The Webmasters Network

A lonely fact of a webmasters life is the time spent locked away in solitude as we notch up backlinks to our websites. Some come organically through people visiting our sites and bookmarking us on a do-follow social networking site or by placing a link to us on one of their own websites such as a free WordPress or Tumblr blog. Other links we create artificially by connecting with other webmasters and asking them to link to us in return for a link back to them or we add our sites into the many directories that are available to us. It takes a lot of time to build backlinks even when auto submitters are used.

A couple of days ago I learned about a directory project that is changing all that. It is called BungeeBones and offers 10,000 backlinks for the price of 1. Intrigued, I took a look, thought this sounds good – too good to be true; so I looked more deeply into it and contacted the project’s leader to find out more details. After several email exchanges, which I might write about in a later article, and a bit of research I concluded the project is genuine and will do as it heralds, namely, give thousands of backlinks for the free price of one.

BungeeBones is a directory with a difference – it is a remotely hosted human edited directory hub that allows webmasters to plug-in to it and display it on their own websites.  Any webmaster can submit URLs to the directory and can optionally place a version of the directory on a submitted  site. Each version of the directory is a stand alone product. Thousands of webmasters are already plugged in and connected through it so a link submitted to a directory on one site will potentially display in every other directory that is connected to the hub.  It is like using an automatic directory submitter: one click submits a link to thousands of directories.

If you are already inspired enough to use the BungeeBones directory to increase traffic to your website then please feel free to click here and move on to the Installation guide otherwise please read on if you need a little more conviction…

The hardest part of setting up any directory is getting people to submit to it. A directory is like a city – it is either living, breathing and bustling with activity or it is a ghost town with sand blowing in the wind, shutters banging and a few tombstones poking out of the ground. Most webmasters won’t submit to a dead directory that gives them the spooks. So the more links a directory has, the more alive it looks, the more likely a webmaster will submit to it and recommend it to their buddies.

The second hardest part of setting up a directory is convincing visitors to browse it. Again, visitors prefer directories that look busy and well used.

It is common knowledge that some webmasters make their directories look busy by pulling in links from other, better established, directories like DMOZ and Gimpsy. Such a tactic might give the impression of a thriving directory but it has one very big flaw: it gives away loads of valuable backlinks; and most of them are nonreciprocal. It creates a flood of traffic away from the directory with little to no traffic returned. Does that sound like a good deal to you?

The BungeeBones’ directory is already fully set-up, has thousands of users, is growing daily and is getting a lot of publicity. The iron does not get much hotter than this.

This is the first remotely hosted directory I have seen that apparently functions as a cloud network. It is a cross between a directory, an exclusive do-follow social bookmarking site, a search engine, an ad network and a traffic generator that provides serps benefits to webmasters. To submit a link to any one of the directories connected to the BungeeBones’ network is the same as to submit it to any other node of the directory. It is a one-to-many equation: one link submission equals many link submissions – a submission to one directory will potentially display at every other directory connected to the BungeeBones’ directory hub. It benefits all connected webmasters mutually.

Each directory set up within the network drives traffic to every other website plugged in to the network.

Each installed directory node has its own meta tags and webmasters have some control over the links displayed in their directory node. This reinforces the uniqueness of each directory to search engines.

You’re thinking, “Yeah, but, all the links and descriptions will look the same.” That is true, but ask yourself how many descriptions you use for your own sites when you submit them to multiple directories.

Most webmasters repeat the same anchor text and URL description in most of the directories they submit them. Search engines will arrive at each BungeeBones directory node, spider it, see a similar set of links, see different meta tags, see a different directory URL, will decide webmasters are too lazy to provide unique descriptions for their links then, after a cyber chuckle to itself, will index the directory as being different to every other. Consequently, each spidered link will count as a unique backlink.

There is no need to worry about spam. The directory is self-policing. Submitted URLs have to be approved by a human editor before they are added into the directory. After a URL has been approved for entry into the directory, webmasters and visitors can rate their value. The more valued the URL the more prominent its placement within the directory – in lay terms, higher votes, better placement. The system is hard to abuse due to IP monitoring and other, non-disclosed built in fail-safes.

So, what could make this directory better? It’s already set-up, it’s self-policing, provides traffic and backlinks; could it get any better?

Try this: participating webmasters earn commission from the sale of featured links and the sale of multiple category placements by the webmasters they refer to it. Plus participating webmasters get their links featured and inserted into multiple categories for %50 of the typical price. Remember the initial URL insertion into one category is free per domain so there is no cash outlay to join this expanding network.

To recap, the BungeeBones directory offers

1. An easy to set up, fully functional directory
2. Pre-installed links which make the directory look busy and active
3. A directory that can be set up for each website a webmaster owns
4. A free to install, free to set up and free to submit to directory
5. A directory that can be uniquely styled to make it stand out
6. An easy to manage directory. It looks after itself – it is managed by BungeeBones so you can set it and forget it
7. Multiple category listings for any URL for a modest fee
8. Featured listings
9. Commission from upsells
10. Built-in anti spam system
11. Thousands of backlinks from the many websites that are already plugged into the directory
12. Targeted traffic
    

Installation

Installation is easy. It comes with one prerequisite: you must submit a URL to the directory before you can install it under that URLs domain.

There are two forms of the directory:

1. A standalone installation
2. A plugin for WordPress and Joomla!

URL submission is simple. You can submit through any of the directories that are currently connected to the BungeeBones hub or you can add your submission through BungeeBones when you install a plugin into WordPress or Joomla!

The directory can be installed into a folder under the top level domain (TLD) or in the root folder of the TLD of the submitted URL. You can install the directory as many times as you wish under as many names as you want under as many TLDs as you decide provided you install the correct code issued for the TLD you wish to install it at. For example:

If you go to my standalone directory at http://journalxtra/directory and submit your URL then you could install your directory on your own website at (assuming you submitted the URL http://example.com) either of

• example.com/directory.php, or
• example.com/subfolder/directory.php

The installation code for a directory is tied to the submitted domain to ensure accurate referral details and to maintain unique metatag information for the directory displayed at that domain.

To install the standalone directory

1. Submit your URL to any of the directory’s access nodes. This gives you access to your user control panel and enrolls you in the commission share program;
2. You will see your URL listed in the User Control Panel under the “User CP Home” tab. Next to your URL are the words “Add a Widget”. Click them.
3. The next screen provides both instructions for the installation and questions about the directory you wish to install. There are 7 questions and instructions in total, let’s go through their answers one-by-one:
   1. You have the choice to create an installation folder under your domain’s root folder. For example, your-domain.com/some-folder . If you create a folder for the installation then you should put the name of that folder as the answer to question number one. If you choose to install your directory at the root of your domain (e.g your-domain.com/directory.php) then you should answer “root” to question number one;
   2. Decide what you want to call the file that will hold your directory’s installation code. This file must be given a php file type (for example, directory.php). Whatever you name this file is the answer to question number two. Ensure there is no other file with the same name where you intend to create this one. Use your server control panel to create that file either at the root of your domain name or under the folder specified in answer to question number one (for example, create it at either http://example.com/directory.php or http://example.com/sub-folder/directory.php);
   3. Your directory will need a title so that it is easily recognized by human visitors and distinguished as unique by search engines. Think of a title and use it to answer question three. Whatever you put into here will form part of your directory’s metatag information. Do not use the name of your domain in this section or your metatags will display your domain name twice;
   4. Create another part to your directory’s title, a short slogan, and enter it in response to question four;
   5. Decide whether you want to display non-paying links or not. If you want your directory to be small and to only show paid submissions choose “no” in answer to question 5; otherwise choose “yes” and use question 6 to select whether non-paid (free) link submissions should be displayed indefinitely else for any period up to a year. It is this option that helps multiple directories to appear as unique entities to search engines due to the differences created among them by virtue of the links they display.
   6. Branding. Your directory can be branded as either BungeeBones or AdvertiPage. The differences between the two options are purely cosmetic from a human perspective and only affect the submit URL button and the landing page webmasters reach when they click it. Choose the brand that suits the impression you want to give fellow webmasters – AdvertiPage is more stylish.
4. Click “Submit Link Info” to be taken to a confirmation page. Check the setup details you entered on its previous page and click either back or next to cancel or confirm as appropriate.
5. The installation code. You have two options: use a predefined template or create your own template. The code should be pasted into the file specified during step 3 of the set up process. For example, if you created a file called directory.php then that is where the code should be pasted. The directory will not function correctly if the installation code is in the wrong place. The two code formats are:
   1. Code Format One which can be copied and pasted as is into your directory file, it will need only minor tweaks to style it;
   2. Code Format Two which is for more advanced webmasters and provides only a page header and the content creation script. This should be used by those who wish to create their own directory layout. Line 4 of part one of this code must have your affiliate ID entered into it. You can copy this from line 4 of Code Format One (displayed above it).
6. If needed, you can recreate your directory code if you make a mistake, want to move your directory to a new location or want to change the directory’s metatag titling.
7. Unless already present, remember to create a robot.txt file (can be left empty) and an .htaccess file (apache/linux servers). The .htaccess file should contain the line “DirectoryIndex name-of-directoy-file.php” (change “name-of-directoy-file.php” to the name of the file created in step 3.2 and do not include the quotes). Do not overwrite those files if they already exist.

To install the content management system widget

WordPress

At the present time, the WordPress plugin is still in beta and only works with the default permalinks structure. However that is no reason for you not to enjoy using this wonderful directory. You have at least four options to connect your own directory to your blog:

1. Use the plugin
2. Create a direct link to it in your blogroll
3. Put a link to it into a text widget
4. Create a page with a link to it inside of it

To use the plugin

The plugin is now at beta version 0.0.3 (although WordPress still displays it as 0.0.1)  and now works with permalinks. It is under heavy development. I have spoken with the project’s leader, Robert Lefebure, on many occasions this past week and sincerely trust he will have the plugin out of beta soon – he has already made great strides toward that end. Here are the installation instructions:

1. Install it from here at WordPress or locate it from your Dashboards Plugins tab by clicking Add New and typing BungeeBones into the search field.
2. Create a blog page called Directory (or anything else you like) and enter the following shorttag into it:
   

   [bungeebones_directory]

3. Save the page and make a note of the page ID (it will look similar to this ?page_id=544). If you are using permalinks, you might need to disable them while you get the page ID (re-enable them after you have got your page ID). Disabling and re-enabling permalinks will not affect your blog’s functionality provided you re-enable the same permalink style.
4. Go to BungeeBones or one of its access   Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010

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