| In my opinion, the easy part of Internet Marketing is | | | | definition, more focused, they can help your site |
| building a website. Build a site that looks good, | | | | become much easier to find. Both potential |
| contains useful content, and is attractively and | | | | customers and search engine spiders will find it easier |
| logically laid out and you're in the money, right? | | | | to discover you. |
| Well, not exactly. Now comes the hard part. How can | | | | Finding Niche Directories |
| you get visitors to your site? | | | | As with other things, it takes an extra investment of |
| One good way is to determine how your site differs | | | | time to locate a directory in your niche. The vast |
| from others. Try to determine what particular niche | | | | majority of web directories combine many niches |
| the site fits into. Then, niche directories can help give | | | | under one general umbrella site. |
| you an edge over the competition. | | | | One way to locate directories is to go to a large |
| Niche directories are especially useful because they | | | | meta-search engine, such as Dogpile ( and type in |
| can help build theme-related links. A niche directory is | | | | "niche + search engine." You will have to wade |
| made up of links that specialize in some particular | | | | through a lot of junk to find what you're looking for. |
| area, or point to sites that offer a product for a | | | | But the advantage of using Dogpile is that it allows |
| non-general audience - an audience that usually has | | | | you to compare results from several of the biggest |
| more money to spend, and more incentive to spend | | | | search engines at once. |
| it. | | | | Another, but more tedious method, is to hunt for |
| Advantages of Niche Directories | | | | niche portals and blogs that contain links pages. Social |
| Search engines are now placing more emphasis on | | | | bookmarking communities, such as Spurl ( or del.icio.us |
| the relevant anchor text and the theme of the links | | | | ( are even better places to hunt around for topical |
| coming into your site. That means links from sites | | | | lists of websites. That's more work, but should pay |
| that are related to yours may end up weighing in | | | | off handsomely in the future. |
| your favor when it comes to getting a higher | | | | Sample Niche Directories |
| placement in the SERPs. | | | | Here are a few samples of what you might find |
| What's good for the search engines is also important | | | | when searching through Niche Directories. |
| for other visitors. People who actively look for niche | | | | Art Online |
| directories are highly targeted visitors. When they | | | | Niche: Art. Free. Review process timeframe is open |
| come to your site, they're likely to be eager to read | | | | ended. |
| your reviews, sign up for your newsletter, join your | | | | AutoGuide |
| forum, and check out your products or | | | | Niche: Autos. Free and paid listings. Extensive site |
| advertisements. They may even be more targeted | | | | review process. |
| than a visitor who comes straight from a Google | | | | |
| search, since they chose your site from all the sites | | | | Niche: Business $199 annual inclusion or pay-per-click |
| in that niche directory. | | | | (PPC) listings. |
| Whether your ideal visitor is into classic car | | | | Horse Web |
| restoration who is looking for that hard-to-find 1932 | | | | Niche: Horses. $25 per month for featured placement. |
| Ford carburetor, or a physician looking for integrated | | | | Review 3-5 weeks. |
| medical software, they have one thing in common. | | | | Pet Web [ |
| They are both people who are searching for | | | | Niche: Pets. $50 per year, free for non-profits. |
| specialized goods and services, they're motivated to | | | | Keep looking and linking, and soon you will see your |
| spend, and they usually don't mind paying top dollar. | | | | traffic and profits increase to where you always |
| Since niche directories are usually smaller and, by | | | | knew they could be. |