Help with category for new submission

Since all of the editors have been such a help in the past I thought I would ask one more question (for now) /images/icons/wink.gif

I have a site that I have been working on that is a home improvement directory. I am hoping (and working on) that it will contain quite a bit of informational topics along with the directories of professional services. I am sure it will take some time to grow and become popular but I need your opinions since I will be finalizing the main pages content this weekend and hopefully be submitting to ODP. What category(s) do you feel are the most appropriate for this site.
I know you have a lot to do but I would appreciate any feedback on this matter as I would rather submit it to the correct category the first time!

http://www.the-home-improvement-web.com/

Thanks in advance /images/icons/smile.gif

Dave S.

Perhaps Business/Industries/Construction_and_Maintenance/Directories/United_States/?

apeuro,

This does seem like one of the less crowded sections. I did a search on Google and then looked up quite a few and they seemed to be scattered throughout the ODP. I will finish it up and submit.

Thanks Again,
Dave S.

Rafal,

I don't want to push my luck or wear-out my welcome, but is there any information on how backed up the submissions are in the following category that I submitted to?
http://dmoz.org/Business/Industries/Construction_and_Maintenance/Directories/United_States/

As you have probably already realize from my posts that I place a great deal of value in a ODP listing /images/icons/smile.gif

Sincerely,
Dave S.

There are slightly more than 50 sites waiting to be reviewed at this moment, about average for a large Business category.

Rafal,

Thank you for the information and I appreciate your time looking into this /images/icons/smile.gif
Looks like I may have quite a wait as the category shows "This Category Needs An Editor"/images/icons/frown.gif


Thanks Again,
Dave S.

Dave, don't worry. There are two editors listed at the Business/Industries/Construction_and_Maintenance/ level. Besides all metas, editalls, and Top level Business editors can edit in that category.

Rafal,

I don't worry /images/icons/smile.gif I know that every active editor wants to get the sites listed as fast as the site owners. I am a patient person /images/icons/smile.gif

Thanks For The Reply,
Dave S.

Rafal,

I have one other question for now /images/icons/smile.gif
When I submitted the above site to the above category a week ago I noticed the category had 33 listings and the date last edited was May 10th. It is now a week later and I was wondering if my math is flawed? Since 0 listings have been added in the past week and you had stated there was approximately 50 to review, am I correct in thinking this may take many months to over a year to get my site listed ? I did/do not expect to be listed in this short of a time, but I know my site is going “nowhere” without a listing in the ODP /images/icons/frown.gif

Sincerely,
Dave S.

>Since 0 listings have been added in the past week and you had stated there was approximately 50 to review, am I correct in thinking this may take many months to over a year to get my site listed?

This is certainly possible. Or it is possible that we might accept a new volunteer editor in that category tomorrow. (It is really _almost_ impossible to predict. But see below.)

>I did/do not expect to be listed in this short of a time,...

Fair enough. Remember, there are volunteers doing this, and they do what they enjoy doing or enjoy having done. So, rather than thinking...

>>... but I know my site is going “nowhere” without a listing in the ODP

which isn't really true. If your site is really that valuable to YOU, then you have many ways to pay for exposure. ODP isn't one of them. In fact, any more, ODP is almost the ONLY place that isn't one of them. ;/images/dmoz/purplegrin.gif And on a serious commercial site, you will really need to seriously evaluate commercial site promotion venues.

But an ODP listing is not about where the site is going, or where you're going, it's about where the user is going. The important question to ODP editors is, "Is this the kind of site where the SURFER is going nowhere WITHOUT it?" If the answer is yes, then chances are the site will get listed quickly (days or weeks.) If the answer is no, then months or years may be involved.

But if the answer is that it is not worth money to you to promote it, and it's not of intrinsically great value to the surfer, then it would be unreasonable to expect an editor to place great value on listing it quickly.

[Side note: The converse isn't quite true. For instance, I (at least) used to consider a Yahoo listing a slight positive factor in deciding which sites to list quickly. Since Yahoo has gone so completely advertising-driven, this is less true. And we never guaranteed a listing to anything Yahoo lets in. And, of course, there are many "potentially profitable" affiliate or doorway sites that ODP prides itself in not listing.]

So, what was all this more than saying "I don't know?" Not much, perhaps, except that I don't think anyone can know.

hutcheson,

Thanks for the reply.
My experience has been that Google/Yahoo (Google results) brings in 95% of traffic on my other site. My other site has very good-great positioning for relevant key words on other SE's, yet is still driven by Googles results.

I have paid the usual Inktomi, Lycos, and Ask/Teoma for this site (mentioned here). I know by far the best way to get into Google is through an ODP/DMOZ listing.
I am in "no way" suggesting that the ODP/DMOZ "owes" me a listing or that it should be in tomorrow. I also appreciate the fact that the editors are volunteers and if you read through this forum or any other forum on the net relating to the ODP/DMOZ I am the first to defend their practices and applaud them for their efforts. I have and will put in a lot of time/effort for relevant original content on any site that I build, for without useful information a site is not going anywhere to begin with (my opinion).
I am sorry if I should not have asked the question, or you/others may have taken my question in the wrong way /images/icons/frown.gif

If you have any other questions I would be more than happy to answer them.

Sincerely,
Dave S.

P.S. If my writing seems a little unfocused or incoherent that is because while in the process of taking a picture for installing replacement windows for an article I am working on for the site, I literally fell out of the window and broke my wrist and thumb. The Darvocet that I am on does strange things to ones writing abilities /images/icons/smile.gif

Ouch, ouch, ouch!!! Don't try typing, you'll regret it later, and not just for the incoherence of it...

I didn't perceive anything you said as a personal attack. I tried to make the response useful for other webmasters' concerns, so I figured it wouldn't all apply to the particular site mentioned. (i.e. if I was attacking anything, it was meant to be impersonal.)

But these commercial categories are hard to get volunteers to tend. (Unfortunately, with reason.) Last time I really took on a "please get my commercial site listed" request, I dealt with several hundred obviously inappropriate submissions in order to prune the unreviewed down to a couple dozen, which I passed off to an editor more experienced at detecting the subtlely inappropriate submissions. It took a couple of weeks. Maybe in a few months I'll try that again.

Now multiply that by several thousand categories.

Ouch.

hutcheson,
<< Ouch, ouch, ouch!!! Don't try typing, you'll regret it later, and not just for the incoherence of it... >>

I am a two-four finger typist when I have both hands - now I'm down to two /images/icons/smile.gif

I did not take anything you said as personal and appreciate any/all feedback. I know all of the editors are doing the best they can. I am patient believe it or not - I just saw the same numbers and my heart sank /images/icons/frown.gif
Are the higher tier/category editors generally more active? I have read elsewhere in this forum that the higher tier/categories tend to have much more spam then say the "regional" categories. I guess this would also negate the efforts of the editors for the higher tier categories and tend to slow them down /images/icons/frown.gif

Thanks Again and Have a Great Day/Evening,
Dave S.

The backlog is now cleared. However, your site wasn't in the queue (and it had not been deleted). I did add it, as I was aware of this discussion.

Without getting into specifics, that category was not being actively edited. Recall that as a volunteer-driven organization, one of the best ways to help us get sites listed in an expeditious manner is to volunteer.

arlarson,

Thanks for replying /images/icons/smile.gif

I appreciate you taking your time and looking into this. I would really enjoy being an editor except I’m afraid my punctuation and grammar are not up to that level /images/icons/smile.gif
Thanks again for adding me into the queue.

Sincerely,
Dave S.

You don't even have to speak English to edit. See http://dmoz.org/World/ and pick your favorite language.

arlarson,

English is my native language - I just do not have the proper skills /images/icons/smile.gif

I want to thank all of the editors that have responded, and keep up the great work!

Sincerely,
Dave S.

OK this will be a first to this forum and I hope both users and editors will take note. Being the honest person that I am (pat-my-own-back) and how I always rant about DMOZ/ODP being a level playing field etc - I must report myself /images/icons/smile.gif

I had submitted my site (www.the-home-improvement-web.com)to http://dmoz.org/Business/Industries/Construction_and_Maintenance/Directories/ and then was told it would be more appropriate to be listed at http://dmoz.org/Business/Industries/Construction_and_Maintenance/Directories/North_America/United_States/.

I did that and was listed at the http://dmoz.org/Business/Industries/Construction_and_Maintenance/Directories/North_America/United_States/ so everything is dandy - right.

Not really - I was just checking on a competitor and noticing how many listings they had in DMOZ and thinking how "someday" I may be able to get deep links for my different categories. That's when I noticed my "SECOND" listing in http://dmoz.org/Business/Industries/Construction_and_Maintenance/Directories/

It kills me to do so - but can one of you great editors remove my "Second" listing at http://dmoz.org/Business/Industries/Construction_and_Maintenance/Directories/ (crying). I think it is only fair and my original listing is more appropriate since this is for USA only. I would rather play by the rules than to get another listing in DMOZ at the expense of an honest mistake by an editor.

OK – now I have done my one little part of making the DMOZ directory a little better (I am going to get a beer and cry in it now).

P.S. Please do not tell anyone on another forum that I visit or they will laugh me out of there /images/icons/smile.gif

It reminds me of the time the ATM machine gave me $100.00 more than I had asked for and it didn't show on my receipt. I took it into the bank and they all thought I was crazy /images/icons/smile.gif

Sincerely,
Dave Stanovic

I was just checking at http://dmoz.org/Business/Industries/Construction_and_Maintenance/Directories/ and I see there are many sites in there that are USA only some even just covering one state. So let me know what is the most appropriate category. Of course I would like to be listed in the uppermost of the category I can but my original listing better describes our site.

Just an update, Keith aka kctipton has already fixed this issue.

Thanks,
Dave Stanovic