We regret any inconvenience caused to those who could not access our Webmaster tools section during the past few days, and we hope you appreciate the new look and greater functionality.

Thank you!

We are also looking at attracting first time clients with this promotion. This is an extension of our mandate to offer the best possible services.

To redeem the coupons, just enter the coupon code when submitting your site. Please note that these coupons are only valid until September 15th, 2008.

Our coupons carry a whopping 30% discount on the Permanent Listings and 20% on Yearly listings. They can be used any number of times till their validity expires.

Coupon Codes (in bold):

DJPF - Permanent Featured Listing 5 extra links
DJPR - Permanent Regular Listing 3 extra links
DJFY - Featured Listing (Yearly) 5 extra links
DJRY - Regular Listing (Yearly) 3 extra links

If you have been entertaining the thought of getting listed in The Directory Journal, then this is the right time. Make sure you take advantage of this great offer before September 15th.

Let our services speak for themselves!

In fact, this upset us so much, all efforts to switch to another hosting provider began and finally we decided on another hosting. We were actually thinking of switching the hosting provider from Hostgator to Rackspace, as we felt that was the only way of getting our website up fast in order not to cause any further inconvenience to our visitors.

However, at that point, Brent Oxley, the owner of Hostgator, came forward and extended his help in getting our website up as soon as possible. We decided to give Hostgator a chance as we never faced any problems with them prior to this.

Brent managed to resolve the issue by instantly moving the server to their new data center and the server was brought up immediately, and we decided to stick with Hostgator.

Directory Journal sincerely apologizes for any inconvenience this incident might have caused, to all those that may have attempted to access our website and failed. We also thank all visitors who contacted us during this downtime for their unconditional patronage.

We sincerely hope this has not affected your experience with us in any way and appreciate your understanding, patience and continued business.

A Classic Example of Web 2.0 Design

The colors, clean design and simple layout of CNET make it easy to follow and even easier to find what you’re looking for as you navigate the site. Tabs for the different areas of the site are a bright green in contrast to the pale yellow and white of the content and listings sections. The homepage is primarily comprised of listed stories, blog posts and review categories. The site is designed with an emphasis on showcasing a clean list using plenty of white space rather than attempting to cram every article onto the home page. The starkness of the pages is a welcome respite as there is little fluff and virtually no descriptions or teasers for the stories that you often find cluttering up other news related sites.

By keeping the story list to headlines, CNET allows visitors to skim the topics quickly without getting tangled up in related sub stories and photojournalism enhancements. Reading through the latest topics takes just seconds. Most of stories listed CNET’s homepage are breaking news or thoughtful, well-researched discussion of the technology industry happenings, the bottom half of the homepage showcases the almost endless number of CNET blogs covering a wide range of topics and industries.

A Wide Range of Technology Blogs on CNET

The latest blog posts are listed on the bottom of the homepage and featured post titles are pulled and rotate through the homepage list keeping content absolutely up to minute. All CNET blogs are listed on the homepage making it simple to find what you’re looking for in a single step. The CNET homepage also contains special offers and promoted articles on the right and bottom edges of the page, but these don’t make the site feel cluttered. In fact, you almost don’t notice the extra content. The ads and boxes provide a visual border for the crisp white areas which are so effective at showcasing the deceptively simplistic lists of content.

One Stop Technology Stop

CNET.com content leaves absolutely nothing to be desired. The site is one of the most popular on the web with good reason. Need the latest version of WinZip? Try CNET. Want to review handhelds before you buy? Read up on the latest gadgets at CNET. Not only are there reviews for just about everything under the technological sun, the reviews are thorough and detailed enough to be helpful rather than just someone’s rambling opinions on a particular object.

Tabs and lists make it simple to work through reviews and commentary on virtually anything on the site. Many of the review categories are listed on the main menu, but others require a bit more effect to locate. Regardless of how easy the review is to find, and it will be easy enough, the message will be written clearly with pertinent facts and opinion about the object.

CNET.com has collected all areas of Internet and other technology today and organized that information into easily accessed, easily understood offerings. While there is a dazzling amount of information available on the website, you never feel overwhelmed or even confused as to where you want to go next. All content including the new video section is organized within a nuance of category and travel through the site is simple thanks to the clean design. CNET.com is not only the perfect example of the way a modern website should look and operate, it is also the perfect example of the kind of website that keeps the internet simple enough for the rest of us to use.

Overflowing with Information

Forbes.com is a site simply bursting with information. To view the complete homepage you must scroll and read quite a bit, but the sheer volume of insightful articles more than makes up for the required scrolling. At least the most important and most recent of the many articles are listed at the top of the homepage making navigation a bit easier. On the homepage, ads and the many other Forbes business lines compete for space with seemingly every article written on the site in the last month. The homepage is long and saturated with articles and content, but there is not a single wasted area.

The content of the site is divided into related areas of business with new stories being featured each week or sooner for each category. Within each grouping, the feature story and related stories are listed for easy navigation along with teasers for each. Content is divided into sections such as Business, Tech, Markets, Leadership and Personal Finance. The feature story of each section and related stories are provided in boxes on the home page, and again on the sub page for the section. Sub pages are easily accessed from a menu bar at the top of the page.

Within each category on the websites many other subcategories are listed making Forbes.com a truly multifaceted and dizzying design to those uninitiated to complex content sites. Fortunately, while the site is very large, it is organized effectively so that it is easy to navigate so long as you know roughly where you’re trying to go. Start with a featured story or head to a section page to see what’s new in that area. The sheer volume of information makes it virtually impossible to finish reading and researching on the website in less than a day or even a week. Expect to take a few side trips to other stories of interest appearing in sidebars and boxes as you try to focus on a particular topic or story.

Newsworthy and Insightful Content

Content on Forbes.com is definitely interesting. Anyone with even an inkling of business knowledge and economic foundation will find themselves more than curious about the latest Forbes.com headlines. The range of content found on the site is more than considerable, and the fact that seemingly every story is available from the home page or one page into the site within a category makes it very possible to be overloaded with information on a particular topic in a single visit.

The homepage contains collections of stories and articles that not only report the news, but offer deeper analysis than other news related websites. But standard articles are by far only the beginning of what Forbes.com has to offer. The rest of the homepage and website contain video stories, smaller articles, opinion pieces, polls, and breaking news. Banners and ads pepper the page, but they don’t detract from the sheer volume of high-quality articles.

Forbes.com is obviously more than the online component of an obviously excellent magazine. Visiting the website offers you much more than flipping through the newspaper or waiting on news alerts from other websites. With Forbes.com not only do you know what’s happening business-wise in the world at this moment, but you also have experts in the various fields helping to decode and analyze that information on your behalf.

New stories are written and released throughout the day to stay current with market and political conditions and special features are developed to supplement breaking news almost instantaneously. In all, Forbes.com is easily one of the sites all entrepreneurs and professionals should visit on a daily, or at the bare minimum - weekly, basis.

At the very bottom of the homepage is yet another list of links only marginally related to the site purpose. These lists are site wide as well, appearing as a separate list even on the “Other Places to Search” page which does contain quality environmentally related links. If these questionable links were removed leaving only the bona fide categories and related searches, the Environment Wed Directory would be off to a much more authentic start as a quality directory. As it is, one can only hope that the links are providing the financial backing for the site allowing the owners to pull together a terrific collection of environmentally related links.

The Environment Web Directory fills an obvious niche as it seeks to collect authoritative links on various aspects of the environment. According to the information page (also flooded with unrelated links) the staff of the Environment Web Directory numbers twenty-three and comes together in the basement of a music store to search out and list the best environmental sites available.

In the actual directory portion of the homepage, the environmental links are broken down into the same kinds of categories present on most directories. Only with the focus on the environment topics for the categories have a decidedly greener feel. In fact the entire website is green – in every sense of the word. Categories range from weather to energy to pollution with an impressive collection of sub categories under each.

The subcategories are also listed multiple times under various heading, but linked neatly back to the same page ensuring visitors can find what they need no matter where they search. For example, a link to the Waste Management links is found under Pollution and Recycling as it is strongly related and searchable in each category.

The Environment Web Directory began in 1994, and appears to be well updated with current links. All links tested were live although some loaded very slowly. The site is well balanced with all aspects of the environment. It doesn’t show particular favoritism to veganism over animal husbandry, not does it list only websites from a handful of countries. Links are to websites from all over the world and none of the links tested could be called propaganda of any kind.

The developers behind the Environment Web Directory could stand a site redesign sans unrelated links, but the content provided on the site more than makes up for the awkward introduction. The link quality is excellent and it is obvious that the site editors work to ensure only authoritative websites make the list.

While this concept sounds a lot like the overwhelmingly popular Wikipedia, there are critical differences.
Open-site.org is set up on a CMS platform, not a wiki. The open-site framework is much closer to that of a true online encyclopedia, not a wiki. Open-site.org does make it clear that they are neither a dictionary nor an encyclopedia, however. The site considers itself a “informational, volunteer-based web-site”.

Of course, it may not be written by scientists and specialists in the field, but editors must be approved before they can add or change content and even then, that content must be approved by a senior editor. The public can’t modify information at all without applying and being approved as editors. The site is also organized by category, much like a print encyclopedia might be making it simple to browse from one category to another and find related information.

Open-site.org is a sister site of the Open Directory Project and is built on the same framework. That is where the similarities end however. The Open Directly Project, or DMOZ, handles only links. Open Site deals in content. The goal of Open Site is to build “the most comprehensive, informational, volunteer-powered web-site on the Internet.” The same can not be said for DMOZ as it has little or nothing to do with content at all.

Open Site has a long list of categories spanning from Arts to Sports and even has recently begun a Children’s version of the online encyclopedia that is still in production and not readily available through the Open Site website.

The design on Open Site is simple to use and has an adequate amount of information on each topic covered, there aren’t many topics actually discussed on the site in comparison to other Wikis. The popular cultural aspects of the site especially are lacking. For example, while Clint Eastwood is listed under Actors there is no mention of the teenage heartthrob Zac Efron despite his huge popularity online and off in recent years.

The content is written simply in a consistent format which makes it simple to read, although it is often not presented with the depth one would hope to find in an online source. There are also many blank articles throughout the site, a sure sign it is still very much underdevelopment.

It is clear that Open Site is working hard to provide only quality content to visitors, and the site actually goes one step beyond that. All content offered on Open Site is free for use by other websites provided credit is given properly and all terms are met. Overall, Open-Site.org is a website with a great deal of positive material to offer, but with plenty of room for more.

The tools aren’t functioning perfectly as of now but we are trying our best to have them back pretty soon.

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Sick of searching all over the net for the internet tool you need? Tired of trying to remember what site was good for domain look-up and which was decent at finding DNS records? And even when you find the site you used last time, the internet is getting so crowded with junk sites and shady webmasters you never know if the site is even trustworthy. That is, until now.

The Directory Journal has released a set of webmaster tools designed to bring its users the high-quality tools they need in a single location. These tools are fast, powerful, and best of all – come from a source you can trust and find easily. There is no need to bookmark several sites for several functions. Everything you need to build and explore the fundamentals your own website can be found in The Directory Journal tools.

The new tools include:

• Domain IP Lookup
• IP to Hostname Lookup
• Your IP Address
• DNS Records
• Domain Availability
• HTML & CSS Sandbox
• Response Headers
• .htaccess Authentication

Stop losing valuable time finding tools to research your competitors. Use the high-quality tools provided by the Directory Journal and you will be well on your way to success.

Founded in 1994, Best of the Web was designed to showcase websites that were nominated and then voted as the best of a category. Brandon Plewe, the founder, included many categories, and the site was very successful. Party planning and housing issues were listed along side financial websites and online magazines. However after 1998, the site lay dormant for years until it was sold and refurbished in 2002.

Currently, BOTW is a general paid directory that allows only quality websites and removes spam. It is still as progressive today as it was in 1994, but there are many more directories available to compete with. Of course, there is not actually much competition at all from these other directories as Best of the Web is known to provide quality listings without the garbage that search engines often offer up.

Best of the Web has five office locations with employees at each scouring the internet finding quality locations to list in the directory. Webmasters can submit a site to be included, but they must wait for reviews and admittance before becoming listing.

As Best of the Web is known for its quality, the company can be very selective when it comes to individual website quality. If your site’s not deemed good enough, it won’t get in. It’s as simple as that. But if your site is allowed into the directory, you will be listed among many of the best and most authoritative websites on the internet today.

In 2005, Best of the Web introduced the first blog directory. The blog directory is just as powerful and authoritative as the traditional directory, and takes into consideration the constantly changing elements of a blog.

To be reviewed and possibly included, Best of the Web requires payment from commercial websites. After a site is thoroughly reviewed, it will be listed among the others of that particular category. As BOTW is such as prestigious directory, the fees to be reviewed are rather steep. A one-time fee of $239.95 will get your site included indefinitely, or $79.95 each year will let you take control of your own site, even in the directory.

Overall, Best of the Web is innovative and forward thinking. It has gone from a website that simply listed the best of the web to a website that clearly belongs at the top of the list. BOTW is indispensable for many searchers who are fed up with Google results and want to know that the site they are viewing is quality. And with Best of the Web, that is exactly what they get.

Starting Point was founded in 1995 by early online pioneer Frank Addante, where it was designed to be both a search engine and directory. The two still overlap today. Initially, the Starting Point Directory had a unique feature which had to do with voting links on the pages listed in the site. Websites with high numbers of votes from visitors would receive a hot site award and actually be profiled in the directory.

During the last few years of the twentieth century, the popularity of the site grew until it was one of the largest directories around. Yesmail.com purchased the website in 1997, but did little with it until the site was resold to Techlabs, Inc in 1999. Unfortunately, Techlabs did not have a use for or desire to refurbish the website, so Starting Point languished for a few years. Finally, Starting Point was sold to a new owner who brought back the original polish of the site in 2006.

Today Starting Point is a human –edited directory with paid editors that review every submitted website to ensure it meets the high standard of quality. The listings inside Starting Point are a combination of Google results and paid submissions. The listings are also sprinkled with Adsense offers, but most webmasters and searchers are not phased by these as the ads have become such a natural part of websites today.

To have your site reviewed by Starting Point, you must submit an annual payment of $99. There is no one-time payment option available. The $99 payment will buy a deep review and a listing if your site meets the quality requirements of Starting Point. The $99 fee is recurrent annually, but is well worth every penny for the quality of the traffic and resulting clout in search engines.

Directories have always been a source of traffic and links to websites, but only quality and edited directories such as Starting Point can bring quality traffic. Free directories often are full of spam and junk sites, but by using the services of Starting Point and other popular paid directories, you can ensure that your website is among substantial websites.

As Starting Point has only been redeveloped in the past year, the listings are not yet overwhelming. A webmaster would do well to submit his site now before another few months or years go by and competition for prime directory placement heats up.