what's the approximate directory rejection rate? My site is as clean as mother's milk, doesn't violate any of their guidelines. i'm submitting to 200 and it looks like i'm running about a 5% rejection rate. I have no desire to pursue them, figuring that attrition is just one of those things. just wondering, is all.
Mostly what i have seen is the rejection rate is 5 - 10%. Some directories approve links very fast and some take a lot of time and some goes to sleep for months.
no, general directories--but narrowed down to a specific sub-category (Home Improvement). i'm going thru a submission service...so it could be the case that my sub-category doesn't really exist in that directory, and that's why I'm getting rejected.
I reject half of submitted sites. Either spam or they submit to first level category or wrong one. Sites which I find useful myself I change category ... others go DELETE .... Too much spam these days to even bother
From an owner/editor point of view, I would tell you I reject probably 90% of what gets submitted to my free directory. Honestly, you wouldn't believe the crap that gets submitted: wrong category, keyword-stuffed titles, no descriptions, triple-hyphenated dot info domain names, made-for-adsense, absolutely no content, etc. From a submitter point of view, I have no problems getting into 90%+ of the directories I submit to. It really isn't hard. Just read all the guidelines, follow all the rules, and submit to the most appropriate category. Simple.
Maybe if you post the site URL you are submitting, some of us directory owners could give you better feedback. It might be better knowing if it's something about your site in particular or if you are just a victim of mass submission.
^^^ ditto (Port Prophecy) BTW, so far, every submission I've seen from manual submission companies to my directory failed to comply with clearly posted guidelines. Makes you wonder.
I'm running at about 90% rejection as well. Luckily I have filters for things like "mesothelioma", "viagra" etc which dumps a lot of the submissions.
Well, while your site may be clean, it appears to be heavily dotted with adsense which may be one reason for the disapproval rate you are seeing. In fact, if It were submitted to my directory, I would not approve it at first for that very reason. Mind you, I am only giving my point of view here. I have a section on my directory for "MFA" sites and if it were submitted to Home - Home Improvement I would consider it when I had time for movement to the MFA directory. Maybe a little strategic adsense placement on your site would do the trick.
I agree with Rod. That site seems to be created for the sole purpose of making a couple pennies a day off of adsense (rightly or wrongly) rather than providing any useful service to the user. Drop the adsense to maybe just one skyscraper (clearly separated from the articles) or just ditch adsense altogether. Your adsense layout at the present screams out to a directory owner or editor MADE FOR ADSENSE. And while content is the most important thing editors look at, a nicer design may also help. Just my couple pennies.
You have unique content from what I saw from a quick check which is a big plus in my book. However the overall feel is that it's another MFA site. Changing the design might make a huge difference and from my experience a site with a good design and carefully placed adsense can have greater CTR than a plain design with ads almost scattered in the page.
It made my eyes bleed. OK. That was a bit exagerrated, but I as an editor won't waste my time reviewing a site like that where I need to really pay attention just to find the content.
Thanks--advice seems to be pretty unanimous. I'm drastically thinning out adsense, and I'm introducing way more white space and margins.
Hey just redesign it a little to look more pro ... don't just dump ads ... oh and sorry I rejected your site I think ... submit it again please and I will approve it Check out some templates on free-css-templates.com ... you might find something useful !
Now you mention "White Space". I cannot tell you how suspicious white space on any site makes me as a directory owner. I never approve submissions with lots of white space because I can never tell what might end up in that space one day. In my opinion, better to fill it with adsense than white space. Dont know how other directory owners feel about that, but white space gives me the creeps....
It's unattractive and there is still too much Adsense on it. So from a presentation point of view, it does itself no favours. This will lead to a higher rejection rate from many of the more selective directories. Remember, first impressions count and in many cases editors will only look as far as your index page before making a judgement. I assume you're talking about non-reciprocal, free submissions. You will never get a 100% approval rate on those, no matter how good your site is. A lot of directories change their model in the gap between your submission and them getting around to approving your link. And I suspect a few will only approve reciprocals, even though they say it's not essential, in certain cases.