Another thread got started because a webmaster found the rejection email he received from a directory egotistical. Here's a thread talking about the issue in general. Acceptance emails should... state the directory state the site that has been listed give a link to the page say thanks for submitting and helping to build the directory If a rejection email is sent then it should... state the directory state the site that has been rejected give generic suggestions for resubmitting Rejection emails should not be personalised to the site unless the directory owner feels the site justifies it. After all it's the directory owners site and what they want in there is totally at the owners discretion. Reasons I may reject a site I don't like the submitter - only 2 so far, one is a spammy seo company, the other has been reported to his boss who I respect the site competes with either the directory or another site I own the site fails on one of the standard criteria Once you've run a directory and waded through all the spam you'll have a new appreciation for the owners of the directories you submit to. I have a directory for vBulletin forums - the submit button even says "submit a forum" and you wouldn't believe the crap that gets submitted. I even get sites suggested via the "request a category" form.
This is an excellent point. If you have ever owned a directory, you understand the hard work one must put into it. Free directories get so many submissions with 90 percent being utter crap. Because of this most free directories have very scrict guidelines on what gets listed. If your site is rejected, especially in a free directory, then don't sweat it. Move on.
Look at the worst rejection email that I have received: What do you feel when receiving email like that? Should you be interested in their services that offered in this email? I shouldn't.
Unfortunately, there are unethical people out there running directories. The people that sent that email aren't interested in listing any free submissions, they just want you to order their submission service.
It's incredibly easy to set up a directory and any kiddie scripter can do it. However when you turn up to submit you can't tell if you're getting a serious business or a con. I'm amazed at how quickly the forums in my directory turn over as the site owners get bored or breach their hosting terms and conditions and get kicked off. Directories are just the same.
I beg to differ #2 - this is meant to be a directory, not a link exchange. PR doesn't matter #3 - sloppy spelling - actually there are a few instances of this. The rejection email in this case is selling the directory to the rejected webmaster so that s/he will resubmit and hopefully pay money. A sales pitch should be proof read.
I do agree that rejection emails should detail if and when you can resubmit. That's about the only thing I'd add to Sarah's list of things that should be in that email.
What do you say about my rejection message? : Dear {LINK_OWNER_NAME}, We are sorry but your site {LINK_URL} was not approved to appear in our directory. The common reasons are: site under construction,too many broken links,unapproved content, you did not submit the main page. Please review these and feel free to resubmit. If you want to submit internal links, other than the main page, use the featured link submission.
Greats points Sarah Totally agree. With dirSpace I send out approval emails with the points as mentioned in your first post. I've set down thinking about what I would like to recieve when I submit my website to a directory. With the rejection emails it's an whole different ball game, I've send out rejection email to people where the submission doesn't meet up to my requirements of the directory. Imo it's totally up to me when I reject a website. In the rejection mail I always refer to the suggestion guide at my directory (Which I believe is never read... pfff, I didn't write that for nothing) Then it starts to happen, people are starting to email me whith quotes like these: * My website is accepted by many directories, why can't you approve mine? - Answer: Could be, but the submitted website didn't meet up to the requirements as stated in the suggestion guide for the directory, for instance, spam title tag, affiliate website, only build for Ads, not yet finished, wrong category, no original content, (and the list goes on and on) * My website is of high quality and I've put alot of time in creating it. I want to get listed at your directory. - Answer: Commercial websites have to pay a fee to get reviewed at DirSpace Web Directory, your website is a commercial website. Sorry free submission are only for non-profit organisations. Please submit again in the paid submission form. Thank you. And the email list goes on and on.. Sometimes, grrr.. Wanted to get this off my chest, thank you!
I have a couple of directories and I can just say that after you have had so many listing requests where they have completely ignored or not bothered to read the rules of listing you get less patient and helpful in your replies. For example, on the submission page of your directory you say , paid listings at this price tick this box or free listings with a reciprocal link tick this one. And they go for free and do not even enter a reciprocal link. No time for that.