Their uniqueness lies in their Web-only business model that enables them to sell Pentium based computers at a fraction of their competitors' prices (Go Web retailers!). As we stated earlier, iDOT.computers has generously contributed a 333MHz Pentium computer system for us to give away to a lucky winner at Internet World! We're calling it a "WebMarketing Machine" because we'll be including a copy of WebPosition. iProspect.com works on their search engine positioning and recently helped them get listed in Yahoo. As we've discussed before, Yahoo is a directory, not a search engine. Yahoo determines a site's rank strictly by how well someone fills out the Yahoo online forms and by the categories they select. iProspect.com contributed this case study so that MarketPosition readers can learn the nuances and issues to getting listed with Yahoo!

"The first thing we did was conduct searches on Yahoo for all of iDOT.com's competitors, e.g., Dell, Gateway, Compaq, Everex, Acer, Packard Bell and so on. We found that all of these companies were listed in only two categories (as is the case for most companies listed in Yahoo - they only allow sites to be added to two categories). We cut and pasted the category URLs into an open notepad document for later use.

Next, we went about writing the site title and description. Yahoo allows only 25 word descriptions and they HATE anything that smacks of marketing hype - just the facts for Yahoo. Because every company in both categories had only their company names as the site title we didn't bother trying to deviate from that format - the editors at Yahoo would have either ignored the submission or reduced it down to just the company name anyway. So, the title was simply:

iDOT.Computers (they spell it like that sometimes on their site so we felt comfortable spelling out the word "Computers" instead of using just "iDOT.com")

Next we composed the site description and used 23 of the 25 words we were allowed:

"Shop online for PC Pentium computers from the first Web-only PC maker offering high-performance, low-cost PCs by selling computers exclusively over the Internet."

Yes, a run-on sentence, but we were attempting to include as many of the important keywords like, Computer(s), Pentium(s), and PC(s), early and often. Notice how we actually used 26 total words - 3 words were actually two words separated by a dash and counted as one word by most word counting software: "Web-only," "high-performance," and "low-cost."

Now remember, in the categories where Yahoo would be listing iDOT.com, most of idot's competitors had only a site title and were given no site description - AT ALL!

For instance, Compaq computers is listed like this:

Compaq - home

(to distinguish that link as going to the company's home page). Or,

Gateway 2000 (13)

In the end, if we were allowed to keep ANY of the site description text we would consider it a victory.

We visited the first category where we wanted to list iDOT.com (cut and pasted it out of our notepad document) and selected the "suggest a site" link at the bottom of the page (note, if there's no "suggest a site" link on a page, you are not allowed to list a site in that category). When prompted, we cut and pasted the link for the second Yahoo category into the form and submitted our site categories, title and description.

Here's how Yahoo's editors finally listed the site:

"iDOT.Computers - shop online for computers from this Web-only PC maker."

Not all that we had hoped for, however:

1. they did get added to the Yahoo directory quickly - at 70 Million visitors a month, Yahoo remains THE most important search service.

2. Yahoo did keep the keyword computer(s) twice in the description and "PC" once -- an important keyword for iDOT.com.

3. Yahoo did allow us to keep a short description - some text is better than none to entice a visitor to your site.

4. We did get them ranked #1 on all searches for any variation of their company name including, idot, idot.com, idot.computers, and idot_computers (the underscore represents a space)- when you consider how much press coverage they're getting lately, it was most important that folks who read the articles can find them under their company name.

5. They rank #1 for other relevant search phrases including, "shop online for computers."

6. They rank #1 for a search within the computer category on the keyword "computer."

Perhaps the most important lesson to take away from this case study is that Yahoo can and will change your submission to suit their standards. You are at the mercy of Yahoo editors so give them something to work with. We had hoped Yahoo would keep our action wording, "shop online for computers" and they did!

In summary, when submitting to Yahoo, make certain to:

1. select two categories that are applicable to your product or service. The best way to do this is to search for competitive products and services and see which categories they are indexed in.

2. See how these similar products and services are listed in their respective categories and craft your submission to be similar to theirs - after all, chances are the Yahoo editors will change it if its too different or too long.

3. NEVER use anything that smacks of marketing Hype. Your product is not "the hottest product on the market" it simply is what it is. If its a widget, say that it's a widget and talk about its functionality (what it does, how it does it) without using superlatives.

Remember, Yahoo is the most important search service on the Web -- follow these simple rules and you'll have greater success getting your site added quickly.

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