The world has gone crazy

Why can't we get our site listed anywhere?

We have a genuine free UK recruitment site that is completely free to both job seekers and recruiters. If we try to get it listed with the various search engines nothing seems to happen (it would appear you only get listed if other sites link to your site!).

If we send email to just about anyone these todays the email gets spam filtered or lost in the sea of garbage emails from fake or virus sending sites.

"The world has gone crazy", we are offering a completely free site with no catches and we can't seem to be able to tell anyone about it!

Anyone have any useful suggestions?

I'm afraid this forum is concerned only with the Open Directory Project, and therefore we cannot help you with regard to search engines and listing services as the ODP is neither of those.
Perhaps one of the sites in http://dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/Web_Design_and_Development/Promotion/ will be of assistance.

I used to be a member of Search Engine Forums but cannot find the link right now. I did a quick Google search and found the following that might be of some use:

http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/

http://forums.seochat.com/

http://www.seochat.com/ - appears to be the home site for the above but I couldn't find the forum link.

http://www.searchengineforums.com/apps/searchengine.forums/ - Aha! Found it.

Best of luck to you.

And indeed all are listed in the ODP, which is precisely why I suggested that as the place to start (as well as keeping the thread on-topic for this forum).

swarbey, you've picked a complex problem to tackle, and you've solved the only part of it that's absolutely trivial ... that is, building a website with a trivial interactive database.

Now you suddenly ask: is there any content I have that I'd want to put in an online database? Do I know anyone who has any content to put in it? Is there anyone that needs a database like this: and even if there is, since this database was so trivial to build, how likely are those people to build their own so they can tweak it the way they want? Is there any reason people would visit a "content" site with no source of content?

Those are the difficult questions. Most people have no answer for them, and most aggregate-content sites fail miserably. I can't answer them: so, I've refrained from TRYING to start an aggregate-content site.

I'd always recommend working through established recruitment sites for all my job-seeking and hiring needs. That's where the experienced experts and recognized authorities are, that's where the reliable content is, that's where the searchers are, that's where the experts weed out those standard classes of job scams(*), that's where people who care for their reputation meet -- and all of that matters a great deal to anyone dealing with something as important as a job or a salary -- and all THAT makes a for an extremely powerful virtuous circle.

(*) Without constant monitoring, any "open content" site will turn into a haven for the dregs of the internet -- scammers, affiliate spammers, lead generators/ID thieves -- and job boards are particularly vulnerable. So a job board really needs to have established trust right out of the box -- because otherwise, ONLY the scammers and ID thieves will visit. The only way I can think of to do that, is to have the site vouched for by some expert in the real world who has a valuable reputation to protect. And I rather think that's probably the only possible way.

[Rant]I must say that submitters don't seem to have changed much since I was last in contact with the ODP. All they seem to care about is getting more traffic to their site so they can make more money ... and they expect unpaid volunteers to bow and scrape to their every whim in getting multiple listings in the ODP so they can make that money.

I think I'm just as happy to be away from all that.

Do I have a website? Yes.

Is it listed in the ODP? Not that I know of, I never submitted it and, if it's there, would actually request it be removed. I neither want nor desire a listing. Then again, I'm probably only in the less than 1% of the population who feels that way. Of course, I don't use my website to generate income and have had a lot of problems with spammers recently. [/Rant]

Ah, that feels somewhat better. Any Editor may now remove this post if they wish. I'm sure enough users will see it to make them annoyed and enough editors will see it to make them realize that everyone in the world isn't out to get them.

I'm off now to search the ODP to see if my site is listed ... :icon_conf

[Added]
Just checked. I'm still safe, it isn't listed.

Thanks for the support. We can sure do with that from time to time.

Thank you to all who gave some useful and helpful tips; as for the others what can I say?

As I stated we run a completely free site, we only make money from donations from people who have used our site and have either liked or benefited from what we do. So far we are doing quite well.

The point I was trying to raise is that the E-world has gone mad and has lost the plot. It now seems nearly impossible to make any noticeable impact in the Electronic world these days because of all the junk out there. We find that for every penny and minute spent on traditional advertising methods such as newspaper and best of all radio, we have to spend 100 pennies and 100 minutes on the internet to get the same return. Guess what, we won't be bothering wasting our money and our time advertising on the internet, even though we run a successful Internet business. Now that's what I call a world gone crazy!

No, that's just good business sense, swarbey, .

My own business site gets very little traffic, even though it's listed in the Directory, but, I use it more as a way to give my customers a reference point about my services, rather than trying to generate new customers.

To be honest, I have better luck with the yellow pages and the radio ads myself. Newspapers are a waste of time and money.

We don't judge site suggestions by whether they generate money or not, and I think you should view your site more as a way to store information about your company that you'd like prospective customers to see, rather than as a means of advertisement. (though it probably does that also)

I've built a few sites, and, I'm far from being a webmaster, but, my advice is to refer people to your site by other means, and try to get other sites to place a link to your site from theirs, perhaps in exchange for a link on your site.

Many editors find new sites by following links from other sites, I do.

If I happened to run across your site, Spock, and it happened to be listable, I would list it. And, if you put in a request that it be removed, I would certainly honor that request, but it might take a couple of years, .

crowbar said:

if you put in a request that it be removed, I would certainly honor that request

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I would not. If the site is listable, then I would list it for the benefit of our customers (the surfers), and let it remain listed unless some change on the website or in our guidelines meant it became no longer listable.

crowbar said:

if you put in a request that it be removed, I would certainly honor that request

Click to expand...

No, you shall not.
Sites may not be removed on request.
Only if a site has no unique content or does not meet the current guidelines it may (and must) be removed.

Yes, I would, if an update were requested to remove the site by the owner, and I felt (using my editor discretion) that the content wasn't unique enough that removing it would harm the category, I would grant the request.

Not that I've ever had such a request, . But, I do have editor discretion, and I resent the tone you're using with me, pvgool.

Sorry, nothing personal against you. And I didn´t mean any harm with my posting. If my tone upset you I appologise as it wasn´t my intention.

It was just to remember that we neither as we do not list sites on request we also do not remove listings on requests. Only the site itself will give us reasons to list or delist it.

BTW we have had people asking us to remove their site, and they have all been told, NO.
There are a few ways people can make us remove their site
1. remove it from the internet
2. put all the content behind a password (no content for us to see)
3. only put non-unique content on the site
4. make it a site that we wouldn´t list according to our guidelines
But remember never change it back to what is was before as we might list it again.

Forgiven and forgotten, friend, .

crowbar said:

... If I happened to run across your site, Spock, and it happened to be listable, I would list it. And, if you put in a request that it be removed, I would certainly honor that request, but it might take a couple of years, .

Click to expand...

I was an editor for (almost/over?) 2 years and during that time enjoyed my interactions with most of the other editors. I even helped to institute a couple of policies that were beneficial at the time. Since I've left (was removed as an editor actually) I have no idea what has happened. What I'm doing now is akin to visiting your old High School to see how things have changed.

As far as I can see, not much has changed. The users seem as greedy, grabby, and needy as ever. The editors, et al, in here who are trying to act as ODP Ambassadors at large are as friendly and helpful as others posting in here allow. Fortunately, I no longer have access to the ODP internal forum where I ran afoul of "office politics". Anything I say can, and probably will, be used against me, so let's just say that I was removed and let it drop there.

As far as adding my website, I could have done that myself. I think I had a simple site back then but never felt it offered enough to warrant adding it. Even now, I try to keep my site closely held and I'm still not sure there is any "new" information there that would warrant a listing.

If you are interested in looking, I will send you the URL via PM but request you not share it with anyone who might decide to list it. I use it to help teach my students about Netiquette, Internet Security, forum usage, and other mundane information that is old hat to most here but really eye opening to some of my students. My youngest student so far was 13, my oldest graduate was 92!

You guys keep up the good work of advancing the goals that the ODP was set up to accomplish and don't forget. "Non Carborundum Illegitimi"!

That's a refreshing attitude to hear from an ex-editor, Spock, best of luck to you and your students.

crowbar said:

... best of luck to you and your students.

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Thank you. So far no one's died of boredom ...

thanks for the some useful and helpful tips. thank you very much for the support.

webmaster forums

I think a search for WEBMASTER forums is what you need to do. Most every WM forum has an area for search engines or SEO.

Well, this is an old thread, I better clarify something I said,

If I happened to run across your site, Spock, and it happened to be listable, I would list it. And, if you put in a request that it be removed, I would certainly honor that request, but it might take a couple of years,

Click to expand...

I think I was trying to be funny by stating it would take a couple of years (which it doesn't).

I would not remove a site at the owners request, any more than I would add a site at their request. A site either qualifies to be listed or it doesn't, it's either a site with unique content that we want or it isn't. Whether a site has been suggested, or I found it on my own, if it qualifies, it gets listed, whether the owner wants it listed or not.

Editors build categories for the web surfer. Any site that's out on the Internet is free for the taking, despite any owners wishes, because our focus is on the web surfer and what benefits them.

I apologize for how I wrote that original post, it was incorrect and confusing.