- People use multiple search engines. According toNielsen//NetRatings, 58% of the people who search on Google alsouse another search engine. The same is true for 70% of MSNsearchers, and 71% of Yahoo searchers. If consumers are lookingfor information in several places, it only makes sense for youto be in as many of those places as you can.

- Google indexes your web directory listings.Ironically, when you work to broaden your horizons beyond theGoogle universe, you're also working to improve your chances ofshowing up on Google. That's because when a major search engineindexes the Internet, it also indexes the content of otherdirectories.

Here's the best part: if you can get listed in a webdirectory that provides search-engine-friendly one-way-links(that is, links that connect directly to your URL), you areessentially acquiring a "vote" to your site, and thereforeimproving your site's authority in the eyes of Google, Yahoo andother major engines.

There are thousands upon thousands of Internet directories whereyou can list your site. Some will charge for submission, and theprice will vary, from as little a few dollars, to as much ashundreds. Some will accept your site right away, and others willneed to review it, to ensure the integrity of their database.

Common sense applies again here: the goal is to get listed in asmany directories as you can, so you get maximum exposure. Butweb directory submission can be very time consuming, soyou have to be selective to maximize your productivity. Here area few things you'll want to keep in mind:

- If the price seems too high, it's probably not worth it. Ifyou have a little money to invest, it's a good idea to get intosome of the paid inclusion directories. Pick and choose fromsome of the mid-level ones, and try to diversify your presenceby picking some foreign directories, as well as some local ones.Some directories also offer special inclusion, where you pay apremium to get listed quicker. It's definitely worth it ifyou're looking to improve your traffic as quickly as possible.

- Before submitting to any web directory, check to make sure thedirectory is not banned by Google. Here's a handy site, whereyou can type in the URL of the web directory and find out ifit's banned right away:http://123promotion.co.uk/tools/googlebanned.php

- Be prepared before you start submitting. Write a fewdescriptions for your website in different lengths (50 words,100 words, 200 words), so you can just copy and paste whenyou're submitting. This is guaranteed to save you a lot of time.

- If you don't want to spend a lot of time searching for,picking and choosing directories, start at this page, whichprovides a great list of the top search-engine-friendlydirectories on the web:http://www.eliteweb.cc/directory/internet/web_directories

- If you don't have a lot of time to devote to this, don't worryabout doing it all in one shot. Bookmark the link above, andtake a few minutes every day to do one or two directorysubmissions, until you make it through the list.

Good luck, and happy submitting.

About the author:Robert Burko is president and founder of Eliteweb.cc, an internet portalfeaturing a best-of-the-web search engine and a comprehensivesearch-engine-friendly web directory.