Looking for my editor http:bestmilwaukeehomes.com

Thanks to editor "morserj" for helping me find my way here!
My question:
I needed to change my URL, my title, my description and finally, my category.
I tried to use "Update URL", but after a couple months it didn't change. Then I saw that I was deleted all together! So I was advised to contact the editors, but the category I want to be in ( http://www.dmoz.org/Regional/North_America/United_States/Wisconsin/Localities/M/Milwaukee/Business_and_Economy/Real_Estate/ ) doesn't have one. So I tried to contact the editor of the next category up, but the contact forms to them wouldn't go through. (No such user, or something like that.)
So now I don't know what to do. I'm not listed in the above category & ironically, some people that are listed there I helped submit!
I don't want to keep trying to submit & tick someone off, but I don't know how to get a hold of an editor for my desired category & find out how to get relisted.
Help please?

I do not edit in that category but let me try and answer some of your questions in a general manner.

I needed to change my URL, my title, my description and finally, my category.

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In the areas that I edit, I see requests like this all of the time. Very often they represent unrealistic expectations by the site owner -- particularly in the world of real estate. Within Real Estate, there is a proscribed format for site titles: Agent Name - Agency Name . If you were trying to get the title changed to something that did not reflect that format, then it simply is not going to happen. Similarly, most requests for new descriptions stem from general unhappiness that the editor-provided description does not include every possible keyword, or in the case of real estate, eveyr possible community within a day's drive. A conforming description describes what a surfer might find on the site. i.e. Includes feature property, MLS search, mortgage calculator, area links and agent profile. Descriptions are not required to be a laundry list of every possible thing that can be found on a site.

If you are, in fact, a real estate agent and your office is in Milwaukee, then the correct category will be Regional/North_America/United_States/Wisconsin/Localities/M/Milwaukee/Business_and_Economy/Real_Estate/ If, however, your office is located in a suburb of Milwaukee, then you will be listed in the suburb, even if you derive most of your business from Milwaukee.

With respect to contacting an editor directly, there is really no need. Use the Update URL feature, and if your request has merit it will be updated. If it does not have merit, it will not be updated.

While all of this was general, and does not specifically reflect on your site, I hope you find it helpful.

Re: Looking for my editor http:bestmilwaukeehomes.

Out of curiousity, why were you trying to change the URL? It seems to be still functioning. What URL were you trying to change it to?

Thank you, I can respect that.
I know I was changing a lot & you have no control over it, but
1) My domain name changed from www.kristinnoll.com to www.bestmilwaukeehomes.com .
2) The title was "Kristin Noll - Coldwell Banker" or something like that. Beside the fact that I don't belong to that company anymore, I was trying to get away from my website looking like a typical agent "page" that is pretty much worthless to a user. I don't push myself on my site, I push the services that the SITE provides.
3) Hence, the name/title of the site is the URL and not my name.
4) I was trying to change the description to reflect the true purpose of my site & it's usefulness. The old description was something like "Providing agent services in the Glendale area." I wanted it to say something like "Comprehensive tool offers property searches for Milwaukee,community & school info,selling tools,free reports,FAQs.All about real estate within one easy source."
5) As far as the location, I know for a fact that almost all of the agents in that category are located in a suburb (office-wise) and practice all over the Milwaukee area, as I do. But I was stuck in "Glendale, WI" because I had that address on my site. I have since changed the address to say "Milwaukee".
So if you were my editor, would my request make sense with this explaination? I'm hoping it does to my editor - if I can ever figure out who that is!
And that being said, why did I get taken off altogether? Couldn't the editor just tell me what was wrong with my submission? It seemed to fit the guidlines to me, so I didn't know what I did wrong.

Your website was originally removed because of some confusion related to your other website kristinnoll.com, for a while the pages showed different mailing addresses and later the way they re-directed kept changing. That caused some confusion for the editors. The directory does not list mirrors or re-directs. However, you are allowed one of the sites to be listed if your site falls within the guidelines. When editors re-reviewed your website it was determined not to have unique content because most of the website content is provided by other websites, services, and engines. There is a lot of this in Real Estate, and many of the sites have almost identical content. However, after looking through the site in detail, their may be some unique content from your own website to be found. You are welcome to re-submit to the locality in which your office address is, and someone will re-review its content. I am not saying you will or wont be listed but it will be reviewed again. There will be no need for you to re-submit more then once

added: no need to re-submit its been resolved. See below

I just spent the last 20 minutes trying to sort through what had happened, and as noted above, both web sites were deleted as being mirrors of the other. Whilst that is not currently the case - http://kristinnoll.com frames the http://bestmilwaukeehomes.com/ site it would be easy to miss.

I have readded the http://bestmilwaukeehomes.com/ site to http://dmoz.org/Regional/North_America/United_States/Wisconsin/Localities/M/Milwaukee/Business_and_Economy/Real_Estate but it will not appear until the page updates.

Please note that the unique content is minimal in proportion to the rest of your content, which is either off site, or generic cut and paste RE info - I found text string matches on multiple sites.

The listing requirements for RE sites are constantly evolving, and I'd advise you to future proof your site by adding more unique content (stuff you write yourself about the area, reasons to move to the area, why you are the best agent in the area).

As a user (remove editing hat) if I look through the list of sites in that category and see the same information on each one I'm going to have a hard time choosing - If I see something that makes me think 'I like what they're saying' I'm more likely to look deeper.

Re: Looking for my editor http:bestmilwaukeehomes.

2) The title was "Kristin Noll - Coldwell Banker" or something like that. Beside the fact that I don't belong to that company anymore, I was trying to get away from my website looking like a typical agent "page" that is pretty much worthless to a user. I don't push myself on my site, I push the services that the SITE provides.

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Not going to happen. As was previously noted, titles for agent sites have a very particular format -- Agent Name - Agency Name. So you would be listed only as Kristin Noll - First Weber Group.

4) I was trying to change the description to reflect the true purpose of my site & it's usefulness. The old description was something like "Providing agent services in the Glendale area." I wanted it to say something like "Comprehensive tool offers property searches for Milwaukee,community & school info,selling tools,free reports,FAQs.All about real estate within one easy source."

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While I might agree that the previous description was extremely minimalist, the one you're asking for would not be granted as it violates just about every guideline we have.

5) As far as the location, I know for a fact that almost all of the agents in that category are located in a suburb (office-wise) and practice all over the Milwaukee area, as I do. But I was stuck in "Glendale, WI" because I had that address on my site. I have since changed the address to say "Milwaukee".

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So, in other words, you've changed the address on your site to lie in order to get your site listed in a more popular category? Nice.

Re: Looking for my editor http:bestmilwaukeehomes.

5) As far as the location, I know for a fact that almost all of the agents in that category are located in a suburb (office-wise) and practice all over the Milwaukee area, as I do. But I was stuck in "Glendale, WI" because I had that address on my site. I have since changed the address to say "Milwaukee".

I'm confused is your address

4650 N. Port Washington Road
Milwaukee WI, 53212-0970

or

North Shore
4650 N Port Washingon Rd
Glendale,WI 53212-0970

WRA still list you with the correct agency, but in Glendale.

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as there are 2 authoritative sources (and the USPS) who think you are located in Glendale I'm moving it back there.

One of the RE guidelines we use in Regional is that agents are listed at the physical location of the business not by the service area.

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Re: Looking for my editor http:bestmilwaukeehomes.

1) I understand that the title has a "format" now. At the time I read the instructions on the submittal:
"Please supply a short and descriptive title.
Always opt for the official name of the site.
Do not use ALL CAPITAL letters.
Exclude promotional language in the title."

Hence, the official name of my site IS "BestMilwaukeeHomes.com"

2)

While I might agree that the previous description was extremely minimalist, the one you're asking for would not be granted as it violates just about every guideline we have.

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I'm not sure how mine differs from others in the category?
- "A comprehensive resource for buyers, including tips, a search, and general guidelines."
- "Real estate listings and local guides to community, school, buyer, and seller information."

Mine is
- "Comprehensive tool offers property searches for Milwaukee,community & school info,seller tools,free reports,FAQs.All about real estate within one easy source."

It's a little long, but it's not like my description was deceptive. It fits the suggestions on the submit form:
"Do not use any HTML tags (didn't)
Write in complete sentences and/or descriptive phrases using proper grammar, punctuation and correct spelling. (did)
Do not use ALLCAPS in your description. (didn't)
Avoid capitalizing every word in a sentence.(didn't)
Don't repeat the title of your site in the description.(didn't)
Avoid using promotional language and strings of key words and search terms. Words and phrases like "cool" and "best darn site" will be removed. (didn't - those are services offered and the truth)

3)

So, in other words, you've changed the address on your site to lie in order to get your site listed in a more popular category? Nice.

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You obviously know nothing about real estate or Milwaukee. Just because my corporate office is in Glendale doesn't mean I should be pidgeon-holed there. Milwaukee County is my area. I have a home office in Shorewood, too. Should I count that?
Of the 33 listings in the Milwaukee category, 24 do not have offices located in the CITY of Milwaukee, but are in the COUNTY of Milwaukee - just like me. I'm not lying, I'm in Milwaukee and that is where the directory user would find me the most useful. My company office is in Glendale, but I'm an independant contractor. My CAR is more of an office to me! And if you look at a map of the City of Milwaukee, you will see that Glendale is practically in the middle of it.
Besides, the instructions say "Are you sure this is the most descriptive category for your site? If you are unsure, please take a little extra time in searching the directory and find the most appropriate category."
And IMO, this is the most descriptive category.

Thank you very much to everyone else for your help. I'll just have to settle for the format title & will work on the description if I have to.

The confusion my have been added to by the fact that I changed companies, URL & website providers at all the same time. Thanks so much for sorting thru my mess! I am constantly trying to improve my site and will soon have a tremendous amount of unique content added to my already unique web services.
I know that Advanced Access is selling their templates everywhere, but the difference is in how they are customized by the users. I offer a lot of web-based services that my competitors don't and provide a resource for my users to find other services on the web related to real estate. I like to think that sets me apart - at least in Milwaukee.
Thanks again for all of your help!

Re: Looking for my editor http:bestmilwaukeehomes.

as there are 2 authoritative sources (and the USPS) who think you are located in Glendale I'm moving it back there.

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I just want to be treated the same as everyone else in the category. Like I said in my previous post, most of those listed under "Milwaukee" are physically located in a so-called "suburb". I know 5 of them are in Glendale - I was in that office before I changed companies. And two listings are in my current office!
Besides, if you mailed something to my address and put "Milwaukee" instead of "Glendale" it would get there just fine.
If someone from another state asks me where I work, I'd say Milwaukee, not Glendale.
I work with a lot of transferees and they have no idea where Glendale is, but they know where Milwaukee is. Is that rule doing your directory users any favors in that sense? Maybe we need a "Greater Milwaukee Area" category? I know that's where I'd want to be!
But you're the boss, so I'll be happy just to get back in. Even tho it seems awfully unfair, I don't want to get "missing" again!

Please note that the unique content is minimal in proportion to the rest of your content, which is either off site, or generic cut and paste RE info - I found text string matches on multiple sites. As a user (remove editing hat) if I look through the list of sites in that category and see the same information on each one I'm going to have a hard time choosing - If I see something that makes me think 'I like what they're saying' I'm more likely to look deeper.

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As far as content, I guess you'd have to look at it from a consumer's point of view. They don't want to know about me, they want ways to find properties. And my site does that better than any there IMO. I have For Sale By Owner searches (my own and links) Property searches (my own and links) and rental searches (again, my own and links) How many other sites offer their own FSBO and Rental pages?
I also offer the Personal Web service. The whole "Selling Tools" is my own, as well as the extensive "Free Reports". My "Community Info" page is so extensive that it has it's own Google PR of 3/10, as does my "Search For Homes" page. My testimonial page is packed full. Not one other site offers services to the client with an "alternative lifestyle." Where else can a buyer send their friend and family to see the house they just bought like on "My New Home"? Yes, on the surface, my site appears to be the same, but I have put hours into making it much more valuable to my clients and prospective clients. I have built it up with enough unique services that most of my business came from my site this year. My site has a PR of 4/10 to 5/10 (depending on Google's mood) and I show up high on most search engines for my key search terms. I must be doing something right.
In spite of that, I know I want to add even more unique content about the local communities - with pictures. I just need the time to get out there and take them!
Anyhow, I hope this made sense as to why my site works. I think my site gives buyers and sellers what they are looking for and more. I've been told that it's better than most company sites and easier to use than realtor.com. I think that says something! Don't worry, I'm constantly working on it. I just know you won't regret including me in the directory.
Thanks for the input!

Re: Looking for my editor http:bestmilwaukeehomes.

Thanks for not screaming

All of the Regional branch of the ODP is predicated on businesses and information being listed at the lowest possible level.

In most cases this is going to be the actual physical locality of the business.

In your case this is Glendale. Only those businesses with actual offices in Glendale should be listed there. The same applies for those with physical presences in Milwaukee or Waukesha.

Like I said in my previous post, most of those listed under "Milwaukee" are physically located in a so-called "suburb". I know 5 of them are in Glendale

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Then they should also be listed in Glendale - Private Message me and I'll investigate and move them if appropriate.

Maybe we need a "Greater Milwaukee Area" category?

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well that actually exists in Wisconsin: Metro Areas: Milwaukee-Waukesha: Note that for a site to be listed in this Metro Areas category it would have to be for a site with physical offices (not a home office - just to save you the question) in two or more of the localities listed (Brookfield, Glendale, Menomonee Falls, Milwaukee, Pewaukee, Slinger, Waukesha, Wauwatosa, West Bend)

I really do understand your logic, unfortunately it doesn't quite mesh with what a directory is trying to achieve. We are trying to find a way for users to drill down to a category containing sites related in some way to that category.

In the Topical branches of the directory that relationship is the subject matter (teddy bears, nuclear physics, religion, or chess), however in the Regional branch the relationship is the physical location.

If we allowed busineses to define their listing they would always try to be higher - 'we don't service Milwaukee, we service Wisconsin' then 'we don't service Wisconsin, we service the whole USA', so we have evolved the guidelines to place them by Location, not Service Area.

I hope this explains why they are done the way they are.

Please feel free to contact me by PM with any sites you think are incorrectly listed.

Re: Looking for my editor http:bestmilwaukeehomes.

I'm not sure how mine differs from others in the category?

Mine is
- "Comprehensive tool offers property searches for Milwaukee,community & school info,seller tools,free reports,FAQs.All about real estate within one easy source."

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Some problems with that are: "Comprehensive" shouldn't be in your description (nor in any of the others), you're not using correct punctuation spacing, you're using "&", "All about real estate within one easy source." is hype (you can't possibly have ALL information about real estate and "one easy source" is a subjective opinion).

Gimmster pretty much said anything else I might have said but I'll just add that the actual physical location is more deeply checked out for real estate sites than almost anyone else because of the issues that Gimmster points out. Please feel free to take Gimmster up on his offer to review those other sites.

Re: Looking for my editor http:bestmilwaukeehomes.

Coincidentally, I grew up in the area, and have a pretty good knowledge of the geography. When you next look, I think you'll find a very different Milwaukee real estate category -- not to mention different categories in Glendale and a few other suburbs.

Re: Looking for my editor http:bestmilwaukeehomes.

"Comprehensive" shouldn't be in your description (nor in any of the others), you're not using correct punctuation spacing, you're using "&", "All about real estate within one easy source." is hype (you can't possibly have ALL information about real estate and "one easy source" is a subjective opinion)

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I stand corrected. Glad I'm not an editor and have to deal with all of this. Hats off to you all!