Archive for April, 2006

Umdum Mission : To Go Where No Directory Has Gone Before

Classifying the Internet via the targeted niche showcasing of sites in the form of a directory is no new idea.

Best of the Web and DMOZ have been at it for over a decade and the former has done a rather wonderful job of giving definition to the quality of the sites out there in cyberspace.

Directories are possibly the most simple form of citing the worthy sites in the clutter of the World Wide Web. As a whole, search engine technologies, whether they be as broad as Google or as niche as Local.com, put an emphasis on trusted directories and the human process of editorial.

With all of the respect that an algorithm has over determining the quality of a site based upon its content, anchor text, links and other web citations, directories add the subjective opinion of living breathing experts to the equation – something that I believe cannot be simulated by an algorithm and is the base foundation of the definition of quality.

Questions which come into my mind when reviewing a site for inclusion into a category include:

What quality does this site bring to the end user?

Does this site deserve to be listed and defined by this directory submission?

Will the user find not only the information that they are looking for, but where to find more, purchase a product, or contact the publisher of that information?

Does the phone number on the site lead to an informed and qualified person on the other end of the telephone, or just another machine?

Is that address the correct address of the store which can be accessed via a mapping program and entered with the step of a foot, or is it the address of a PO Box or Mailboxes Etc.?

Are web users bookmarking this site?

While the answers to these questions may not be the final deciding point on whether a site gets listed in Umdum or not, they are all measurements of human driven quality.

Umdum’s mission is to provide a clean and transparent human driven web directory which will list quality sites in their most pinpoint and site specific directory category.

In layman’s terms, we’re going to try to build the best and most worthy directory of sites available – with no crap and no link spam, doorway page, or made-for-AdSense end results.

We feel that in the spirit of BOTW, RubberStamped, and Yahoo that Umdum will become a positive, trusted and valued directory for the search engine community.

If you feel good about your business, service, or association please submit to Umdum; we are an open and inclusive group of editors. If you’re having second or third thoughts on whether or not your site will make the cut, please review our Directory Guidelines.

Best, Loren Baker

Author: Loren @ 11:56 pm PST
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