Unique niche (subdomain) deeplinks?

We have a dating/personals site (http://matchopolis.com) which has several separate communities (mainstream, gay, lesbian, etc.). We originally built the site as an "all in one" design, but recently divided the site into several separate subdomains since each one has such a distinct audience (eg. http://gay.matchopolis.com, http://lesbian.matchopolis.com, etc.).

Dividing the site made sense because its a natural division, not an artificial one - ie. If someone has an interest in one of the subdomains, it almost precludes them from having an interest in another subdomain. (Someone who is straight is pretty unlikely to be interested in gays.. and a gay male is not going to be looking for lesbian women, etc.)

We realize that "tv.electronics.com, surround-sound.electronics.com, cables.electronics.com etc" schemes are routinely rejected by ODP, but we feel that this is a bit of a different case, because the audiences for each of our subdomain sites have such little overlap. (Ie. someone looking for televisions is very likely also looking for surround sound, cables, etc., but that is not the case with us). We feel this is fairly non-spammish, since gaining a listing (for example) for gay.matchopolis.com is not going to generate significant additional traffic for our other subdomains.

We also believe that our subdomain sites would be truly useful resources for someone using the ODP. For example, there are very few genuine transgender personals sites on the net, and our http://tg.matchopolis.com site would be a valuable match for someone looking for such.

Any expert comments on the viability of our getting one or more of these kind of subdomain deeplinks? We're hoping that some kind ODP editor might see things in part from our perspective.

Any expert comments on the viability of our getting one or more of these kind of subdomain deeplinks? We're hoping that some kind ODP editor might see things in part from our perspective.

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It has nothing to do with perspective.

This is no different than the farmer who grows beans, cucumbers, and squash. The farmer gets one site because they are all veggies, even though they are vastly different kinds of produce. The farmer can expand to dozens of different types of produce, and will still get one listing.

Now, if the farmer begins an automobile restoration business on one corner of the cabbage patch, we would consider the second link.

Basically, you have a datings/personals site. It really doesn't matter to us how you divide it -- by sexual orientation, by hair color, by toenail length -- that is your perogative and your business decision. But, regardless of how you choose to divide the site, to us it is still a dating/personal site. Now, if you start a car restoration business, we could have a different conversation.

This is no different than the farmer who grows beans, cucumbers, and squash. The farmer gets one site because they are all veggies, even though they are vastly different kinds of produce. The farmer can expand to dozens of different types of produce, and will still get one listing.

Now, if the farmer begins an automobile restoration business on one corner of the cabbage patch, we would consider the second link.

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I can see your point, but vegetables regardless of type are all products that have the same set of customers: grocery stores, chefs, etc. - whereas an automobile restoration business has a completely different set of customers (who are looking in different areas of the ODP directory). Personals sites are a bit of a unique case, because while they are all "personals sites", each sub-category generally has very separate customers.

Also, the way the ODP is layed out for personals sites, there is no category available (which allows listings) for comprehensive sites like matchopolis higher up the hierarchy - ie. there is no category available for "vegetable vendors" - there are only individual categories for "carrot vendors", "potato vendors", etc. So if the only choices are these individual sub-categories, we'd like to be listed in more than just the one. We'd be just as happy to have a single listing in http://dmoz.org/Society/Relationships/Dating/Personals/
(ie the "vegetable vendors" main category) or perhaps in a new "comprehensive" sub-category.

(Ok, this discussion is making me hungry!)

Personals sites are a bit of a unique case, because while they are all "personals sites", each sub-category generally has very separate customers.

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Now this is where perspective comes in. From our perspective it is all the same.

Let's try it with shoes (we've got a zillion of these ).

You open a shoe store selling women's shoes. You sell boots, heels, sandals, slippers and sneakers (i know shoes, my wife is Filipina ). So you have a web sites for shoes and we put it in the mythical category Retail/Shoes/Women.

Now you open a second store down the street specializing in men's shoes. Boots, sneakers, sandals, steel-toes, combat, etc. You set up a web site and ask for a listing in Retail/Shoes/Men.

We decline to list it because from our perspective it is one business and it is all footware. If the sites link, we would probably just pick one and list it in Retail/Shoes.

Ww categorize web sites, not customers. One entity - one website. Imagine all the websites Wal Mart could set up based on product lines and customer segments. They can set them up, but we aren't going to list them all.

I understand what you are asking, but my best advice to you is to be sure that the URL we list (assuming it is listable) lets your various audiences navigate to the various, appropriate subdomains.

If I'm understanding you correctly, you'd be happy with a single listing in the broader http://dmoz.org/Society/Relationships/Dating/Personals category but have discovered that it isn't accepting submissions, right? That's because we don't list sites at that level (you'll notice that there are no sites right there at that level).

While most of your sample listings are for people in North America (which, if that was all you were targetting, would mean you'd be best advised to submit to http://dmoz.org/Society/Relationships/Dating/Personals/Regional/North_America ), I also see one Australian person in the samples. Thus, the appropriate letter category (i.e. M) under http://dmoz.org/Society/Relationships/Dating/Personals/International/ is probably more appropriate to submit your main URL to.

Dating is a really bad topic to use as an example. I haven't looked at your site so no generalities I'm about to use is specifically related to you or your site. (Basically, when I say "you" I mean anyone with a dating site).

There are a handful of very large dating databases out there. They have thousands of affiliates using the same databases. Many section them out to Special Interest categories.

The problem Dating has is, if a site doesn't use these dbs then, while it might be unique, their content is usually really limited. Having a low number of member profiles for anything in a broader topic than a really specific market (I'm talking beyond a specific city or possibly a state), there just isn't enough content on most dating sites. To market to lifestyles on a National or International level a site really needs a considerable number of unique members.

Sites with these amounts of members usually use the affiliate db from the handful of programs, therefore rendering them unlistable by ODP standards.

Now consider that all of these sites submit multiple urls, multiple times with multiple sub-domains/deeplinks in multiple categories but usually hide the fact it's a shared db behind "member signups", it's not the type of category that attracts sincere editor interest.

Many times because of the problems the topic category faces, editors will err on the side of caution and have multiple editors check out a site before actually listing it. To list a useful site in these areas can take 10 times longer than in less spam prone topics. Just because the industry may be known for spam, we try to keep the directory spam-free.

You are in a bad situation because of how the industry operates. It may prove getting one listing will be hard enough. Submitting your subdomains will probably do more harm than good for both the directory and your reputation as a submitter.

motsa's directions are correct, submit your root url in the International category and put it out of your mind.

This is only my , take it for what it's worth (about 1.9 cents).

Thanks for the replies!

I guess the issue boils down to the fact that the site is broad-themed, yet the ODP structure for the personals category currently does not allow listings at anything other than a more narrow-themed sub-category level.

Our listing is currently under http://dmoz.org/Society/Relationships/Dating/Personals/International/ (ie. mainstream audience international personals) and this is definitely suitable for our mainstream personals (http://matchopolis.com). However we do have several subdomains which provide separate content (such as http://tg.matchopolis.com) that really directly suit a completely different sub-category.

If ODP policies don't allow sites in broad-themed categories (ie. http://dmoz.org/Society/Relationships/Dating/Personals in this case), and deeplinks are a negatory, then I guess our current listing is probably as good of a fit as we are going to find. This must be a fairly common scenario though (eg. "footwear" vendors forced to choose between "mens shoes" and "womens shoes"), and it makes me curious if this is how it is usually handled.

Anyway thanks again for the replies and the examples!

Yes, this is the way we treat "broad" sites pretty much across the board.