SEO professionals know that building links is one of the most important factors in driving traffic to your website and increasing your search engine ranking. The question is how you, as a business owner, can go about building links efficiently. Unfortunately, link-building is a tedious job. It takes a lot of time and effort and, frankly, it isn't all that exciting. One of the best ways you can build links is to submit your site to web directories. Web directories are listings of websites divided into categories and subcategories. If an internet user wants information on a particular subject, he or she has only to search in a directory to find multiple listings that will provide the information that he or she is looking for. Imagine how great it would be if your site was included! One of the best things about having your site listed in a web directory is that your listing counts as a one-way link to search engines. As you probably already understand, search engines give greater value to one-way links than to reciprocal links, so this is a great way to increase your search engine ranking.

As you begin to research web directories, you may be tempted to utilize the mass submission software that's available. After all, such software gets the job done easily for you without all of the tedium. The problem with submission software is that each directory has its own submission requirements. Furthermore, each directory has its own human editor who will be all too happy to reject your submission if it doesn't meet the guidelines.

Your best bet is obviously to submit your site yourself. But is there anything you can do to speed up the process? Have the following information at the ready:

1. Your website's full URL, including the http://

2. Your site's full title. Some directories will allow you to include keywords with your title, so be sure to have two alternate entries. One entry is just the title. The other is your title with keywords.

3. Your site description. Write several versions of your description to align with the requirements of different directories. Make one as short as 100 characters and another as long as 300 characters. Additionally, write in regular, complete sentences. Make your description compelling, but don't make it sound like a sales piece. Don't overdo your keywords. Remember that your submission will be reviewed by a human editor who will notice right away if you're trying to stuff your submission with keywords

4. Your name, address, and email address.

5. The categories in which you think your site will be most appropriate.

6. Two lists of your keywords. In one list, separate your keywords with commas. In the other list, separate your keywords with spaces. That way you'll be prepared for whatever format the directory requires.

While mass submission is definitely to be avoided, you may find that, sometime soon, someone may produce a really great submission program. The perfect submission software would look something like this: Fields that are identical to the forms that directories provide and that allow you to enter alternative titles and descriptions to meet the requirements of the various directories; details about each directory' PageRank and traffic; a preview page where you could see the directory submission form already filled out before you actually submitted your site; and the ability to choose your own categories rather than having the software do it for you. It wouldn't be as fast as mass submission software, but it would give back some of the control to you while shaving precious time off of the directory submission process.

If you're new to the directory submission process, consider consulting with an internet marketing professional who can help you determine how to best use directories efficiently and effectively for your business.