Submitting to the Open Directory Project:

Yes, the Open Directory Project is free, and yes, you can submit much more quickly. But the problem is there's no guarantee that your site will be listed. I've seen sites get into the Open Directory Project within a week or two of submission, and I've seen others that waited months without ever getting in. In addition, the submission forms sometimes don't seem to work! But don't give up. As i mentioned earlier on that, the Open Directory Project is very important. Here's how to submit:

1. Read the editor's guidelines at dmoz.org/guidelines/describing. html. If you know what guidelines the editors use, you may be able to avoid problems. It's hard to get into the directory, so you might as well give yourself the best chance of getting in.

2. Go to www.dmoz.org. The Open Directory Project home page appears.

3. Find a suitable category for your site.

4. Click the Suggest URL link at the top of the page.

5. Follow the (fairly simple) directions. Submitting to the Open Directory Project is much easier than doing so to Yahoo! Directory. You simply enter your home page's URL, a short title, a 25-30- word description for the site, and your e-mail address. That's it. Then you wait.

But understand that the editors at DMOZ don't care about your site, they care about the directory; in fact, read the DMOZ forums at www.resource-zone. com and you'll find that the attitude tends to be "tells us about your site, then go away and forget about it." There are all sorts of factors working against you:

- There are 8,000 editors managing over 700,000 categories.

- Many small directories may only be reviewed by an editor every six months . . . or far less frequently.

 The editors regard a six-month wait, or longer, not particularly excessive.

- In some cases editors may even ignore submissions. As one editor explained, "there is no obligation to review them in any order nor is there a requirement to review them as a priority . . . some editors find it more productive to seek out sites on their own and rarely visit the suggested sites."