An invitation to Gimpsy

[MC]

Hello,

After 18 months of development and data entry, Gimpsy (http://www.gimpsy.com) is now ready to face the world. You are welcome to pay a visit - and submit a site (it's free).

The online Help section probably answers any question you may have, but here are few words of introduction:

Gimpsy is a new internet directory with a unique Natural Language query capability. In essence, you are asked to complete the phrase 'I want to...' and Gimpsy finds for you the sites that provide the required service.

You can try phrases like:

insure my car
buy computer books
promote my web site
download a freeware screensaver for Windows
get a car insurance quote
subscribe to a business newsletter

Moreover, Gimpsy guarantees that the service requested is available ONLINE - and for your country too!

With over 3000 categories and 25000 sites Gimpsy provides a good service already. Obviosuly, with more sites suggested to us - we will do even better ;-)

Feedback, comments, questions and such like are very welcome.

Have a great day!

MC

[highman]

Looks interesting, it is fast and seems to be fairly accurate :)

Good Luck with it and I will keep my eye on you guys

Oh and welcome to the forums :hi:

[ihelpyou]

Hey Stranger! Last April you signed up in here and made one post. You see, you should stick around. You should also create a sig file so members/guests can view your directory whenever they wish.

You should post more often. That's the way to create interest.

You have a great looking directory! Very clean and sharp. Best of luck to you and I will be submitting some sites. :)

[MC]

Hi,

Many thanks for the positive feedback :-)

I think it will not as a surprise to you that building such a directory takes a lot of work - and time! I would love to be more involved in this friendly and welcoming forum - and I'll make more time for it - but, as I said, I have a directory to run ;-)

And now - back to work!

Thanks

MC

[MC]

Hello,

I am sorry I missed it in my previous post - but you said something about a 'sig file' - what is that exactly?

(If the question is stupid - please forgive my ignorance)

Thanks

MC

[ihelpyou]

LOL. You already have a sig file made up! Nevermind then.

[robwatts]

i couldnt seem to find an add url link any chance of posting it here for us?

tia

rob

ignore that comment just found a link :rolleyes:

[Matt B]

Mordechai,

Out of curiosity, how many times is Google hitting the site and with how many requests?

[MC]

I am not quite sure what the data you are after... but I'll assume that it is to do with the log analysis of the web server.

Google is spidering Gimpsy extensively and has been doing it for the last few months. Our PR is 4 (used to be 5 - but somehow we lost one point :( )

We don't get many referrals from Google at the moment. I am assuming that this is probably due to the fact that we did not submit the site to dmoz until now (this is in compliance with their T&C).

Our main referrals, at the moment, are other directories.

I hope that answers your question - if not, I'm afraid you'll have to be more verbose :cool:

MC

[Matt B]

Sorry - I wasn't too clear, was I?

I was after the spidering info.

If you don't want to share it - I understand.

[ihelpyou]

Yes. We want to know if we have a listing, will Google pick up the page our listing is on so it shows up in Google when searching? This can help get new sites indexed by Google if they spider and of your pages that include listings.

[MC]

Right - I am willing to share it - but will you also share the REASON for the question and what you LEARN from it? (out of curiosity, of course ;) )

OK - the total number of hits last month from Google spiders (all 8 of them...) was 11,575.

And now - it's your turn :)

MC

[highman]

Google shows over 6,000 pages using

site:www.gimpsy.com gimpsy

but it appears to have loads of duplicates.... bit of work to do there

[MC]

Hi,

You may interested to read the review, which provides a good overview of the Gimpsy features and what sets it apart. See http://www.supportforums.org/article105.html

Cheers

MC

[highman]

Nice, glad to see its coming along well!

Will add our sites over the next few days :)

[Matt B]

Do you have a function to submit multiple sites?

[scottiecl]

Hey Mordechai-

Good to see you again. I submitted some sites back when you posted the first time. They are showing as "Unapproved". Should I consider myself rejected?

Love the "smart hamster". Very clever imagery!

[ihelpyou]

I would like for you to expand on the types of sites you would accept. You see, I don't wish to spend a lot of time submitting a whole slew of web site that would take me the better of 2 full days to accomplish and only get one or two into your directory. :)

Please give us the details about what you want.

[markymark]

Yeah, that would be very useful. I'm not entirely clear on the conditions for acceptance either.

For instance, my own site got in (thanks for that) but a client's site didn't for reasons I don't fully understand. It was something to do with not selling online. I'll post the email if I still have it.

[sanity]

Welcome Mordechai :hi:

Good luck with the directory. I'll make an effort to submit some sites this week too!

Sophie

[MC]

Hi everyone!

Many thanks for your kind words!

Some of the issues you have raised I can easily answer - some not. I will do my best here and now, and promise to complete the picture later, perhaps by expanding the Help section on site to be even more lucid and helpful.

SEO guy: We don't have a function to submit multiple sites. No offence, but this is an invitation to spam... Besides, each site must be properly located in its own category - quite impossible to do in bulk submission.

scottiecl: In general, Gimpsy wants to provide an exemplary customer support. It is our policy to email every person that submitted a site (AND left their email address!) with the results of the suggestion. If you did leave your email address you should have received a confirmation letter - positive or negative. If you didn't, PM me and I'll check the sites.

As part of our customer support commitment, suggestions have the highest priority. That is - when a suggestion comes in it will get dealt with ASAP. Having said that - it takes a LOT of effort to enter a site in Gimpsy, so sites may have to wait for a while. The order is currently strictly FIFO (First IN - First OUT). I will be very surprised to learn that your sites are still awaiting decision...

ihelpyou This is the tricky question I hinted to above ;) As I said - I will expand the explanations, but I think that some effort from the SEO community and Site Owners will also help. First - read all the available online information. It is really quite comprehensive. Second - browse the directory and see sites already there, especially in the categories that you think of submitting to.

Having said that, I will try a very short version here:
Gimpsy accepts sites that provide the means to accomplish a given task ONLINE. To qualify, all the steps required to accomplish it must be available online. If we take the most prevailing activity, 'Buy', the site must have the following:

* A RANGE of merchandise available (A site that sells one book will not qualify, unless the book is extremely rare and unavailable anywhere else)
* The items can be viewed and the customer can meaningfully select one/several ONLINE. (Print and FAX is not acceptable)
* The prices are clearly indicated for each item. ("email us for pricing" is not acceptable)
* Shipping prices are either calculated precisely, or a good approximation is given. ("Shipping will be charged at cost" is not acceptable)
* Payment is accepted online ("Fax or email us your credot card details" is not acceptable).

You may like or dislike, agree or disagree, but that's how we set it up. :cool: It is important that users will know EXACTLY what they CAN expect from Gimpsy - and for Gimpsy to deliver on that expectation.

Broadly speaking, all the other categories have similar guidelines. Take 'create business plan', for example. There are hundreds of sites (well, maybe not as many...) that offer Business Plan Writing services. The vast majority of them is not much more than a glossy pumphlet for the service provider. Few sites, however, actually allow you to build your Business Plan ONLINE. Gimpsy will only list such sites in that category.

I ended up providing here a much more detailed explanation than intended. Oh well. I hope you will see that the basic notion of site selection in Gimpsy is, really, quite simple and intuitive.

Have a great day!

MC

[polarmate]

Originally posted by Mordechai
Gimpsy accepts sites that provide the means to accomplish a given task ONLINE. To qualify, all the steps required to accomplish it must be available online. If we take the most prevailing activity...

Who decides what the prevailing activity is?

I have two sites. One is an e-commerce site and the other focuses on education and research. We have a database product around which the second site was initially built. But the focus of the site is no longer the product and is much much more. The e-commerce site was added to your directory but the second site was not with the reason that the 'buying experience' occurs on the e-commerce site. Very true. But then your editors incorrectly determined the prevailing activity on the second site. It is not 'Buy' - it is 'Learn,' 'Discuss,' 'Research,' and 'Share information' in our particular area of study.

So what is your remedy for such a situation? Does the focus you determine for our sites override what users really come to our site for?

[ihelpyou]

Yes. I'm more confused now than I was when reading the stuff on the site. :confused:

I guess these forums would not qualify according to the criteria. I also guess most of my clients would not qualify either.

I don't think I wish to spend hours submitting only to get turned down with all of them.

Makes no sense. So if I have a site that sells christian books online, but you already have a site listed selling christian books as well, my site will not get listed? hmmm. I don't think you will have very many sites in your directory.

[polarmate]

Doug, I think if you have a site that sells only ONE book then it will not make their list. You need to have 'many' to be listed. To paraphrase Mordechai: if you are a one product company and you sell online, you will not be listed unless your product has a USP that other similar products lack.

So if you sell 'many' christian books AND there are other sites listed that also sell christian books, you should not have a problem getting your site listed. But if you sell only one christian book, more than likely your site will not be listed unless it is a rare Bible or something like that.

[MC]

Well, the Natural Language ambiguity hits us all again :(

When I said 'prevailing activity' - I meant on the Internet and NOT on any particular site.

Regarding the basic question raised by polarmate: "Who decides what the prevailing activity is?" (now referring to the site, of course), the answer can only be - the Editors. Sure, they can get it wrong, and sometimes they do, but that's part of being human. I don't know of any directory that allows users to submit a site to any category they wish - and leave it there. If it exists - I am not quite sure I would trust the search results.

Listing at Gimpsy is free. You should also feel free to use it - or not. I hope you would, as I believe Gimpsy can provide an excellent service to all concerned.

Oh, yes - your answer to Doug was perfect :)

MC

[robwatts]

FWIW I think its an excellent looking site with the potential to be very useful.

It is refreshing to see people trying to modify the existing models and come up with fresh and new ideas, so for that at least it is to be congratulated.

Best of luck mordechai.

[Matt B]

Mordechai,

Would I be able to submit a site twice if it falls under 2 distinct active criteria?

Say a person could buy a product, but also register for a newsletter. Could that fall under both Buy and Subscribe?

Thanks

[MC]

Hello,

To reduce spamming opportunities Gimpsy does not accept the same URL (actually - DOMAIN) twice. However, there is NO problem in defining more than one activity per site, as appropriate.

As always - the Gimpsy Editors have absolute discretion regarding the number of categories and their identity in respect to every site. It is quite common for them to ADD a category where appropriate, but they will not hesitate to decline one if it doesn't fit.

Hope that helps :)

MC

[Matt B]

How can I go about doing that with a site that I already submitted?

[MC]

Hello,

You can request the Gimpsy team to make changes in your site's details, as they appear in Gimpsy.

To do so, you must be a registered user, and also a registered OWNER of that site. To become an owner of a site, you have to 'claim' it. Your identity will be verified by email, and you will then be able to manage it.

Once you have successfuly claimed ownership on a site, you have the option to request changes - you will see a link for that purpose in the 'Manage my Sites in Gimpsy'.

Hope that helps. :)

MC

[Matt B]

How does that work if I am the manager of sites that I do not own?

[MC]

Hello,

You don't need to 'own' - in the legal sense - a site listed in Gimpsy in order to be allowed to 'manage' it. As a SEO it is very likely that the REAL owner will be more than happy to delegate all the promotion related activities to you, including those that take place in Gimpsy.

Gimpsy has developed a way to transfer 'ownership' from one user to another. This is not perfect yet, so meanwhile you can simply write a note, using the 'My Gimpsy' menu entry 'Express an opinion or make a comment' and state there your suggestion or request.

I can assure you that it will be dealt with promptly and efficiently :cool:

MC

[Gage]

Originally posted by SEO Guy
How does that work if I am the manager of sites that I do not own?

Hi Matt,

Did you get this cleared up yet?

Gage

[Matt B]

Yes, but only for a few sites. Thanks!
I am still looking for that extra 2-3 hours a day to get more done . . .:rolleyes: