I have not made it much of a secret in the past that I am not a big fan of the DMOZ directory (aka Open Directory Project). I believe that the directory has steadily declined in both quality and importance over the past couple of years. Additionally, trying to get your site through the DMOZ review process is about as fun as banging your head against the wall. Unfortunately, despite my bitterness, a listing in DMOZ is still a very valuable thing to have. The continuing importance of the DMOZ can also be seen on our list of the Strongest Directories, which it has been at the top of this entire year.
Getting a website listed in DMOZ can literally take years, it is still possible to do. From my experience and what I have heard from other webmasters, there are really only three ways to get your website listed now….get lucky, know an editor, or become an editor. If you already know a DMOZ editor, you probably wouldn’t be reading this post, but for those of you that don’t know anyone to help get you listed, there are ways to make some editor friends. Probably the best place to win (DMOZ) friends and influence people is over at the DMOZ public forums. Editors regularly read and respond to forum posts, so it is a good place to try and get your foot in the door with one of them.
The other method of entry that you can actually have some control over is to apply and become a DMOZ editor yourself. In my opinion, this is the best route to go. Of course, being accepted as a DMOZ editor is not particularly easy, but it is possible. One of my fellow SEOmoz members just recently wrote up a really great blog post with some advice on submitting a successful DMOZ editor application. You will be doing yourself a HUGE favor by reading his advice before trying to submit an application.
I have yet to submit a successful editor application myself, so I’m not in any position to give a lot of great advice on that topic. I do want to share one warning with you that I have learned from personal experience. On the portion of the editor application that asks for any websites you are associated with, BE HONEST!!! I have several websites that I own or am associated with, so naturally I didn’t feel like listing them all on my application. I chose my three most important sites at the time and left the others out. I mean, they aren’t going to spend the time researching to find every site I’ve ever been associated with, right? In my case, I was wrong. In my rejection email, the reason listed was that I had failed to mention a couple of my smaller websites and the person reviewing my application believed they were left out on purpose. Admittedly, the sites that were the issue were related to the category for which I was applying to edit, so it did look bad. The moral of my story is to just be honest and list all of your sites, especially any that are related to the category you’re going for. The vast majority of DMOZ editors have websites and naturally, many edit categories related to their sites. The important issue with them is that you fully disclose your relationships so they are at least aware of them.
If anyone else has DMOZ application stories to share or advice for a successful application, please share it. For those of you that are planning to give the editor application a shot, Good Luck!
