Adventist Listing Directories
If you think that search engines are important and directories are not worth the bother, then you need to read about Getting Your Site Listed with the search engines before returning to this page.
These are the basic components that make up an internet directory:
Human Editors
The content of the directories are edited by humans. Commercial sites typically have to pay to get listed in directories such as Yahoo and Zeal. Non profit sites such as churches often do not have to pay. Most of the editors are volunteers getting paid nothing for their services. A common reason why you can't get your site listed is because nobody has volunteered to edit that category. Often enough editors join the editing team just long enough to get their sites listed. Many are more dedicated and hang in there for several years.
Database
The larger directories such as Yahoo and the Open Directory Project (ODP) serve their directory pages from a large database. Many of the databases that list Adventist church websites are composed of simple HTML web pages.
Open Directory Project
I am a volunteer editor for the DMOZ Open Directory Project, listing Seventh-day Adventist churches in the North Pacific Union Conference (i.e. Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Alaska). I make use of Google to do my editing for the Open Directory and Google's robots make use of the results of my editing. Google and the Open Directory project are owned by the same company. Because of Google's top ranking popularity and because Google uses the Open Directory it would be a very good idea for more Adventists were to join the Open Directory Project in the Adventist categories, to help get Adventist churches and ministries listed better. Zeal is another project that could use more Adventist volunteers.
Site Navigation
Site navigation typically involves clicking your way through the category pages until you arrive at the one you are looking for. Typically a search box is provided to facilitate finding the page you are looking for on the site.
Directories that list Adventist churches and/or ministries:
It is worth tracking down the various directories that list your type of site so that you can submit to each of them. Some of these sites may already have your church's contact information listed. Some of these directories feature the church's photograph, which adds a nice touch. You need to fill out the form that will add your website link to the directory page.
Adventist Directories
Here are some of the directories that list Adventist churches and/or ministries:
Adventist Organizational Directory > North American Division
McDonald Road Church > Adventist Churches Online
TAGnet NAD Church Locator -- will list your site even if not TAGnet hosted
PlusLine lists a lot of Adventist Organizations and Ministries
Commercial Directories
These are some of the commercial directories which list Adventist churches and ministries:
Open Directory > Seventh-day Adventists -- feeds Google which feeds other search engines
Yahoo.com > Christian Denominations > Seventh-Day Adventist -- getting listed with Yahoo is known to be time consuming and can be expensive.
CrossSearch.com > Seventh-day Adventist
I-nue.com > Seventh-day Adventist
MyWay.com offers a list of Adventist Directories featuring Adventist ministries and/or churches.
Other Directories
Here are some ideas to help get your site listed better:
State and county directories.
City directories and chambers of commerce.
Area church directories (e.g. Mission Portland's Seventh-day Advents churches).
There are several Adventist and Christian school directories that list our school site which is hosted off the church site.
Our local Gleaner On Line keeps it's articles on line where the search engines can find them. They often feature special events at our church and list our website. Have your union or division on line publications feature your new website. Just listing your site address in paper form can help.
Useful Tools:
Link Popularity Tool
One way to track down candidate directory sites to submit to is to find out who links to sites similar to yours. Perhaps there is a church in your area with a popular website that has been posted on the internet for several years. Find out who links to them using the following two sites:
Link Popularity for Altavista, Google and HotBot
Adme Link Popularity Checker for MSN and AllTheWeb search engines
Google Indexed Pages
Here is how you find out which pages on your site have been indexed by Google. In Google, enter the following in the search box: site:MySite.com Google will return a list of all the pages that it has indexed.
Sites Linking to My Site
In the Google search box, link:www.MySite.com will list the pages that link to your site. Google only lists the higher ranking incoming links with PageRank scores of four and above, perhaps as low as three. Here is a much more comprehensive way to find out what sites Google has listed as linking to your site, by entering "+www.MySite.+org/" into the search box. Change the "+org" to "+com" or what ever, as necessary.
