially if you live in a rural area, do not discount these regional listings.

You have a good chance of getting a higher ranking in the regionals as the competition is not so fierce.

I have gotten some good hits from people looking to do business with a local company rather than one that's half-way across the nation or even the world.

[I.Q. bandit]

Are regional listings available in all the search engines?

[Web Witch]

I don't think "Are regional listings available in all the search engines" I really think it's how the search engines protocal. If they ask for a region, specify but then why does on have to be locked to a region, it's the Internet.....

[I.Q. bandit]

True enough. You all know more than I do. So slap me in my face when I say something dumb. ;)

[ihelpyou]

Give yourself another month of studying and you will be quick as a whip. ;)

oh, BTW, no question is too silly and definitely not too dumb! We welcome all levels of knowledge here. We can all learn from everyone. :cool:

[JuniorHarris]

No slapping allowed!~ I.Q. Bandit, just keep focused on learning and you'll be there before you know it. And to give perspective, I only started learning SEO around six months ago (Dec 2000)...so it's surprising how far one can excel in a very short amount of time. When I started I didn't even know the difference between a directory and a search engine!~ :eek: So at least you are ahead of me there!~ :D

[ihelpyou]

Yea.. it's amazing all the different backgrounds we all have.

bandit, just keep asking questions HERE and you will do just fine.

Oh, and, you should not leave here for any long periods of time as you might miss something juicy. :p

[Hope]

Long periods of time??? I was just here yesterday and I missed half this converstation. :circle: I have found that you need to check in every couple of hours or you get lost. :nerd:

[ihelpyou]

Good point Hope! I truly believe we all should just have a separate window ALWAYS open to these forums so we do not miss anything.....


:happy:

[JuniorHarris]

Did I miss something?!?:scattered

[Mel]

Hi All:

Just noted some comments about regional listings and thought I would put in my two cents worth.

Many of us sell products that we can either provide online or ship easily to anyplace on earth. For those who do that a regional listing make sense only if there are customer preferences for local companies. Web Hosting customers for instance often like to have a local company who they can contact easily.

BUT there are many businesses that cannot sell their services on a more than regional basis. Think about restaurants, auto repair shops, newpapers and so on, - their businesses are definitely regional and they actually might get more business by taking out regional listings.

[ihelpyou]

Good points Mel. We all have our different niches and markets to cater to. As a consequence, our efforts when marketing could be geared in different ways. What is good for the goose, may not be good for the gander.

[tgorski]

Our site, as www.explorewisconsin.com, is something of a portal that serves a variety of purposes. For one, we have a growing listing of members whoses web pages we host, along with a link to their web site, if they have one. We also offer a wealth of tourism information on our 72 counties statewide, including over 800 attractions, which is intended to be one of the draws for visitors to the site.

Is there any way to get listed in more than the 2 categories you get with Business Express?

And, given the use of .ASP pages to navigate our site, does Yahoo have a problem with .ASP pages? Or should we use submit category-specific doorway pages?

[ihelpyou]

I believe Yahoo would work the same way as the rest of the directories. As long as the page is relevant to the category, sure, they should list it as long as you pay them. :)

The .asp pages should be fine. The editors use Netscape 4.04 in most cases. Make sure your site works with it.

[highman]

We are trying submitting to 'extra' regional cats, ie. drill right down to your home town (there wasnt one for mine) and suggesting a new cat for your town which could show your site.

Let you know how we get on

[Lee]

Hi everyone!
Well I think I've followed all the advice on here for submitting to Yahoo. Could someone take a look and see if I've overlooked something...or if there are some areas I should brush up before I submit.
Thanks,
Lee
http://www.RSVP-etc.com :hi:

[ihelpyou]

hey Lee!

Looks good. They only thing that might be a concern that I can see is that your contact info is on the welcome.htm page. An editor might not see it. Can you put it at the bottom of your front page?

That is it!

BTW, you should make signature for your posts.

[thinksuccess]

First I would like to say that I've been to all the message boards and this one is the most active I've seen. Great Job everyone :cheers:

Make sure everything on your site is perfect in terms of what yahoo want's.

contact info on each page

company name as the title

being in the right category (do extensive searches to see if sites similar to yours are listed.)

use your yahoo email address (this is a technique of read about a few times. Don't know if it works but you never know)

make sure your site works in netscape 4.x

hide your java script in .js files

try and have keywords in your domain

These are all tips I've picked up.

--Craig

[ihelpyou]

Thanks for the comments! and thanks for the info! :)

[Lee]

Thanks Doug and Craig.
Doug I put the contact information on the front page. Wouldn't you know, the one page I didn't have it on in the whole site would be the one they'd require it for!!!
I do have a question about the title though. Craig mentioned that I should have my company name in/as the title. Well, I'm also getting ready to submit to Looksmart, and when I add my company name to the title, it puts it over 55 which is what I understand Looksmarts limit is. How bad will Looksmart butcher my title if I leave it the way it is?

[ihelpyou]

Your title can only be your business name when you submit to Looksmart. Make it this when submitting:

RSVP Wedding Planning Service

Just like that.

YOur page title is different than the title you submit to LS. They do not care what your html title of the page is. You have to submit a title to them so submit the above.

[Lee]

Doug, Ok...I was a bit confused by the meanig of title. I still need a little clarification on one thing though...the name of my company is RSVPetc.....does that mean the title submitted to them should be:

RSVPetc Wedding Planning Service

or as you say, should it be:

RSVP Wedding Planning Service

Sorry, I'm getting confused with all the different references to "titles" and "business names":confused:

[ihelpyou]

You are technically right, but leave out the ,,,, etc in the title when you submit.

[thinksuccess]

I just want to thank everyone on this board for all the usefull information. I used it and have been accepted to yahoo in exactly 7 days!!!

This was also my first time ever submitting to yahoo.

Does this make me an expert :thebomb:

Just Kidding

Thanks again everyone

[Lee]

Ok....Thanks for clarifying Doug. I just wanted to make sure I understood you correctly.
To those of us who are new to this, it can get a little confusing at times....but thanks to this message board, we're getting it....slowly but surely!

Thanks again! You've all been a GREAT help.
Lee
RSVPetc...
http://www.RSVP-etc.com

[Lee]

Congratulations Craig!:cheers:

I hope I'll be able to say the same thing in about 7 days!!!

[ihelpyou]

Way to go thinksuccess!!! May you receive lots of hits! :cheers: to you.

[thinksuccess]

Thanks,

Lee-- if you follow the rules to the "T" and read all of yahoos' submission guides and make sure everything is perfect before you submit you shouln'd have a problem.

--ThinkSuccess

[Blue]

:cheers:

[SubmissoR]

I just got one in too!!!
Probaly the last one for a while, now that it;s $299:cheers:

[ihelpyou]

Congrats SubmissionR! Hopefully you will be one of the lucky ones to see hits from the directory! :cheers:

[The Ney]

I dont know, but i have never found a problem with getting actually listed in Yahoo. They always except our sites. The only thing i put an effort in, besides the regular optimization of the meta tags, is how to make Yahoo-accepted title and description as similar as possible to my optimized version. It is the same kind of effort i put into making up a title and description for Looksmart. Then i spend some time arguing with the editors so i can get even closer to the title and description optimized by me, and thats it...
Of course one should never neglect the amount of praying and human sacrifising demanded in order to satisfy the Ranking Alghorithm Gods.
;)

[personalguides]

Hi!

Regarding to the forum description I would like to ask for your kindly help.

What should I modify on my business site to be accepted at Yahoo?

My site: http://www.budapest-tour.hu

Although this is a (Hungarian) business site in English, the category this site fits in is not BIZEX-only category in the Regional/....

Any comments would be appreciated!!!

Best Regards,
Peter

[ihelpyou]

Welcome to the forums personalguides! :hi:

As far as your site, it looks just fine to get into yahoo! I do suggest you put contact info either at the bottom of the page or make an "about us" page.

I would try to find a regional category to submit to. You need to have your address on the page. Others can maybe give more advice.

[MsSearch]

Site looks good...i see you added the contact info. :up:

I would suggest either a regional category or a travel/tourism category.

[MazY]

Originally posted by Lee
Doug, Ok...I was a bit confused by the meanig of title. I still need a little clarification on one thing though...the name of my company is RSVPetc....

Sorry, Lee. Totally unrelated to your question. But seeing your sig reminded me to go look at your site again. A small uninvited critique if I may?

I notice that your copy still starts off in a negative tense. "After the euphoria wears off and the reality settles in..." As you know, words can influence our mood hugely. The moment that I read that I physically felt myself thinking of negative things. Work, hassle and so forth. Not things that really (a) put in the right frame of mind to spend time reading a web site or (b) flex my credit card. I think I understand that you are trying to portray that it is this hassle that you take care of but I just can't help thinking that it's too negative for the first paragraph.

The other thing is more cosmetic. I can't speak for anyone else but I find that gray font incredibly hard to read on the pink background.

Nothing on the site is going to kill you but food for thought perhaps?

Bon chance...

[Added]

From the top of my head, I think the copy below still says what you are trying to say in your first paragraph but also feeds on the excitement that will naturally have anyway. Hope it helps.

"Your wedding is a big day. Perhaps the biggest of your life. Not only is there the excitement to deal with but the preparation and planning too. There's the dress, the flowers, the music and a whole host of other things that go to making your perfect day run smoothly."

[Blue]

:hi:

A little off topic but I noticed that on your front page, viewed at 800x600 you have a very slight horizontal scroll.

I checked your source code and saw that one of your tables was set to width="782". Since you're using Dreamweaver, just do a search for "width="782"" and try changing it to width="774". That should work fine at 800x600.

I didn't check all your pages, so maybe you should check them to see if there any others like this.

Also, the line where your email and mail address is, is aligned right when it would look better aligned center. You'll find this in a <div> tag.

Hope this helps. BTW the site looks great.

[personalguides]

Ihelpyou & MsSearch & Blue!

Really thank you for your efforts!

Blue! I made the suggested corrections!

I see some incompatibility with Netscape. I think it is important because I read somewehere that Yahoo guys were using Netscape. On some of my pages are little errors if I view them by Netscape, although they look good by IE. I don't know how could I solve this.

Two examples:
-on my Register Online page the backgroung of my radio buttons are false with netscape
-the helpful links page is totally bad with netscape contrary with IE perfect

Do you have any solution? Is it due to my programming skills or is it the fault of the Dreamweaver?

Thanks in advance!

Best Regards,
Peter Gal

[ihelpyou]

hey personalguides, I use NS 6.1 and the site seemed to be fine. However, the editors normally use NS 4.7, so you need to get it right for that.

[personalguides]

I also used 4.7 version and I found the errors with that. But absolutely no clues how to solve the incompatibilty problem. Is there any general solutions for this problem?

Have you checked the to examples I described with your netscape version?

Best Regards,
Peter

[ihelpyou]

You should make a signature file as I cannot find your link now. :(

[personalguides]

http://www.budapest-tour.hu

Please feel free to tell me if I am taking to much of your time!

Peter

[ihelpyou]

It looked exactly the same in 6.1 and IE so I cannot tell you about 4.7. I do not do any design work so I am a bad one for this anyway. :)

You could possibly try and reduce your graphic sizes if possible as it was slow loading in Netscape.

BTW, no one ever takes up toooo much of my time by asking questions. This is what the forums are for. :)

You really should make a signature though. That way your Url shows up in each post automatically. :thumb:

[Blue]

OK Peter, I got your back!

I was only able to work out the "Register Online" page problems tonight. I'll try to make time for the "Helpful Hints" page in the next few days.

OK, this is kind of involved but here we go:

1) Change your page background color by clicking on "Modify" ~ "Page Properties" and inputting the hex value of "#FFF4B0" in the "Background" field.

2) Insert a table at the very beginning (top/upperleft) of your page with the values of 1 row/1 column/100%width/BgColor="#99CCFF".

3) Center the contents of that table (you can do this in the property inspector when the cursor is inside the table)

4) Highlight and cut (ctrl-x) ALL the rest of the data on the page and paste it into the table from step 2/3.

5) Make the border values for all the tables in the yellow/**** sections "0" (zero).

That should take care of the netscape 4.7 problems on that page. You should maybe make a copy of that page first (just in case). BTW, do you have Dreamweaver set-up to preview in all the browsers?

Let me know if you need further help with my instructions, either email me or PM me.

Good Luck!!!

[personalguides]

Dear Blue,

What you wrote me to do, works perfectly!!
Thank you very much!

Do you have any idea to that 'helpful links page' which look awful on Netscape?

You are really cool in this stuff.

Best Regards,
Peter Gal

personalguides@mailbox.hu
http://www.budapest-tour.hu

[Blue]

Hey Peter,

I've been really busy the past few days but I'll get around to it ASAP. Glad to have been of some assistance. :D

[kaj]

Hi guys,

Just thought I'd throw in my experiences with submitting to Yahoo.

I'm in Australia, and because of a certain law Yahoo are unable to legally charge for business listings in the Regional/Australia cat. This means all Australian businesses can enjoy free entries into Yahoo.. and I know many, many who could not justify the $200 (AUD$400) it would cost to be listed.

I've found Yahoo to be normally prompt and friendly. Usually a site I submit will take between 1 and 3 weeks to be listed. One time I had a lot of trouble getting a site listed; I resubmitted twice over a period of 3 months but to no avail. I politely emailed one of the ladies there, who had recently added several sites of mine; and she replied within 2 days thanking me for alerting her to the problem, and the site was in.

I hear horror stories of it taking ages to submit to Yahoo in the States, and the listing fee; and am very grateful I live here!

A while ago when my titles and descriptions probably weren't quite as concise as they are now I experienced much longer waits for insertion into the directory. My guess is a brilliantly brief title and objective description about your site, smoothly integrating your keywords, will work wonders in a quick entrance.

Cheers,
Kaj

[ihelpyou]

Welcome to the forums Kaj! :hi:

Thanks for your good information. I've read a couple of posts from you now and you seem like you will help us a bunch in here! :)

[kaj]

Hi Doug,

Not a problem, just thought I'd toss in an international slant.

I hope I can be of assistance somehow; I've sure learnt a lot in the day or two I've been perusing the fora (the whole PageRank thread soaked up an entire morning! It's been a while since a forum thread has done that!) Hopefully I can return the favour at some stage.

I think I found ihelpyouservices.com via an engine, and since then I've been impressed by the community you've built around it. It's amazing to read a bunch of experienced SEOs chat with such friendliness; the industry tends to be quite catty over here (at least in the North.) Actually it's always an eye-opener to see how accepted SEO is over there; in Cairns we are one of only two web dev firms who actively advertise SEO (and we contract to the other firm, so it's us anyway) and many clients don't even think they need it. This means we can't charge much for it either; infact our rates are the equivalent to your US$25/month for full optimisation and submission. Abysmal I tell you!

Sorry, I tend to ramble :). Hopefully I can contribute more when I have the time, otherwise I'm happy to sit back and consume the utter wealth of knowledge that transpires each day!

Warmest regards,
Kaj

[ihelpyou]

Thanks Kaj. Yes, it does seem like over there things are little bit behind. It has taken awhile here, but I feel that owners are really starting to see why they might need SEO. The other alternatives are short term, and most require a continuing outlay of lots of cash to keep going.

[Kal]

Originally posted by kaj
I'm in Australia, and because of a certain law Yahoo are unable to legally charge for business listings in the Regional/Australia cat. This means all Australian businesses can enjoy free entries into Yahoo..

Hi kaj - just wondering which Yahoo you are referring to. Is it

http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/Countries/Australia/ or
http://au.yahoo.com/regional/countries/australia/

Because in the first case you still have the choice of free or paid. Is this a recent development and what law are you referring to? I'm very curious now!

[kaj]

Hi Kal,

As far as I'm aware, both of those pages allow you to choose between Paid and Free submissions (and have the same content, just different surrounds.)

I believe (and I may be incorrect here) that the Trade Practices Act prohibits the sale of something which may not exist. Because Yahoo! state that paid submission does not guarantee a listing, in which case the fee is non-refundable; it would be illegal for them to impose such a fee in Australia.

Warmest regards,
Kaj