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						The second step on the route to web success is to prepare the basic submittal information in advance and have it ready in a word processor file to access quickly each time you register a page. You need the basic information for EACH site page you register. Our detailed guide will help you. Drive on for details.

[image saying: Step 2 - Preparing Submittal Info]

	Contact Name Most directories want the name of someone they can contact (yourself, for example) if they have questions. If you've got a long name, for example, "Johnathon Livingston Seagull Doe" that you don't want to keep retyping, have it ready for later copying into a directory field.

	Enterprise Name If your page is that of an enterprise (business, organization, etc.) have its name, for example, "John Doe Enterprises" ready for later copying into a directory field.

	Enterprise Address Have the full enterprise address (street, city, state/province, country, zip/postal code, telephone, fax, and email) ready for later copying into a directory field.

	Page URL Name Have the full URL, for example, [http://www.isp.com/ yourname/birdhouses.html] ready for later copying into a directory field. Avoid retyping. It leads to errors.

	Page Title Have the title, for example, "Secret Birdhouse Building Techniques Revealed," ready for later copying into a directory field. Avoid retyping. It leads to errors.

	20-Word Description For directories that limit descriptions, use your META description, for example, "Secret Birdhouse Building Techniques reveals little-known ways of building birdhouses to attract the birds you want." It should be less than 20 words. Some directories limit you to the number of characters. Be aware of this so you know how to make your description look good.

	50-Word Description For directories that allow longer descriptions, expand on your META description. Include HTML code for directories that allow it so that visitors can link directly to your site. You can always remove the code from your prepared description if a directory does not permit it.

	Press Release This is a long description in press release format. Use it for "what's new" types of sites. Include HTML code. Use this long description whenever the directory places no restrictions on length.

	Usenet News Group Posting This description is a bit like the press release, with wording suitable for an announcement newsgroup. Include URLs that can be easily copied by the reader of the announcement. Consider also a boiler-plate signature you can use when posting responses to Usenet questions.

	Guestbook Signature Yes, you read right. Whenever you visit another site, there's often a guestbook that can be signed. Have an appropriate standard signature ready. Include HTML code because many guestbooks accept it. This gives other viewers of the guestbook a way to jump to any site of your choosing. Some guestbooks automatically delete HTML links so it's advisable to write the signature in a way that it still makes sense even if the link is deleted. For example, you could say Come visit our<A HREF="http://www.nicegallery.com/"> beautiful </A>gallery" at http://www.nicegallery.com/. If the guestbook deletes the link, only the adjective beautiful will be missing and the URL is still there for people to copy and paste.

	Keyword List Put yourself in the shoes of someone searching for your products or services. What words come to mind? List as many pertinent keywords you can think of in order of priority. Most directories have a limitation on the number of keywords, usually four or five. If your list is already in order of priority, you'll have no trouble selecting the first three, four or five words.

	Enterprise Category Directories have categories to structure entries in their database. You will have to choose one or more when you register. Doing some advance thinking will prevent hesitation and wrong selections when you're in the heat of registering with 50 different directories. There seem to be an endless number of categories, but Pointers to Pointers suggests the following five major ones: (1) personal, (2) corporate Entity, (3) organization (non-profit), (4) educational Institution, and (5) government.

	SignPost is a creation of Donald A. Coggan, PE, 1433 Lajoie, Montreal, Canada, H2V 1P7, (45° 31' 7" North by 73° 36' 47" West), E-mail: don@coggan.com, Tel: 514-273-9774, Fax: 514-273-4863.


		Prepare all submittal information in advance, for each page you want to register, so that you have it readily available when submitting pages to the various directories. Without this advance preparation, the registration process will be much longer. You'll be tempted to skip entries with some directories and rush the wording of promotional material that professionals often write and re-write several times. This could limit the effectiveness of your directory listings.

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