There are many questions that inexperienced webmasters find themselves asking themselves, and ultimately other users on the many webmaster forums available. These questions typically revolve around search engine optimization. For the remainder of the article I am going to assume that you are creating your website with the primary motivation and intention of generating ad revenue.

Search engine optimization has three very important components: site optimization, link exchanges, and directory submission. One of the most common mistakes that webmasters make when they are first starting out is attempting to achieve success in all three of these categories all at the same time. It is only natural to want to do everything possible to help your site as soon as possible, however, with the art of building successful revenue-generating webpages this approach simply does not do the job. There are three main steps of website development that must be followed in order to be loved by the search engines, loved by your competitors, and loved finally by DMOZ directory.

Step 1: Site Optimization

This step will include the construction of your website, the proper way to get content, important tips and tricks, and most importantly the need to develop some kind of unique theme and style that sets you apart from your competition.

A. Layout

Your site layout should be as simple as possible. All links should be in their text format, and the only images that you need to have should be in the header. The site should above all else look clean and tidy and have a clean, well-defined sidebar for putting all of your links.

Some tips that I can give here is to stay away from the color combinations white-red or white-green as these colors have largely become synonymous with RSS fed content-less websites which web surfers do not respond positively to. Your logo should be clean and simple as well.

B. The Proper Way To Get Content.

After you have chosen your topic, type into google the keywords that you are planning on having your site “target.” Take a look at the webpages that appear on the first and second page of results and start to research your topic. Read as much as possible and get a feel for how other websites have organized information and take notes on specifics such as statistics. After you have this information go back and look at your notes and begin to re-organize it in a way unique from your competitors. Write your own articles, put things into your own words, and build a strong content base!

C. Tips and Tricks

Search engines pay special attention to information embedded in <h1></h1> tags. These tags, which should be placed around the main title text of each page, should tell your visitors and the search engines exactly what that particular page is about. If you have subcategories within that content use <h2> </h2> tags. There should only be a few words within your H1 tags to ensure that you are not in any way manipulating the search engine in a way which could get you black listed. The interesting thing about these header tags is that you will find that the vast majority of your competition will simply not use them. This is a horrible mistake as it misses an opportunity to more clearly define your content as being “right” for a persons search in relation to your competition.

<Alt> tags or alternative image text tags are also very important. These are a great opportunity to ensure that your selected keywords are easily read by search engines. For example, is your site is about “Toys for Tots” give an alternate text tag for your header image “toys for tots header” and other alt tags such as that. Every little bit of information that you give the search engine in this way contributes in a small way to getting a good listing.

Finally, organizing your files for success! All of your files should be right in your home directory. You should name your files based on the keywords that a user might type into a search engine in order to find the content contained in that file. For example, a page on Toys For Tots about donating to the organization could be named “toy-donation-opportunities.html.” If you feel the desire to make a subcategory such as one for “articles” or something of that nature, instead consider merely adding that subcategory into the file name, further increasing the name’s relevancy. For example “article-who-donates-toys.html”

Step 2: Link exchanges with your competitors

This is one of the most difficult, yet necessary steps. Once you have built a respectable website you should write down all of your competitor website’s addresses and put them all into a Links and Partners page.

Instead of going through forums and randomly finding people to do link exchanges, it is best to exchange links only with those in direct competition with your keywords or related keywords. This is the #1 secret to achieving a high ranking with google. A link exchange with someone in the #3 spot for your keywords will be worth 100 links from unrelated sites regardless of how high their “pagerank” might be.

So after adding all of their links first send an email to each and every one of them requesting to be added to their links page. Most sites will have these pages, and many webmasters will be willing to add you to it. Send your emails, being sure to remark how much your enjoyed their content, and then forget about them for 3 months. If after three months they have not added your link remove them from the links and partners page and move on!

Step 3: Finally, DMOZ Submission “THE ULTIMATE SECRET”

After you have built a unique content rich site and have gotten a few backlinks from your competitors you are ready to consider submitting your site to DMOZ. The “ultimate secret” is actually not that secretive, DMOZ states it right within their submission guidelines. However, I will simplify the process so that even you can get your site added!

A. Content Rich Site

Your site should have at least 10 pages which were completely written by you - in your own words. You should make these 10 pages the focal point of your site, and then add other content in a more “submissive” menu such as in smaller or non-bolded text under your main content. This “submissive” content can be articles, charts, statistics, and other information that was not written or reworked to a significant degree by you. You should have a decent amount of “submissive” content but it is not as important as the content that you wrote yourself and have emboldened clearly as the most important information on the site. This gives the impression that the site is rather large, but the editors (as well as legitimate visitors) are likely to primarily be impressed by your unique content.

B. No Advertisements.

Until you are listed in DMOZ… NO ADVERTISEMENTS! If you are unlisted in DMOZ it is unlikely that you are receiving an unbelievably significant flow of traffic, and even if you are it is still worth removing the ads during the review process to ensure the editors are not suspicious that you made the site off of the work of others purely for profit.

**** The following two steps are the most important ****

C. Check your layout against already DMOZ listed competitors.

You should go through your category in DMOZ and take a look at the pages there. Ask yourself “is my site’s layout better or at least on-par with 50% of the sites listed here?” If the answer is no then it is up to you to go back into web-development mode and allow yourself to answer “YES” to that same question.

D. Ensure that you have a different approach to presenting information

This is probably the most important step of all in ensuring that your site is listed in DMOZ. You must ensure that your site has a different approach to giving visitors information. It is important to have unique information, but often times this just isn’t enough. DMOZ editors will often see just another general content site and discount it because, although it is just as good as sites listed, it doesn’t add anything to the category. You must give your site a theme or an approach that adds something DIFFERENT to the catergory otherwise your site will not be listed. An example could be taking a topic such as “Donating to Toys for Tots” and making it a “Donation Tour.” In this “Donation Tour” you would take the information that your competitors laid on in clearly defined text menus and instead present it in a manner where a user clicks “next” and is guided through a “unique experience.” This is only one example of how you can set yourself apart from the rest of your competition already listed in DMOZ. Remember, if you do not set yourself apart from your competition in one way or another you will not be accepted!

DMOZ Acceptance Requirements

1) Content that is on par with 50% of sites already listed.

2) Layout that is on par or better than 50% of sites listed

3) ***Most Important*** Contributes something unique to the category in a way the existing listings fail to accomplish.

If you follow these steps you are not only guaranteed a listing in DMOZ, a great search engine ranking, and a content-rich site, but also a great revenue source! So once you are listed get those ads online and sit back and relax.

You earned it!