Any help with rejected site?

Earlier last year I submitted www.fsbo-homes-usa.com to the category Shopping|Classifieds|Homes - FSBO. I believe my last submission was 6/30/03. I inquired about the status for the first time on 12/23/03 and received the following reply from brmehlman:

We've decided not to list that site. Please refer to out Selection Criteria for possible reasons.

Click to expand...

I had read the Selection Criteria before I submitted, and I read them again after I got the rejection status. I am unable to deduce the reason for rejection, so I was wondering if someone could help. The site has changed a lot since its last submission, but I can't tell if the rejection was based on its current form or an older state. If you are able to tell me that it was based on an older state, should I resubmit, or have I been rejected for all time?

Thank you.

It was rejected based on its status in July.

You should note that as the site doesn't actually have any classified ads, it is a somewhat-less-than-stellar (well, actually, somewhat-less-than-abominable) fit for that category.

If you resubmit, you need to temporarily anaesthetize your marketroid self: stop asking yourself "who am I targeting as my next victim" and start asking "what in fact am I doing?"

Looks to me like you're offering to do industry-specific web design -- but definitely NOT offering to display classified ads for anything to anybody! So...you need to avoid classified-ads categories, and go looking for a web-design category, as specific as possible, that could include Real-estate websites.

Thank you for your feedback.

Maybe I picked the wrong category. I thought it was a perfect fit because the end product of the site is an ad created by a customer (not a victim) who is trying to sell property without a realtor. There are real ads such as www.fsbo-homes-usa.com/100 and www.fsbo-homes-usa.com/654. These ads are similar to those produced by others sites in the category that I submitted to. You weren't able to see these ads because the site doesn't link to the customer's ad. We create the ad and assign a unique web address that they can use when they advertise in other media such as newspapers, bulletin boards, flyers, etc. Potential buyers see their web address in the media and go directly to the ad without coming to our site. That way, they see just the customer's ad. That is why we are more biased toward the seller than the buyer. The other reason that we don't link to the customer ad is for privacy; a lot of FSBO customers don't want to be bothered by realtors that harvest FSBO ads on the Internet.

Do you still feel that I would be better off submitting to another category? If so, I would welcome your suggestions.

Thanks.

I don't care why you do what you do on your site. That's your business (literally!) But FWIW, what you describe is more or less what I had guessed from looking at the site, and it's exactly what I meant to characterize as (at best) irrelevant and misleading in the ODP context.

I commend and refer you back to my previous analysis. You need to understand that a category marked classified ads is not suitable for a site "containing" NEITHER classifications NOR ads, just as a site that sold pens should not be listed under "Arts/Literature" (although pens can be used to write literature). (I am not making that example up: we see a lot of that kind of marketroid submittal choices, and I can flat guarantee that they are never correct.

Look at it this way: you're still thinking of the ODP as content which will serve as the attractor for your advertisement. The ODP can be used that way (Google and AOL both do it) but -- and this is important -- EDITORS can't use it that way -- it would be abuse if they did. Editors are creating the content. As a submitter you are merely helping the editor, nothing more. Your listing is only the content which will attract surfers to someone else's ad.

If you want to advertise in that category, take it up with Google, or AOL, or any of the other ODP licensees that sell advertisements.

Thanks hutcheson .

I think I see your point now. Perhaps my site would have been more suitable had I included a searchable database of classified ads that were created by my customers.

My first thought after you said that the site was rejected in July was to resubmit it because of all the improvements that have been made since then. But now I think, based on what you have said in later posts, that it would be rejected again.

I took your advice and looked for another category related to web design and real estate but was not successful. The closest one that I found was Computers:Internet:Web Design and Developmentesigners:Real Estate, but most of the sites there offer web site design to realtors or agencies, not individual home owners.

Unless I have missed something, it looks like there isn't a suitable category in ODP for my site. That's not the conclusion that I had hoped for, but it's better to know now than later.

Happy Holidays to all.

Not so fast...I'm not promising a listing, but that category sounds EXACTLY right. Are you doing web design and development? (check) Are the other sites in that general category offering web design services as opposed to information about web design? (check) Are you offering web design services related to real estate? (check) Are the OTHER sites in that category offering web design services -- again, as opposed to information about some aspect of web design? (check) And are you offering a unique good or service in that category? (check)

If you can answer all those questions "yes", and you can't find a more specific appropriate site, then that's the place. (What is it they say about the three most important real estate considerations?) And if the editor can answer all those questions "yes" by looking at the site and the category, then if there are no spam flags set off, there is a reasonable chance of a listing. [Here, "spam flags" might be things like "same webdesigning service has other single-product-line sites (fraternal mirrors)" or ... hmm.

Come back around the other way and look at the site, and the category you originally submitted. If a site is nappropriate for one category, an editor will normally look for a better category, or "punt" (that is, place it in a "misplaced" bin, so other editors who like to look for the right category, can take care of it.)

Obviously that's not what happened to your site. Why not? Well, I can't read the editor's mind, but I'll try to imagine borrowing his shoes for a moment. (Don't worry, I'll polish them before I put them back.) He's editing sites containing classified ads for real estate. He sees your site, claiming to build classified ads. He looks to see if there is actual content -- (that is, if you have ads as well as classifications: in fact, many submittals only have the classifications, and they expect us to promote their site so people will buy ads from them. That may be the most common reason for rejection in classified ads categories.)

What's going to happen? A site that SEEMS to fit the category, and yet has no content whatsoever: the light is on, but nobody's home. It fits a standard pattern of spam submittals in a moderately heavy spam target area. Where's that big red reject button when you need it?

Well, I don't know that's what happened. But I bet that's what WOULD have happened two times out of three if I'd been reviewing it.

Usual caveat: the level of detail (largely speculative) given here is intended to give insight into the ODP taxonomic thinking (in hopes that other lurkers can figure out how to find the best category for themselves. I know this concept is difficult: they try to drill it out of your head in Marketing 101. I've tried to explain it before, with something less than perfect success.) It can't be taken as a guarantee that any particular site will or won't be listed. But I can guarantee that the better your submittal fits the ODP mindset, the more likely it is to receive quick and/or positive reviews.

Thanks again hutcheson for your excellent post. I feel like I have taken more than my fair share of your time.

Your words are most encouraging. Yesterday I was set to give up, but today, after taking a second look at the description for Computers: Internet: Web_Design_and_Development: Designers: Real_Estate, I have decided to submit to that category. It seems to be a much closer match than the first one that I tried.

This is a great forum. Thanks to all the volunteers that make it possible.