HomeBusinessOnline.com - listing disappeared

When our listing recently disappeared on DMOZ, I asked members of our forum what I should do about it. They suggested I come to this forum, that the editors here are very helpful. I've spent the last hour or so browsing around these forums to see if I could find an answer first. Wow! I'm impressed that you folks give of your time like this. Thanks for this great resource.

Now, onto our predicament...

Here are the facts that might help:

1) Until recently, our site ( http://www.HomeBusinessOnline.com ) has been listed in the following category for years: http://dmoz.org/Business/Small_Business/Home_Office/

2) Google SERP still shows reference to the Directory Listing, but it is missing. (See link: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q="home+business"&btnG=Google+Search )

3) I re-submitted the listing. Sounds like it takes some time for busy editors to get it listed. After reading over some of the posts here, I'm not sure that was the best thing to do. Sigh.

I read over the ODP listing guidelines several times, and don't believe our website violates any of the conditions. It has been an extremely useful website for years. Our forum and eLibrary contain especially useful information for small businesses.

Any ideas of why it might have disappeared and what we can do about it?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Heidi

Over the last year, the site appears to have gone through some changes and problems. At one point the site was not responding and was unreviewed, at another point, it was found that another URL [that you own] had the same contents as this one, so it was changed. At another point a deep-link URL was found and changed. The net result was to get your set unreviewed but it now waiting re-review in http://Business/Opportunities/Directories/ , as some of these issues may no longer apply.

Makes sense. Very helpful. Thank you.

At one time we had several domains that we had not yet developed. So, we simply linked them to HomeBusinessOnline.com for a period of time. That must have been part of the problem. However, these URL's were never listed in DMOZ. I was under the impression that you could not have mirrored sites, etc. listed within the ODP. But, if the others were never listed, should that have triggered a problem? Can you have mirrored sites as long as they are not submitted to ODP? Have I misunderstood this? We no longer have any mirrored sites. I just want to clarify this so we don't run into this problem again in the future.

Now, my final predicament...

Looks like I re-submitted to the wrong category. I must have erroneously submitted to the "directories" category you listed above. I should have put it back in the http://dmoz.org/Business/Small_Business/Home_Office/ category where it was listed before. Is there a way to make this change? I'm assuming I shouldn't re-submit again.

Thanks so much for your help... fast too!

Heidi

I'm making a guess here.

Is it possible that other URL was one that was owned by someone else, and then expired and you purchased it? If so, it was listed in ODP for the previous owner, and that's what caused the confusion.

I'm pretty sure when the editor reviews it, it will get fixed up and sent to the right category.

Just to clarify:

HomeBusinessOnline.com is waiting to be reviewed again, and is marked that is not connected with advantage-online.com

advantage-online.com was deleted and is not waiting to be reviewed

[Added] and that fact that is in directories is because of the confusion - not because you submitted it there. If you just submitted it to Home_Office - I would not be able to see it. It would need another editor with access to that to tell you if it's waiting there as well.

There's no guarantee it'll be relisted.

I should have guessed advantage-online.com was the culprit. That was actually our first website developed back in 1994 - dinosaur days! It must have been listed in ODP. It has since gone defunct, and we were thinking of using it as a portal to our other sites. Meanwhile, we had it mirrored to HomeBusinessOnline.com for a time. Clear as mud now, thank you.

If our site ends up in a category we feel doesn't best serve ODP viewers, is it possible to request it be moved? Or is it not worth the bother?

Heidi

No guarantee

Well, of course there's no guarantee when the process is completely subjective on the part of editors. However, if the objective of ODP is to become the definitive catalog on the Web, the editors will take notice of a website that has been around and growing since 1995, helping millions of entrepreneurs who work in their home offices each year.

And, hey, if they don't re-list it, it's a greater loss to ODP than to us, right?

I say this all in fun and jest. Truth is, I understand the guidelines. ODP is a unique concept. No guarantee.

Heidi

Update?

It's been quite a few months. Just wondering if an editor can give me an update on HomeBusinessOnline.com. Thanks!

Well, since your last status check was on my birthday, and I know without looking at a calendar that the celebration of my birth was well over a month ago, you are certainly entitled to a new status check.

No action has been taken by any editor since the flurry of activity associated with figuring out which end was up back in January.

A late happy birthday.

Twiddling my thumbs... waiting... waiting... sigh. Better get my mind on something else before this drives me crazy.

Thanks for checking.

Heidi

Scratch this post. I have edited this post as I didn't see the above note before posting: "The forum rules have changed: status updates must be spaced six months apart."

Thanks.