DMOZ and other directories

It's been almost 1 year since my last post. Has DMOZ changed since? No. There are still good editors, the kind that believes in what they do and gets offended when you criticize the organization that is supposed to look the projects they believe in. There are still corrupt editors and editors of questionable values. The ones who have applied for mainly or exclusively self-serving reasons. The ones who will cash in on their editor status every chance I get. I've also been told that the Resource Zone has changed its tone. But that is not an accomplishment since they've taken the easy way out and discontinued giving the status of a non-completed submission.

So where does this all leave us?

It leaves us with the question where DMOZ is going and if it should still be bothered with. From a webmaster's point of view my answer is no again. I see the long drawn out conversations and arguments on forums and it makes me wonder if the topic of DMOZ should even still be brought up anywhere.

There are many great Web Directories out there like SevenSeek Web Directory.

My favorite directories do not include DMOZ because even though it has some great categories, it's not reliable overall.

Design and seo - the happy, happy medium!

I often wonder why people get so fixated on seo that they neglect the design on their websites.
It makes no sense to me.
I have seen sites with major rankings and know thru the owners that their sales are actually minimal.

If you are only talking to the search engines, only the search engines will listen :)


I have clients who are doing very well thru our designs and didn't even pay for search engine marketing ( they starting ranking for terms anyways by default thru content, better navigation etc. ) while others who only wanted marketing got the rankings they asked for and now are crying about the sales not being as high as they want them to be.

"Told you so, I suggested a new design before anything else!"


I am not trying to be Mr Know-it-all but think about it, a lot of sales come thru referrals and so on. You don't need major rankings to start a snowball effect which then will lead to major rankings. A good, clean, appealing design will take care of the rest. A few good backlinks and some good sales people can make it fly beyond believe.


What I want to say to people who are new in the search engine marketing game is this:

perform actions which benefit you 2 ways.

I always ask seo clients if there is anything they would want changed on their sites and every web site owner seems to have a list of things they want altered.

I say: the time is now and let me tell you how!

I have the highest respect for good designers, because I myself cannot design.
Until the right designers came along I was missing out.

The last thing you want is to put a lot of energy into something, get results and then not benefit from them, right?

ghostwriters, designers, programmers, sales people ... it takes a team to create and maintain a well running business. Search engine rankings can benefit you but the keyword is "can".

Mike

P.S.: Read more on my Web Design Blog

Resource Zone unbanned me!

Today I noticed that resource zone has unbanned me. I was going to show my partner and employees the posts of mine and noticed that instead of "Banned" it said "Member" once again.

Whoever is responsible for that, I want to thank them!

it is a good step into the right direction. I have apologized numerous times and will do so again for submitting my site many times over the past 4 years. I can only use complete ignorance as my defence and confirm no harm was ever intended.

Had I ever known how much extra work it would cause, I wouldn't have done it and you have to believe me.

Anyways, I hope you guys can forgive me and we can all move on.

I may make an appearance here and there again and will not come off offensive, negative or as any form of thread.

however I need to say this: the moderator who banned me in the first place (Hutchenson) is one of the bad apples which exists in every community or organization.

Whoever is on the right side of the track should stay that way and pursue their interests and believe. Once again, I am sorry for wasting you guys' time once again and I assure you that it will not happen again.

Sincerely,


Michael Dammann

DMOZ editors - the good, the bad and the nasty

There are many DMOZ editors out there who are good - they are so into their field of interest they really want to make a difference and take their position serious.
but most of them are not like it.

Freedom of speech is one of the most precious things to me but within DMOZ and resource zone, it does not exist.

DMOZ editors have gotten so used to being kissed up to, they talk to people any which way they want. How DMOZ, AOL/TimeWarner can allow that to happen in their name is beyond me.

The constant whining, unwillingness to fix problems of corrupt and inactive editors is a combination that doesn't sit well with me.

The more examples of verbal abuse I see on http://www.resource-zone.com the more disgusted I get.

There is absolutely no excuse for that. We all have heard a million excuses but they are all just that.

The real reason why it takes so long to get your web site into DMOZ

why it takes so long to get listed in the ODP is this:
about 90 percent of the editors will sign up with a few sites in mind. First of all their own, a few friends'/clients' and also some sites which they have seen and they like.
When those editors hand pick sites, they don't always meet the guidelines. Not that they are in gross violation of guidelines, just saying naturally a ton of things get overlooked and there is absolutely no nitpicking or asking a webmaster to change things when an editor really likes the site.
Which is good ... rules are there for a reason but flexibility is what life i about as well.
NOW: why does it take so long for sites to be listed in the ODP?


because 90 percent of editors don't do anything once the sites they had in mind are listed. They do absolutely nothing or next to nothing. Leaving the ones who do work with a load of sites and submissions.
You can see a lot of them trolling around the forum resource-zone.com/forum and trolling around is exactly what it is?
Did I mention flaming? They resort to namecalling. They stoop as low as they can go. They attack people for having done multiple submissions on sites without explaining why they attack. They also don't do ANYTHING about the real reason they are overworked which is the lazy ones within their ranks. The ones who got what they wanted and then don't do anything.
I was inspired to shine some more light because a member named clubtitan.org has been in http://www.vbwebmaster.com/forums announcing how cool it is that he just became a DMOZ editor and is getting his web sites in right away. He may turn out great, he seems to be into the category he edits but let's face it:
Statistically speaking the chances are he won't be.
We hear the whining constantly about being overworked but let's not forget the real reasons and let's not shoot into the wrong directions.
It never seems to amaze me how so many editors find so much time to go on Resource Zone when they should be editing sites.
I can understand that you may burn out, especially when the initial reason for becoming an editor has been to just get a few sites in.
When I hear stories about why sites can take up to 8 months to get accepted, they want to use that to mention how overworked they are when in reality most editors sit around.
If you want to be a DMOZ editor, make sure you know what you are getting into.
If you are a DMOZ editor, quit accusing the few who make mistakes and get to the real problems.
I have seen the most cowardly behaviour I have ever witnessed online by editors talking on RZ. They will yell at you, then ban you and then still yell at you.
You should also be aware that many editors won't list their own sites, because it would be too easy doing a backlink check, finding a lot of sites link to them (good links ) which are not meeting the DMOZ guidelines whasoever.
Well ... but they are in there and I wonder why :rolleyes:
The more I want to stop talking about DMOZ the less I can.
We are being lied to and the term DMOZ is corrupt does apply in my opinion because of who has taken control.

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