Jun 23rd 2009 5:02PM
Focus on the Shopping Section
Hey Everyone!
Editor lisagirl has provided the latest in our series of posts highlighting portions of the directory, this time focusing on the Shopping section.
Emily
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"Hello, my name is lisagirl, how may I assist you??"
"Hi lisagirl! Does DMOZ accept shopping sites?"
"Why yes, we do accept submissions for all sorts of shopping websites. Have you checked over in the Shopping description section? If you can't find what you need there, check the Shopping FAQs section."
"Thanks! Is there anything else I should know?"
"Why, yes! We've covered the requirements below. I'm quite certain whatever you need can be found there!"
* * *
To be listed in the Shopping branch, the requirements are simple. The website must have:
1. A listing of products for sale,
2. Prices,
3. A way for the consumer to buy the product without having to leave the comfort of his/her
house, and (of course)
4. Unique content.
If the website only has "here's a few photos of our stock, call us for more info" that won't be listed in the Shopping branch because it doesn't have specific products listed or prices.
If the website has a list of products but no prices, it still won't be listed in Shopping. It must meet the 4 criteria above.
If the site doesn't meet them, you can try suggesting the site to a related category in the Business branch (for example, a manufacturer's website) or in the Regional branch (for example, a local grocery store).
But wait! There's more! If the site is a USA-based business, it must ship across most of the USA. For all other countries, the business must ship to at least one other country. (For DMOZ purposes, the United Kingdom is considered one country.) If the business fails this requirement, you can suggest the site to the "Regional/Country Name/Business and Economy/Shopping" category that corresponds to the country you're looking for.
Ohhh yes, there is one more tiny little thing: doorways, mirror sites, lists of advertisements and drop-shippers are prohibited in the shopping category. Non-English sites should be submitted to the appropriate World category. If you'd like more details, view the shopping category description.
Titles? Descriptions?
You can always try this blog post about writing titles and descriptions. In the Shopping branch, we focus descriptions more than on the products offered, but of course if the website has features that others don't, mention them!
Where to suggest a site??
You can either click and surf 'til you find what you want, or try a simple search within the Shopping branch, or see where the competition is listed. The closer you can get, the better. If you don't know where the site belongs, make an educated guess. If you instead submit it to a higher level (such as submitting a site selling ocarinas to Shopping/Music/Instruments instead of Shopping/Music/Instruments/Winds/Ocarina hoping the editors will figure it out, that will only delay the site's review. So please, do your best to get the site as close as you can!
What sorts of shopping sites does the Open Directory Project list?
You name it! How about these examples:
Edible Insects
Ear candles
Clothes for lawn geese
Barbie dolls
"Green" furniture
Letters from St. Nick
and of course...CHOCOLATE!!!
Editor lisagirl has provided the latest in our series of posts highlighting portions of the directory, this time focusing on the Shopping section.
Emily
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Hello, my name is lisagirl, how may I assist you??"
"Hi lisagirl! Does DMOZ accept shopping sites?"
"Why yes, we do accept submissions for all sorts of shopping websites. Have you checked over in the Shopping description section? If you can't find what you need there, check the Shopping FAQs section."
"Thanks! Is there anything else I should know?"
"Why, yes! We've covered the requirements below. I'm quite certain whatever you need can be found there!"
* * *
To be listed in the Shopping branch, the requirements are simple. The website must have:
1. A listing of products for sale,
2. Prices,
3. A way for the consumer to buy the product without having to leave the comfort of his/her
house, and (of course)
4. Unique content.
If the website only has "here's a few photos of our stock, call us for more info" that won't be listed in the Shopping branch because it doesn't have specific products listed or prices.
If the website has a list of products but no prices, it still won't be listed in Shopping. It must meet the 4 criteria above.
If the site doesn't meet them, you can try suggesting the site to a related category in the Business branch (for example, a manufacturer's website) or in the Regional branch (for example, a local grocery store).
But wait! There's more! If the site is a USA-based business, it must ship across most of the USA. For all other countries, the business must ship to at least one other country. (For DMOZ purposes, the United Kingdom is considered one country.) If the business fails this requirement, you can suggest the site to the "Regional/Country Name/Business and Economy/Shopping" category that corresponds to the country you're looking for.
Ohhh yes, there is one more tiny little thing: doorways, mirror sites, lists of advertisements and drop-shippers are prohibited in the shopping category. Non-English sites should be submitted to the appropriate World category. If you'd like more details, view the shopping category description.
Titles? Descriptions?
You can always try this blog post about writing titles and descriptions. In the Shopping branch, we focus descriptions more than on the products offered, but of course if the website has features that others don't, mention them!
Where to suggest a site??
You can either click and surf 'til you find what you want, or try a simple search within the Shopping branch, or see where the competition is listed. The closer you can get, the better. If you don't know where the site belongs, make an educated guess. If you instead submit it to a higher level (such as submitting a site selling ocarinas to Shopping/Music/Instruments instead of Shopping/Music/Instruments/Winds/Ocarina hoping the editors will figure it out, that will only delay the site's review. So please, do your best to get the site as close as you can!
What sorts of shopping sites does the Open Directory Project list?
You name it! How about these examples:
Edible Insects
Ear candles
Clothes for lawn geese
Barbie dolls
"Green" furniture
Letters from St. Nick
and of course...CHOCOLATE!!!
1. Just for kicks I've decided to try again to get listed in the shopping directory. We've only been trying to get listed for six years and are the largest Catholic store on the web so that should be a no brainer, right?
Posted at 11:10PM on Jun 24th 2009 by Ian
2. Great article! since I start to make a blog for shopping reference. It would be a shopping reference for natural and green products both for wholesaler and retailer.
Posted at 2:49PM on Jul 4th 2009 by gprbali
3. Hi Lisa,
I was glad to see your posting that DMOZ still accepts shopping sites. I have tried a number of times to get my jewelry website added to the "bead and gemstone" directory. We have a unique jewelry site offering handmade jewelry, new manufactured jewelry & vintage jewelry all in one website. Any advice on how to get the site accepted would be greatly appreciated.
Posted at 3:46PM on Jul 8th 2009 by Anahita
4. Excellent information - thank you. I will definitely recommend your site to my clients. Most people don't know how important the things that you highlighted are.
Posted at 4:09AM on Aug 3rd 2009 by Candelabras
5. Hi,
I submitted our shopping site about 5-6 weeks ago. Our site seems to meet all the criteria listed above but is not listed yet. After reading this blog I have a couple questions: 1 - Some of the people mentioned that they have been trying to get listed for a long time, but I thought re-submitting a site was frowned upon. If our site was not accepted should we give up or keep trying? 2 - I tried to send a message to the category editor but got a proxy error. Is there something special I need to do to send a message?
Posted at 8:22PM on Aug 6th 2009 by XSDave
6. Great article! since I start to make a blog for shopping reference. It would be a shopping reference for natural and green products both for wholesaler and retailer.
Posted at 7:52PM on Aug 17th 2009 by Anderson Luiz Chipak
7. Thanks so much for this article. I am pleased to see that my site does meet all of the criteria you listed. Although I may have inadvertently submitted my site more than once, I do hope that it will be listed soon.
Posted at 10:58AM on Aug 21st 2009 by beadznthingz