Status of http://www.health--savings--accounts.com

Can you please tell me the status of my site: http://www.health--savings--accounts.com/

It was submitted to this category: http://dmoz.org/Business/Financial_...nd_Marketers/Health/Medical_Savings_Accounts/

Thank you,
Jim McFadden

When was it last submitted?

It's been over a month, but not more than two.

OK, the submittal was actually received June 14. Check back for another status no sooner than January 14 of next year -- that'll average out the shortage.

Ok, it's 6 months later. Can you please tell me the current status of our site: http://www.health--savings--accounts.com/

Even after all this time, I notice we are still not included in the ODP. We have a great site about health savings accounts with excellent information on how they work as well as information on how to purchase a high deductible health insurance plan that is needed to open a health savings account. I think our site would make a great addition to the ODP.

Thank you for your time.

Jim McFadden

Declined. Your main site is already listed. Please do not submit sites for individual insurance lines.

Which main site are you talking about?

And what do you mean by submitting sites for "individual insurance lines"?

And what do you mean by submitting sites for "individual insurance lines"?

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If we see an insurance company that has separate sites for each one of its insurance products, we only list the main site for that insurance company.

Which main site are you talking about?

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You don't know your company's main URL? Weird.

Thank you for the information Motsa.

Now I see why I was confused and I understand the reason for our site being declined. However, I do have one additional question, but I’d like to give you some background on our company before I ask. I apologize in advance if I’m taking up too much of your time.

We started our Colorado health insurance company back in 1996. In 2000, we moved online with the creation of www.colohealth.com (which the ODP views as our main site). Our ColoHealth Company sells many types of health insurance products only in the state of Colorado. We only have one site for all the different types of health insurance we sell in Colorado.

With the introduction of health savings accounts in 2004, we saw an opportunity to start a new company. We started a nationwide company called HSA for America. HSA for America sells high deductible health insurance plans to customers nationwide which qualify to be used with a health savings account. Our site offers extensive information on health savings accounts, an unbiased directory of HSA Administrators (all unaffiliated with HSA for America), a collection of HSA articles, and much more all dedicated to health savings accounts.

So to us, these two sites are not merely separate sites for different insurance products, they are two entirely different companies. One selling all types of health insurance products only in the state of Colorado, and the other selling heath insurance plans designed specifically for health savings accounts to customers nationwide.

My question is what can we do to get our HSA for America site listed in the ODP? We’re willing to do whatever it takes to get listed. We feel we have a great resource for people interested in health savings accounts and we know getting listed in the ODP will help people find our site.

Thank you for your time.

Jim McFadden

So to us, these two sites are not merely separate sites for different insurance products, they are two entirely different companies.

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To us, for the purposes of building a directory, they are one and the same. Only one is eligible for listing.

My question is what can we do to get our HSA for America site listed in the ODP?

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Option 1: Shut down the first site and hope we find the second.
Option 2: Shut down the first site and suggest the second.
Option 3: Redirect the first site to the second, and go to the cateogry where the first site is listed and submit an Update URL request.
Options 4 to 44: Variations on the same three.

Hint: Option 3 probably makes the most sense. You can always provide customers a link back to the first URL. We run into this all the time, and your situation is hardly unique.

If the companies share a toothbrush, they have to share an ODP listing also.

Thank you for all the information.

Sorry, one last question.

Is it possible to simply request one site be added and the other removed?

Yes, you can.

Go to the category where the site is listed, and hit the "Update listing" link at the top right of the page. You can then request that a different URL be listed.

However, that on its own will not change the listing. An editor needs to see evidence that the site you want taken out actually points to the site you want in. You could do this by forcing a URL redirect on the old site to the new one, or posting a note on the old one to say that "This site has now moved to..." and give the URL.

Without something like this in place, it is highly unlikely that editors will change the listing. This is done to prevent potential "listing hijacking" by unscrupulous webmasters.

Once again, thank you for the information. I'd like to say "one last question", but I know that might not be true.

Would it be enough for an editor to approve if every page on the "from" site has a link to the home page of the "to" site?

If not, I will set up the redirect, but I'd rather impact our Colorado business as little as possible.

Thanks again,
Jim

It might be a good idea to put the link to this thread

http://resource-zone.com/forum/showthread.php?p=183056#post183056

in the comments of the update form

Yes, and it doesn't have to be every page. If the home page has a "we've moved" or "we're moving" link, that's plenty.

All we're trying to avoid is Harry Hijacker's trick of copying your website, claiming to be you, getting the ODP link changed, and then changing his website to be something else. This isn't real common, but it is not unknown either. So we need SOMETHING on the OLD site.

301 redirect is good, because it forces Google to update, as well as getting caught by our automatic link checker. But WE do not REQUIRE it. Merely, as an aside, we recommend it based on non-ODP considerations.

Final question:

Would it be enough for an editor to approve an Updated Listing if every page on the "from" site has a link to the home page of the "to" site?

Thanks for you help,
Jim

Sorry, disregard last post.