But it sounds like this is still a work in progress. Avvo says dentists from all over the country are available to take part in the site’s question-and-answer product, but the actual dentist business listings are only formal right now in seven states: California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Washington, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Dentists in other states, though, can still claim their listing by searching for their name in the directory.

I don’t have a strong feeling right now about where Avvo fits in as a local citation source, or even a source of traffic. I do know that I continue to see Avvo pages rank well when I do searches for local medical professionals, ergo it’s a good idea to at least make sure the profile page is accurate, up-to-date and filled out as completely as possible.

Does anyone have thoughts on Avvo’s current status as a citation source? Comments are open.

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This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

Hey Dentists: You’re On Avvo

I came to wonder about that via a somewhat winding path, so follow along with me if you would, please.

A couple nights ago, I was installing a new self-hosted WordPress blog. One of the many settings you’re asked to configure involves search engine (and web) spiders and whether you want them to be able to access your site. That’s a fair enough question, but it seemed really odd to me that, in 2012, WordPress is pairing these two sites when asking about spiders:

Technorati??? Really? It’s been years since I’ve heard anyone talk about wanting their blog to be visible at Technorati. (It’s kinda like blogging’s version of the yellow pages that way, isn’t it?)

And then I started thinking how, back in the day, you’d add your blog to Technorati, and BlogCatalog.com, and Blogged.com … and several other blog directories. I remember that Lee Odden’s gang at Top Rank had a great list of blog directories, which — as I just discovered — is still being kept up-to-date. (Nice work, Lee!)

So obviously blog directories are still around. Maybe the bigger question is this: Does anyone care anymore? In other words, if you’re launching a new blog in 2012, would you devote time to submitting it to any blog directories like Technorati or the others?

I’d love to get your thoughts on this!

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This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

WordPress, Technorati and … Where’d All The Blog Directories Go?

To be clear: Avvo is not getting rid of its doctor and lawyer directories. It’s just shifting emphasis to the site’s existing Q&A area. The Avvo.com home page used to heavily promote the directory/search aspect with two large “Find a Doctor” and “Find a Lawyer” sections. There was a much smaller “Ask a Question” content block below those.

Now, the home page focuses very heavily on the Q&A aspect, with a big “Find Questions” search box, plus recent Q&As below. The old “Find a Lawyer” and “Find a Doctor” are still there, but pushed over into the right sidebar.

In his blog post, Avvo CEO Mark Britton says the site is already getting 50,000 questions and answers every month and the Q&A forum has a 90% response rate — that’s awfully impressive.

What’s In It for Doctors and Lawyers?

There’s obvious benefit for Joe Q. Public to have access to free information and advice from recognized professionals. But what about the doctors and lawyers, some of whom have already answered thousands of questions on Avvo?

Britton gives out this stat:

…professionals that answer questions on Avvo receive 7 times the number of contacts from prospective patients or clients than those that do not participate in Q&A.

That’s also impressive, though “contacts” do not necessarily become clients/patients.

In any case, my advice to the doctor whom I spoke with this morning still stands. But I think I’ll be expanding my advice for Dr. Bailey and any other doctors/lawyers who might be reading to say this:

Check out Avvo’s Q&A site and, if you have time, look for questions that you can answer. This seems worth trying and testing, at minimum.

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This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

Very Interesting: Avvo Shifts Focus to Q&A

DMOZ, AKA the Open Directory Project, has long been thought to be dead by most of the SEO community. “Submit and forget about it” is the common advice we’ve been giving out for a couple years now; obsessing over getting that trusted directory link just isn’t worth it. Worse, just last week Google dropped a part of their webmaster guidelines that recommended getting a link from DMOZ (and Yahoo).

But there may be life yet in DMOZ. Just last week, a post on the DMOZ blog hints that big upgrades are coming soon:

What does AOL have planned for DMOZ in the near future?
While it’s not quite ready for its prime-time debut, we can tell you that we’re actively working on an all-new DMOZ that incorporates an updated UI and an overhauled back-end infrastructure.

So, I’ll pose the question to you (those of you who aren’t busy at SMX East): Is it too late to save DMOZ? Can the Open Directory be revived and become more than just a “submit and forget it” link target?

Comments are open!

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This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

GroupThink: Is It Too Late to Save DMOZ?

It’s been a while since I’ve gone out on the hunt for links from quality directories, and the experience these past few days hasn’t been good: There’s a lot more junk out there than not. This can be a problem for the small business owner who may struggle to know how to tell a quality directory from the rest.

How to Judge a Web Directory

One directory I visited recently offered several different listing options, and the chart they presented offers a great starting point for learning how to separate the good from the bad. Have a look:

There are three red flags above that should tell you this is not a place from which you want a link:

1. Reciprocal link required. Quality directories (Yahoo, DMOZ, Best of the Web, Business.com, etc.) never make reciprocal linking a condition of getting listed. When you see this requirement, the message is clear: The directory wants inbound links more than it wants great sites to be listed.
2. 100% refund if not accepted. We can debate paid links until we’re blue in the face, but it’s reasonable to assume that search engines don’t consider this kind of arrangement to be a sign of a quality directory. For Google’s perspective, Matt Cutts has said, “For a high-quality directory, the fee is primarily for the time/effort for someone to do a genuine evaluation of a url or site.” If your payment guarantees inclusion, or you get a refund if rejected, you’re not paying for an evaluation of your site — you’re buying a link.
3. 3 extra blog links and 5 extra blog links. Along the same lines, if you’re offered more links in exchange for more money, that’s a red flag.

That’s just from this one screenshot from one directory. Here are five more red flags to look for when evaluating directories:

4. Lots of advertising. Just as there are Made-for-Adsense blogs, there are MFA directories. If the directory’s pages are heavy on ads, to the point of making the web site listings seem like an afterthought, avoid that directory. Quality directories focus most on the presentation of their listings.

5. Selling links. I recently saw a “submit URL” page on a directory in Niche “A”, and right below the submit button there was a paragraph with (obviously sold) links to mortgage, drugs, and other unrelated sites.

6. Poor quality sites being listed. Search the directory for spammy phrases like “buy viagra” and see what results show up. If you can search for domains, try searching for “blogspot.com” (home to thousands upon thousands of spam blogs). There are some legit and very good blogs on blogspot.com, so be sure to analyze the blogspot.com sites that are listed.

7. Poor crawl depth. Low-quality directories tend to have very poor crawl depth; in other words, the home page and main category pages might be in Google’s or Yahoo’s index, but many of the deeper pages aren’t. This means your link may have no benefits where SEO is concerned.

8. Low traffic. If you’re not getting a link for SEO reasons, you better hope to get some direct traffic from the link. Check sites like Compete, Quantcast, or Alexa to see what kind of traffic the directory might have. I wouldn’t rely on any one of these stats/metrics sites alone, but together you may get a good idea of the directory’s popularity.

Further Reading: Two Articles

Here are two excellent articles on this same topic that a small business owner should read for additional ideas on judging the quality of a web directory:

• Debra Mastaler: Is That Directory Worth Submitting To?
• Rand Fishkin: What Makes a Good Web Directory, and Why Google Penalized Dozens of Bad Ones

Your Turn: What red flags did I miss? What factors do you use to determine the quality of a directory?

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This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

8 Directory Submission Red Flags

One of the best posts I’ve read all year: The Future of Communications – A Manifesto for Integrating Social Media into Marketing by Brian Solis. Yes, it’s long. Yes, it starts a bit slow. But you’ll be glad you read the whole thing very carefully.

And on a somewhat related note, but this one specifically as it relates to blogging, David Meerman Scott tells How to convince your boss to let you start a corporate blog.

I’ve had the pleasure of chatting with Larry Sullivan via e-mail a few times in recent months, often about local search issues. So, it’s nice to see his blog is up and running and going strong. Have a look at Local Biz Bits and subscribe to the feed. (Larry: may I be so bold as to suggest you drop the Snap.com link previews?)

This is pretty creative, and I’m willing to bet it works, too. On copyblogger, Michael Stelzner writes How to Improve Your Image by NOT Delivering. If you do any white paper or similar type of subscription-based lead generation, it’s worth your time.

Here’s something practical: Search Engine Journal shares a couple coupon codes to save money when submitting to the Aviva Directory and Best of the Web directory (both of which are on my directory submission list).

Two good ones this week from GrokDotCom: Start with Holly Buchanan’s Why Testimonials Do (and Don’t) Work, and then check out Start Multivariate Testing: 7 Critical Questions from Bryan Eisenberg.

I liked Stoney’s “Small is Beautiful” column on SEL this week: Stepping Stones Of User Conversions: A Step-By-Step Guide. I’ve got the next two weeks in that column and hope to come up with something as good.

I know a lot of small businesses are doing PPC, but I’m not sure how many here in the U.S. are doing PPC in other countries, or considering it. If you are, have a look at Pat Schaber’s Tips for Launching Paid Search Campaigns in Different Countries.

I’ve done a couple posts recently about the sometimes negative impact the Internet and technology has on some small businesses. Anita Campbell writes about The Trend of Small Retail Moving to the Web — how some small retailers are surviving by going to a Web only business arrangement.

That’s all for this week.

Now playing: “In My Place,” Coldplay (my Last.fm profile)

This is a post from Matt McGee's blog, Small Business Search Marketing.

Friday Night Link-o-rama