Directory Rules

I just wanted to write this to give a little helpful suggestions to directory owners and operators...

Submission guidelines are rarely read... why... a couple of reasons:

1) Many off people using off the shelf templates fail to update the standard text in the submission guidelines area of the template and as a result don't follow their own submission rules.

2) Let's face it most people don't spend the time to read the details... yes you can say if you don't read you don't get in but that doesn't help you as you will have to waste time denying tons of submissions

3) They are often hidden on other pages or too long to read.

As someone who has submitted to lots of directories here is what I found to be effective:

-Keep your submission guidelines down to no more than 5 or 6 bullet points.

-Don't bury the guideline... put them in the submission form itself... if you don't accept titles other than the actual site title put that right below the Title box and if you don't accept certain types of links put that right below the url box... I have seem some people put in info buttons righ next to the box which spells out the rules for that section.

-If you don't accept deeplinks you can add a mod which will automaticaly send back an erroro message to the submitter when trying to put in a deep link.

-If you don't accept certain email addresses use a plug in to automaticaly give an error message when one of the banned email addresses is entered.

While I know many people say if they don't want to read then tough for them but the reality is that submission rules are good for everyone but if you make your rules clearer by using the above tips you will actualy save yourself lots of time having... no more wated time denying all of those submissions when you could have fixed the problems up front.

 

Thanks for the information very helpful

 

Very good suggestions, green given

 

Thats quite a long post so your lucky im reading it all, could you not of kept it to just 5 or 6 bullets points? just joking.

-Keep your submission guidelines down to no more than 5 or 6 bullet points.

This isn't practical for me, if i leave out some key guidelines then its harder for me to enforce them and explain myself if i then rejected a submission even though i didn't state properly in the guidelines.

In fact if i was to fully list the guidelines that could cover most things then seriously you would be looking at a list of about 50, i try and generalise it and break it down to about 10 i think, and after that im willing to explain for each individual case by email if neccessary.

I agree about not burying them, hiding them and actually taking the time to change them from the template standard, and update them when needed.

 

Very nice tips for both directory owners and submitters. I am planning to start a directory site and these tips will really come in handy.

 

You can always put READ MORE...

 

Gave me the answer to my question.
You always want submitters to read your guidelines but oftentimes this is never the case.
By lowering our from 10 bullet points to 5 or 6 and having a read more it would be far easier on the eye picking things up with a flash read and continuing on to the read more if any submitters genuniely care about how they submit their sites.

 

For my small directory I use pre-submit page.
It's not for guidelines only, however I put some.

But there are 2 check boxes that must be checked as agreement to terms of use
and...
links to full linking policy and agreements site.

But apart of guidelines pre-submit page mainly is destinated to avoid spam and it's really great for it.

If you think - it's too much - I will say - not for people who really find directory useful for them.

Much more important I find submit page options.
For many submitters it's not clear - having 4 or 6 type of links, lot of deep links option - dissappearing after page reload (found it on most of directories)....

This may sicken many submitters...

 

Hehe, true, good idea.

 

That's the system I'm using at Web Catalogue, I have a short version of the submission guidelines on the submit page itself, and linking to the detailed version below the short version of the submission guidelines.

Meti