It is possible to make directory submission yourself. This would take you a lot of time and effort as there are a number of steps you have to follow. Below is a run down of the process involved if you are considering doing the directory submission yourself.

Make a list of web web directory sites:
The first step is to decide on the directories to which you wish to submit your site to. The World Wide Web consists of literally thousands of web directory sites. If you are unsure how to go about this you could take a look at which web directory sites come up on the larger search engines, such as Google and Yahoo and start from there.

Check the directories are SEO-friendly:
Once you have your list of directories you need to check they are search engine friendly. A search engine friendly directory is one that will provide links that are counted and valued by the search engines. If the links aren’t SEO friendly then the directory is a waste of time and you should move on.

To check if this is the case you have to do a number of things.

1. You need to check the page source of one of the link pages in the directory. Right click your mouse and you will see ‘View Page Source’. Click on the option and then look for the code: If this code is on the page, then you don’t want to submit your site to that directory, as the search engines won’t count the links it gives out. If you see both noindex and nofollow or either, avoid submitting to that directory.

2. If the links on a page appear in the following format, it tells the search engines not to follow them: Domain If you see these links they are not worth submitting to. Always check the source code of each directory first for valued links.

3. When you check the source code, the links should be in the typical HTML-href-format. Any other format and it is likely hey are not SEO friendly links and will not be indexed by the search engines.

4. If the links given by a directory do not go directly to the home page, they are not direct links to the site and thus are of no value.

5. If a link pages URL has too many parameters the search engines won’t value it very highly.

Select an appropriate category:
It is extremely important you choose the most suitable category to submit your site under. As you start to familiarize yourself with the web directory sites you will see there are a number of categories and even sub-categories and it is important you chose the one most specific to your website.

Directory links are no good if they come from unrelated categories. If there is no category suitable for your site, then for some web directory sites it is possible to suggest one.

Enter your website details:
Now you need to start the actual manual directory submission. In the directory click on ‘Add Listing’ or ‘Submit Site’, there are a number of terms that may be used and you should be able to view it on the homepage and category pages of the directory. This will take you to the submission form page.

The submission form page is where you will find the submission guidelines and rules. It is very important you read through these carefully as each seo-friendly directory has different guidelines when submitting your site. If you don’t read the rules carefully or just ignore them, you will miss relevant information and the directory editor will simply discard your submission and your site will not be approved.

Select your directory listing option:
There are various listing options to choose from. As mentioned before, most directories are free but there are some that charge and each on has different pricing options and listing options. Paid web directory sites will charge a one time fee to list with them or a yearly or monthly subscription. Paid directories will offer a range of payment packages; the most expensive ones will include a speedy review of your website, guaranteed back links and featured listings, advertisements and advantageous website placements. If you pay to list your website expect to appear in a prominent position on the directory and to stand out from the other listings.

Free web directory sites give free listings and each website submitted to a free directory is manually reviewed. This can take time, even up to a few months, and approval is not always given. When eventually approved, your website will appear under the category it was submitted under. It can be difficult to find a specific listing in a free directory, as there are often many pages and similar websites under the same category.

Most directories offer one-way links, however reciprocal web directory sites only give a link if they receive a link in return, this is known as reciprocal linking.

Most web directories offer some or all of these listing options or even a combination.

Complete the Submit Form:
The submit form is where you enter all the basic information and details regarding the website you want to submit.

Some of the details you will need to fill in on the form involve the pricing, which will depend on the type of listing you choose, and the title, this should be short and summarize what the website is about. Titles are normally no more than 45 characters. The URL needs to be the homepage of your website only, ensure your domain is up and running as if it has no content or is still under construction it will be refused. The description should say exactly what the site is about in a few sentences. These are normally around 200-250 characters. The keywords you enter are the same ones you expect your site to be searched with. Input the name of the person connected to the website. In some web directory sites the name you enter here could be viewed along with the website’s listing. The email you enter isn’t that important, although some web directory sites won’t accept emails from free accounts such as hotmail. If your website has an email connected to the site domain it might be better to enter that one. The category is simply chosen from a drop down menu. Ensure you choose the one that is appropriate to your website.

Enter the code and submit the form:
Automated submissions are not accepted by most directories and so to verify it is a manual submission they often ask for a verification code. You must enter the code in exactly the same way they show it; this includes capital letters or smaller case.

That'd how to do Manual Directory Submission.

Note: for the reciprocal listing option only, there is an extra field for you to fill in, Reciprocal URL. If you went for the option ‘Regular Link with Reciprocal’ it is necessary to copy and paste the link provided onto your website. And the copy your URL and paste it in the ‘reciprocal URL’ field. If you choose the paid listing option, once you have entered all the details and submitted the form, you will be taken to a payment page. Here you’ll need to enter the payment details as specified. Once your submission is complete you should receive a message to let you know it was received and then all you wait for approval. Remember it is not 100% guaranteed you will get approval as your website will be manually reviewed and some of the web web directory sites have strict listing policies.