PROMO CODE: 25BUCKS

By the way, if you were already toying with submitting, this is a great chance to do it… as for example that drops the price on a BOTW Blog Directory submission to $50. A 33% break is pretty special. As far as the regular directory goes it isnt as large a percentage, but if a penny saved is a penny earned, Ben Franklin woulda gone nuts for this idea.

—- if you’re on a drivel free diet, snip here —-

Now that you’ve decided to save $25…
Let’s discuss what you should do with the extra $25 you *aren’t* spending. I’ll toss my top 10 suggestions, none of which involve sending it directly to me, though if you want to do that I’m game too.

Top 10 Alternative Uses for the Spare $25

• 10- Send $25 to Public TV and demand they play Monty Python all day Sunday in return
• 9 –  Get 25 items from the McD’s Dollar menu and invite co-workers to a black-tie dinner
• 8 –  Tip the fire outta that cute bartender… should pay for itself in free drinks later
• 7 –  Get the Celestial Steed and impress your World of Warcraft friends with the new mount
• 6 –  Pay full market value for all 2500 of my wife’s Beanie Baby collection
• 5 –  Make a downpayment on shipping 2500 Beanie Babies to someone really evil
• 4 –  Get that thing on late night TV that’s “Only $19.99!” and
  • finally make real Juliann Fries
  • fix those nagging scratches on the car
  • get those 6-pack abs you always wanted
• 3 – Upgrade to the Pro Account on Flickr and get unlimited storage
• 2 – Finally take that “defensive driving online” course that’ll lower the insurance rates
• 1-  Buy unexpected flowers in hopes of getting several of the above items later

If you have more to add, you’re welcome to put them in the comments section. Bound to be some stuff I missed. Aside from that, we hope you put the money to good use.

Best wishes ~

So why not make it mandatory?
The simple answer is that we provide a service, and it just isn’t an issue to us. We’re happy to help, and making sure it goes to the right place is part of the editors job anyway. The point of this post is to help if YOU want to state a preference. We’re fine either way. The absence of a category selection will in no way affect the probability of site acceptance. Acceptance is determined by the content of the site.

Nor will submitting to a category we think isn’t suitable adversely affect acceptance. If the review editor determines it is more appropriately placed elsewhere, they will put it where it goes. That said, we do make an attempt to accommodate if there’s a judgment call to be made and you have stated a preference.

How DO we tell BOTW which category we want?
In order to automatically have it submitted to the category of your choice, go to the category where you think it goes and hit the “Submit Sites” button (in the upper right corner). Follow the prompts from there, and the system wiill tell us where you want the site.

But how do I decide which IS the right category?
As stated, in a directory this size there almost always is more than one place a site could reasonably be placed. Let’s use as an example, a Family Law attorney in Los Angeles. The method I utilize to seek placement is to simply open BOTW and implement a user side search. The techs recently enhanced it and it is easily the quickest way to find a good spot for a site. I’d type in “family attorney los angeles” (without quotes) and see what the results are. From there I narrow down by looking at the contents of the most logical categories that appear in the results.

Regional vs Topical
Like most general directories, our primary two “trees” are “Regional” and “Topical. Looking down the matches in the example above, you’ll notice choices that seem right on both sides. This will not be true for every site… for example a site for an online shopping service IS best placed in an appropriate category of Shopping & Services while a brick and mortar retail store is best placed in the Regional category for the city in which it resides.

Why? Because users across the world may use an online shopping site, but seldom go online to decide whether to drive to the store in Denver vs one in Miami. Regional is generally the best fit for a brick-and-mortar operation. [And don't forget to put those in BOTW Local too... the more hooks in the water, the more fish on the table.]

The lawyer example is intentionally selected because it IS an ambiguous call. Granted, nobody will typically try to decide between a family lawyer in Miami vs Denver, but that isn’t the way the choices will be set up because in this case there’s a Regionalized Topical category that’s tied to Regional through See-also links and @links. Whether something resides on the  Regional or Topical side is a non-issue if they are tied together properly.

See-also’s and @links?
If you look closely you will note an @ symbol on the end of the name of some of the subcategories you might choose. Though it will physically act like a subcategory, it is really just a navigation link to get you to the right place (ie – either the correct Topical or Regional subcategory). An @link tells the user “this is a natural subcategory” and takes them there even if it isn’t physicall below it on the directory tree, while a “see-also” link tells the user “if this topic is of interest, here’s a related place you should see”. They’re similar in use, but not exactly the same.

In both cases they are just structure that makes sure the user can find what they want. To those not in the directory business that may seem a little convoluted, but basically it is just a way of keeping structure navigable. The alternative would be to always have overlapping but totally separate subcategories, and it’d make it harder for users to find the material they seek.

Continuing with the family lawyer example:
You’ll notice you eventually end up making a decision between a regionalized Topical category…
Society: Law: Services: Lawyers_and_Firms: Family_Law: North_America: United_States: California:
or placing it in the Regional category strictly for Los Angeles legal sites…
Regional: United States: California: Cities: Los Angeles: Business and Economy: Legal Services

Cool, a choice. Which of those two is “better”?
Depends on who you ask. BOTH work. I’ve seen some people show a knee-jerk preference for Topical, but in the age of contextual search engines (and directories play a part in contextual search results) a listing in Regional is highly effective place to be.

Bottom line… in this case it IS a judgment call, so stating a preference will assist us in making the call.

Hope this helps, and happy submitting.

We also offer multiple site solutions for customers with 20 or more sites, and recently we’ve added “bundled discounts” for those that wish to use a multi-prong approach for even better results.

Moving to the Next Level: BOTW CATEGORY SPONSOR
One way to enhance visibility beyond those means is a BOTW Category Sponsorship. Category Sponsors are displayed at the top of a relevant directory category, and to drive even more targeted traffic, Sponsors now appear alongside BOTW Local search results and the recently enhanced BOTW Directory search results.

Making a Good Deal a GREAT Deal – Give it away FREE
Right now your first Category Sponsorship is FREE for 30 days and afterward bills monthly at a 30% Discount! This offer is valid only if the sponsorship is ordered during the month of March. To take advantage, use Promo Code “THIRTY30″. Thirty percent off is pretty darned good… but getting to test it out for FREE first makes it a no-risk proposition. Nice bonus.

Note to Resellers: Here’s an opportunity to have fun. How hard is it to give away FREE ads? Enjoy.

RECAP: Promo Code THIRTY30 gets you…

• 30 Day Free Trial – (a $50 value)
• Premier placement in a relevant category.
• Featured visibility alongside the search results of the BOTW Directory and BOTW Local.
• Control your marketing message.

Caveat – Quality and Relevance Count
In order to present users the most relevant sites available, sites in the BOTW Category Sponsorship Program must meet the same editorial guidelines for relevance and quality as listings in our directory.

Are YOU Ready for the Next Level?
If you’re ready and your site qualifies… here’s where to get started!  BOTW Category Sponsorship

New industries entirely online came of age. People that once went to the mall to get ready for Christmas began to go to “Google” and “Amazon”.

We learned a lot of new words… Adsense, SEO, PR, Digg, Facebook… and we learned new meanings for old words. “Twitter” went from a sound to an action. “Text” went from a noun to a verb. Spam was once somethiing you didn’t want on your plate, now it’s something you don’t want in your inbox, directory, or forum. Now if you talk about anticipating “caffeine”, you probably aren’t on your way to Starbucks.

The national media scoffed at “bloggers in pajamas”, and lost. [Now they're establishing their own blogs and playing catch up.] Where once having a website meant your company was “cutting edge”, now NOT having one means you just aren’t considered. For the most part these changes occurred over the course of the last decade.

Moving into 2010…
In a decade of change, Best of the Web has played its part. We went from an early awards program to a directory helping map the best sites on the net. We added a UK and Ireland Directory, a Local Directory, and other products.

Now we’d like to play our part helping folks get their website and their products in front of more people than ever. BOTW now has more than 20 million listings spread across the Web Directory, Blog Directory, UK Directory, and BOTW Local. We are happy to offer a promotion good through the end of January: SAVE 20% on All NEW BOTW Submissions and Sponsorship Advertising.

When prompted, enter the following Promo Code: NEWYR

Save 20% on new:

• Directory Submissions – Discount the annual or the one-time review fee and get listed in the Internet’s Oldest Directory.

• Monthly Sponsorship Ads – Save on the monthly rate for all new sponsorship ads.

• Blog Directory Submissions – Feature your blog and save on the annual review fee.

• Blog Advertising – Discount on all new sponsorship ads in the Blog Directory.

• Premium Local Listings – Discount the monthly and annual rate for your Local Business Profile listing.

• Bundled Marketing Package – Get your US Business listed in BOTH the Web Directory and BOTW Local for a fraction of the cost. Save 20% on the yearly fee!

The code may be used multiple times for multiple products and services in January. The code will expire on January 31, 2010 so act now to get a jump on the new year.

Happy 2010 to all from the Best of the Web team!

Best of the Web is offering a bundled price for our flagship product, the Best of the Web Directory, and BOTW Local, our user-driven directory of businesses throughout the US. Note that this includes 50% off our already discounted price for BOTW Directory… so this is a deal not likely to be eclipsed by future offers.

Combining these two products is a great way to generate web visibility for your business… and studies have shown that ever increasing numbers of customers today begin their search by opening a browser.

Sign up for a bundled package before July runs out and you can submit to BOTW Directory AND BOTW Local for only $295/yr.

To take advantage of this opportunity… use Promo Code: BUNDLE

For Our Current Customers
If you already have a BOTW Directory listing but would like to take advantage of this opportunity to have your business included in BOTW Local, please email us at bundled@botw.org for further instructions.

To Get Started
For details and a chance to get started, see BOTW Local Bundle.

When prompted, enter promo code “BLIZZARD” and Save 25% on new:

* Directory Submissions – Save on both the annually recurring and/or the one-time review fee.
* Blog Directory Submissions – Save on the one-time review fee for blogs.
* UK Directory Submission – Reduce the rate on both the annual and/or one-time review fee.
* Monthly Sponsorship Ads – Discount the monthly rate for all new sponsorship ads.
* Blog Advertising – Discount the monthly rate for all new sponsorship ads in the Blog Directory.
* UK Sponsorship Ads – Mark down the monthly fee to advertise in the NEW UK Directory.

Promotion ends when the year does… so strike now and keep your pocket book AND your accountant happy.

Affiliate BIG SCREEN GIVEAWAY
Also… just a reminder that the affiliate earning the most commission by promoting the “BLIZZARD” discount will also win a brand new 46″ Samsung HDTV!! (model LN46A650). No pressure of course, but this contest concludes on the 31st as well.

Good luck to all, and happy holidays from the crew at Best of the Web. ~

BOTW UK incorporates the original BOTW Directory’s extensive and comprehensive categorization methods, and the new UK Directory will offer seamless access to corresponding information in the main directory. British and Irish users can sift through categories, search for specific services, or utilize the regional pages to find relevant resources in their own backyards. For example, the localized regional categories will allow the UK audience to search on the city level. It’s the perfect tool if you’re, perhaps, searching for a bed and breakfast on the Isle of Wight.

For more information on the launch, check out our Press Release at PR Web.

As we’ve noted in the release, BOTW is concurrently launching several initiatives to help integrate interested businesses. The BOTW UK Directory Submit Service will ensure a speedy review service for membership in the burgeoning directory, while the UK Sponsorship Advertising Solutions will ensure participants’ enhanced visibility throughout the site.

So if you are a UK site owner, webmaster or marketing agency – come check out Best of the Web’s newest Directory – BOTW.org.uk and tell us what you think. We look forward to your feedback and as with the original Best of the Web, we hope BOTW UK will prove to be a great informational resource for all UK users.

The owner was kindly, but education wasn’t one of his strong points. As he helpfully opened the Yellow Pages under “D” to find the address of the nearest doctor… he suddenly drew a blank look and said none were listed. We suggested he look under “Physician“.

He flipped the page… to the section beginning with “F”.

Countries Separated by A Common Language
Looking for something on the web yields similar problems. You need to search the term that’s actually present, and it doesn’t hurt to have it spelled the same way. Unfortunately, if you’re in the UK you are sometimes hampered by evidence the colonials elsewhere can neither spell nor call things by their correct name.

If seeking legal specialists… US-based editors will likely have placed the “Solicitor” you’re seeking under “Lawyer” or “Attorney“. Meanwhile someone in Wales is searching “Barrister” with limited success.

BOTW Kicks the Yanks Out of the UK
OK, not physically, but we did decide that our customers and clients in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and the Republic of Ireland might be better served if our taxonomy didnt assume you spoke and spelled like US citizens. Simply a matter of dealing with reality. We decided to add some local color (or in this case… colour).

A new group of editors was hired to overhaul the UK & ROI portions of the directory, and the new editors are natives of the area. There is simply no substitute for firsthand knowledge of the language and idioms (or the geography for that matter… it doesn’t do to have a non-native try to handle Regional: London).

Our Thanks to Resident Magician
The credit for the work goes to a relatively small but strong UK team led by “Merlin”… and in our opinion they bring to mind the Churchill phrase once applied to the RAF… “Never have so many owed so much to so few….” Once complete it will look like everyone’s UK section would look if they’d only had a decade to think about it. Special kudos to GavinK, Robo, Rzan, Specop, and others involved in this massive effort.

Who Benefits?
Well, besides making it easier for surfers to find what they’re looking for, it probably has a benefit to our clients in making their sites more findable. Seems like a win-win for everyone. The work is ongoing, but feel free to stroll the UK area of the directory and let us know if it seems better, or if you see areas of concern. We value your input.

Regards

Rob Jones
(aka: The “good” Rob)
Proud Member of “The Nerd Herd”

We built out and opened up a couple of dozen additional cities, and now have more than 30 cities active. You can find a partial list of the activated cities here on our Browse by City/State page. We are trying to methodically roll the cities out, concentrating on providing the city content in a user friendly, intuitive manner. We’ll be tinkering some more with the layout of both the city index and the search results.

We introduced the Local version of the What’s New, modeled after the one we have been using on the web directory for years. As time permits, and higher priority items are completed, we’ll expand the page with additional metro-centric content, to further provide the user with relevant information.

Additionally, we added a cool feature known as the Local Observer. The Local Observer provides real time updates of all activity across BOTW Local. User reviews, thumbs up and down, new business listings, stars, and more. It’s a fun way to keep an eye on what our users are doing on the site, and to see where the activity is.

To date the spiders are receiving the site very well, indexed pages climbing daily. Though we still have “noindex, nospider” tags on the majority of our pages, a quick snapshot of a site index query in Google shows 533,000 pages indexed. We have seen a surge of business submissions, and while our programmers work diligently on our review process, we are currently experiencing a bit of a backlog, and the free Jumpstart queue isn’t getting the eyeballs that it will once we iron out all the details. Our editors are anxious to get in there though, so once we let ‘em loose, it should be a couple/few days to get up to date. We appreciate your ongoing patience

Business owners with reviewed listings have reported that they have seen some very impressive results for search queries for their businesses, and we have received glowing feedback from businesses and users alike. Our traffic continues to push ahead, and we are ahead of our growth goals. With new features planned for users we fully anticipate strong user growth to continue for the foreseeable future.

As we continue to strengthen our user base, we plan on introducing new features for businesses in the coming weeks. Enhanced interaction with users will enable the business owner to cost effectively reach users in their communities. BOTW Local is attracting people who want to know about businesses in and information about their community. Take advantage by getting involved now.

We hope you enjoy the new features and cities we have added, and we look forward to providing you with even more in the weeks and months to come. We welcome any feedback you have that would help us in providing users with a better experience.

After nearly two years of research and development, BOTW has brought it’s local product, BOTW Local to public beta. Though still a little clunky along parts of the ride, the BOTW Local offering provides users with details on over 16 million businesses and local information from cities throughout the United States. The initial list of cities that we spent time working on include: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Austin, and Miami.

BOTW Local is a free service where users can rate and review local businesses, find information including phone numbers, location, directions, hours of operation, and more. It’s not cluttered like other local offerings, with ease of use at the center of our development efforts. Users can search for businesses in a specific city, or browse categories for each city. Users can see businesses on a map, and find out further information about businesses by visiting the business details page for individual businesses.

BOTW Local is also free for business owners. Business owners can claim their business with our free JumpStart page, where the business owner can provide users with additional information about the business. For owners looking for increased visibility, we offer the Premium business listings and Sponsored business opportunities. Each option provides the business owner with a great opportunity to cost effectively reach users in their community.

We have much more planned for BOTW Local (outside of smoothing out those bumps). Stay tuned for more social features, and enhanced account management. We’re continually striving to offer users and businesses the best possible experience, and we look forward to providing additional features in the months to come.

We hope that you enjoy our newest offering, and we welcome any feedback you may have.