Submission Rule

In regards to one of the submission rule:

"Do not submit any site with an address that redirects to another address."

My question is my site is an affiliate website. I will not and cannot type in the advertisers' URLs explicitly in my web page. (i.e. http://www.yahoo.com) Instead, all the links that lead to the advertisers' websites have to be underneath a picture or HTML codes provided by the advertisers.

With these links in my website, does it qualify for submission to ODP?

Please kindly advise. Thank you.

We do not discuss individual sites here, but you may find useful information here: http://www.dmoz.org/guidelines/include.html#include

nyting said:

With these links in my website, does it qualify for submission to ODP?

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It depends on the rest of the content. If you have unique content and a few affiliate links there normaly is not a problem to get listed. But if you created a website around these affiliate links it won't be listable.
See http://www.dmoz.org/guidelines/include.html#affiliate for more info about affiliate links en why we won't list them.

"Do not submit any site with an address that redirects to another address."

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That bit of the guidelines is referring to the address of your own site. It means that if you own lots-of-cool-keywords.com and it redirects (eg via http, meta refresh, or even a whole-screen frame) to actual-company-name.com then it's the actual-company-name.com URL that you should suggest.

It doesn't matter to us how you happen to arrange your links to other websites on the pages of your own site -- as long as they work for users. However, as others have already pointed out, if your site just consists of affiliate links, or it's main purpose is to drive traffic to those affiliate links, then it's likely that it will fall under one of the classes of Sites Generally Not Included.

makrhod said:

We do not discuss individual sites here, but you may find useful information here: http://www.dmoz.org/guidelines/include.html#include

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Hi makrhod,

Thanks for replying. Which forum should I go, or is there a forum, I can post question about individual website (before I fill out the submission form)?

Thank you, pvgool and chaos127.

Your information are very helpful. I read your messages and look at the links. Instead of just re-direct traffics to the advertisers, I have added my own opinions and recommendation about the products in my website. The opinions and recommendation are based on my own and other users' (my friends' and experts') experiences.

Does this sound better than just an "affiliate site" which is described in the "Sites Generally Not Included"?

Regards,
nyting

That question can not be answered without looking at the website. And that is something we don't do. Please do not ask for specific information about your website anymore, it won't be answered.
If the content you have written is only written to get people to follow the affiliate links it would be not listable. Did you read the information on the link I posted before? It has all the information you will need to decide yourself if your website is listable or not.

Hi pvgool,

Yes, I read the link you posted before I replied, and thank you for your suggestion and information. Now I understand I cannot request any moderator / editor to answer questions about specific website. Sorry about my confusion.

What I mean is, I have my own opinion about specific product; if the reader is interested, he/she can click on the link. It does not show the address or name of the company which sells the product. I will make changes so that the website does not look like an "affiliate" web page at all.

The "looks" of a site are incidental. One of the things editors look at is the purpose of a site. If the purpose of a site is shopping, it goes into a Shopping category (assuming it meets Shopping criteria), though it might also qualify for a Regional listing. If the primary purpose of a site non-unique content, be it affiliate sales or whatever, it won't be listed. The "looks" of a site don't matter.

Thank you, gloria. I understand what you mean. You are right, it's the "purpose," not the "look." I want to make my website more informational and with opinions; instead of just throwing a lot of links into it. That's why there are about six sections with different topics. By the way, can I submit the site to more than one category? For example, Can I submit the website to both "shopping" and "North America region" at the same time?

Thank you for your advise.

If the site represents a business with a bricks-and-mortar location, where customers walk in and receive service, then it can be suggested to a category in Regional--the smallest regional category that includes the locations(s) involved. Or if it provides online purchasing of services, with a service area constrained to one U.S. state (or one "foreign" country) then again suggest it to Regional.

Otherwise, don't.