Yahoo! We Made It

Just a short couple of years ago, getting listed in the most popular directory on the World Wide Web was a piece of cake. They were almost begging folks to help them build their database. With success, at times a certain elitism may develop. The Yahoo! directory is now without question the hardest to score a free listing, much less a prominent one. If you have an extra $200 lying around going to waste, you can buy your way in; but that's no fun. In early September, 1999 we finally got our internetbrothers.com domain listed with Yahoo! after trying since April. Following is a record of our experience. You can learn from our mistakes, and use what you need to enjoy success yourself.

We must admit a certain irony in promoting Yahoo! in this manner after the stunt they tried to pull earlier this summer with GeoCities web sites. But 40 hits per day in the first three days of our listing can be a strong persuasion. Sheep, just call us sheep.

Our First Mistake, and Smart Move

For the first year and a half existence of the present Internet Brothers site, we flopped around like a beached fish using the free web space provided by our Internet Service Provider. Deciding to get serious about our commitment, we purchased the internetbrothers.com domain in April, 1999 and hosted with Fortress Web Design. The first promotional call to action was to try to get our already hard-earned search engine listings converted to our new URL. We had great success with many of the Big Seven, but slipped into the directory bit-bucket with Yahoo! It isn't fun being ignored. Sometime in June, we decided to change tracks, and go for a new listing rather than an update.

Over the years, and what seems thousands of web marketing newsletters, we had learned one of the first rules of web promotion basics; keep tedious records of all your promotional activities. This is doubly important when dealing with the yahoos at Yahoo! Whoops, make that the kind, generous, and exceedingly brilliant yahoos at Yahoo! You see, there is a back door entrance to this popular directory that requires you to remember what you've done.

The Right Stuff

It's known as the self-deprecating, down on your knees with humility, downright begging method to the friendly support staff. Burn this into your subconscious:

url-support@yahoo-inc.com

After you have made three or four rules-abiding efforts to get listed using conventional means, Yahoo! allows you to communicate directly with their support technicians via email. Do not abuse this privilege right off the bat, play by their rules of engagement, or you will end up on a list all right, just not the one you wanted.

We have used the url-support technique in the past for other web sites with varying degrees of success. Our recent venture was inspired by Michael Wong of eBoz.com, Your Guide to Creating Successful Websites. After reading his article about dealing with Yahoo! (much like this one), we decided to give it another go. On the next page you can see the full text of the letter we sent to Yahoo! Technical Support.

Next To "The Letter"

Was this site useful to you?

The Internet Brothers have implemented hierarchical menus for navigation. Easier done than said.

The hierarchical menus were created using Peter Belesis' © Dynomat DHTML scripting tool from Webreference. Give them a visit, you'll like what you learn.

The college years are when your children and your luggage both leave home — but the laundry comes back to visit.