When doing web directory submissions, you have to remember you are doing it for traffic. Your traffic will come from 2 sources - (1) the web directories and (2) the search engines. Guess where the bulk of your traffic is coming from? That's right - most of the traffic will be coming from the search engines. In other words, you are actually performing SEO when doing web directory submissions.

So how does SEO work?

In theory, the more back links you get, the higher you will rank in the search engines. For instance, if you are targeting the keyword phrase "search engine optimization", you will need to use these words in your anchor texts. Anchor texts are words that go in your links. That means instead of using "click here" as your links, you should be using something like "search engine optimization".

Once you understand that, you can proceed with your directory submissions. Here is how you start.

First, create a list of web directories. You can easily gather a list of URLs with the help of the search engines. Simply make a search for "list of web directories" and browse through the search engines. Some web pages will list the web directories according to page rank and Alexa ranking. Page rank is simply Google's way of letting you know the quality of a website. The higher the page rank, the more you should try to get your site listed in there. Alexa is an estimated traffic indicator. The smaller the number, the higher the ranking, which means that the web directory is actually getting traffic.

Don't worry too much about page rank and Alexa rankings when you are starting out. Just focus on getting your list. Once your list is ready, you may start with your submissions. Usually, the submission process is rather similar, and it goes something like this:

1) Find the most relevant category (very important).

2) Click on Add URL.

3) Type in all the required information, and enter the captcha code (if necessary).

4) Click submit.

5) Check your email for confirmation email. If there is one, click on the confirmation link to confirm the submission.

6) Submission completed.

Please remember to submit your links to the relevant category. Web directory owners will reject your links just because it's submitted to the wrong category. So be sure to locate the right category for your website.

You may also go ahead and complete the submissions, then login to your email to confirm the submissions later on.

This can be a time consuming process, and the work may also be boring. Fortunately, you can always outsource the work to other link builders. For a small fee, there are reliable link builders who will submit your URLs to hundreds of web directories on the Internet. All you have to do, is to click on all the confirmation links.