Directory Listing Guidelines

The quality of our directory, is of paramount importance. Hence, we are rather meticulous with regards to the listings. Also, there are elements of the listing, that affect your SEO rankings, as well as the performance of our servers. Your attention to detail will be greatly appreciated!

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a) Please show me a good example of an approved listing!

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The surest way to get your listing(s) approved, is to study what a good listing looks like.

Click here to see a good example of a listing!

If you are struggling to construct a description for your listing, simply copy, paste and modify the description in this listing. Perhaps tweak it slightly to reflect your own experience and personality.

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b) Why have my listings not been reviewed yet, and/or rejected?

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c) I need some help and explanation on how to add directory listings?

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1) Listing Category


Category:

When you initially create a listing, select Listings. It can be changed later.

2) Listing Details


Title:

For a personal listing, this should be your First Lastname.

  • Examples: John Smith & Sally Johnson

Listings for a company, organization, product and/or service.

  • Example of a company listing: Fantastic Carpet Cleaners
  • Example organization: Worldwide Charity Organization
  • Example product/service: Sensational Software Program

No need to include the city, country etc. That will go in the listing details section below. Please pay attention to punctuation and spaces. Don’t use dots, commas nor dashes.


Description:

The description can be in any language, although English is preferred. With at least 300 words and 2000 maximum, break it up into several, easily readable paragraphs. Ideally the total count should be about 1600 words, for better Search Engine Optimizing. This will help to rank your listing higher in the search engines. Quality is the key. Please do not simply throw in random text, to reach the word count. The listing will be rejected.

3) Contact Details


Physical Address:

This address is visible on the listing. If you do not want to disclose your exact location, place the red pin in the town centre. Address must be on ONE comma separated line. Example: 12345 High Street, Shoreham, West Sussex, BN43 2EG, United Kingdom

Note: You can click, hold and drag the red pin on the map, to the desired location.


Global Region:

The directory is divided into nine geographical regions. Select the region, where this listing address is located. If active in ALL areas and/or online, then select WorldWide.


Phone Number:

Please include the country and area code with the number. There must be a PLUS sign before the country code. Also, include a space after the country code, and area code.

Example: +44 234 567 8910


Email Address:

This is the contact email for the listing, and where enquiries will be sent, when visitors complete the listing contact form. This email address is not visible to unregistered users, and is protected from spammers. We also use reCAPTCHA to cancel out bots.

Example: [email protected]


Website URL:

Enter the website URL here, where visitors to this listing should be directed. You can use a LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook Page. There is no need to include the https:// nor www. If you don’t have a website. this listing page can easily serve that purpose.

Examples: mywebsite.com or linkedin.com/my.name/ or facebook.com/mypage/

4) Upload Images


A picture paints a thousand words. Please upload SEVEN good quality images to accompany this listing. A minimum of SEVEN images are required for approval.

The images must be at least 800 pixels wide, and 450 high. They can be much larger on your desktop and/or camera, as the server will automatically resize the images to 800 X 450. This aspect ratio is 16:9 and the ratio required for the listing image slider. The correct aspect ratio will avoid grey spaces above and in the margins, left and right.

If your camera does not currently take 16:9 photos, simply change the settings. [Click here to Google the instructions for your particular phone.]

Existing images can be resized to 16:9 with an online utility, in just a few clicks. [See the instructions and screenshots, further down this page.}


Rename the images to match the listing title!

Once you have seven quality images ready for upload, the next step is to rename them to the correct file syntax. This is crucial for better SEO, as the search engines consider the filename in the html code, to present your listing to viewers. The image filenames must contain the exact words of the listing title. The files must be .jpg or .png format.

Example:

If the listing name is John Smith, the files should be:

  • john-smith-01.jpg
  • john-smith-02.jpg
  • john-smith-03.jpg
  • john-smith-04.jpg
  • john-smith-05.jpg
  • john-smith-06.jpg
  • john-smith-07.jpg

Note: Everything must be in lowercase, no spaces. Dashes must be used for spacing.

Gather the images on your desktop, click on the Upload Images button, select all the images from your desktop. This will upload all the images at once, in numerical order.

Make sure images are 16:9 ratio. See the instructions and screenshots below.

5) Optional Video Clip


Video is an eye-catching addition to a listing. Users will instinctively click on interactive content. Upload your video clip to YouTube and/or Vimeo, and enter the full URL here.

Examples:

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1tPSk
  • https://vimeo.com/5392987889557

6) Save Draft & Submit Listing


Once you have completed the form, click on the blue Submit Listing button. If you are not ready to submit and/or want to save the form entries, click on Save Draft. The data will be saved indefinitely, and you can continue at any time. Thanks for a quality listing!

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d) I changed my images, but I’m still seeing the SAME picture. Why is that?

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If you need to change an image, for whatever reason, be sure NOT to use the exact same filename. Otherwise you will see the old image picture, even though the new image has indeed been uploaded.

Cause: This is due to how web browsers, and our servers store files, in order to speed up page loading.

Solution: If the name of your image is filename-01.jpg then rename the new version to filename-01a.jpg and the third version to filename-01c.jpg etc. Click on Delete Permanently, and upload the new image.

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e) Make sure your images are at least 800 x 450. Aspect ratio 16:9 is essential!

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How to resize images to aspect ratio 16:9

  1. Click here to open the RedKetchup app in your browser.
  2. In the Select Image section, click on the Browse button.
  3. Upload the image. It must be at least 800 pixels wide.
  4. In the Crop Image section, see the option Aspect Ratio.
  5. To the right of Aspect Ratio, click on the word Free-Form.
  6. A drop-down menu will appear. Select the option 16:9
  7. See the selection box, placed over the uploaded image.
  8. Click and hold. Move up and down, and/or sidewards.
  9. Do not drag the corners/change the size of the box.
  10. Once happy with the box position, scroll to Save Image.
  11. Note: You will lose visual parts of the image. C’est la vie.
  12. No need to resize the image to 800×450. Can be larger.
  13. In the Save Image section, click on the Save Image button.
  14. The magic will happen. See the Download Icon at the top left.
  15. Click on that download icon and save the image file to desktop.
  16. This will be a good time to correctly name the file for upload.

Here are some screenshots to illustrate the above steps…


In the Select Image section, click on the Browse button.


In the Crop Image section, see the option Aspect Ratio.


To the right of Aspect Ratio, click on the word Free-Form.


A drop-down menu will appear. Select the option 16:9


See the selection box, placed over the uploaded image.


In the Save Image section, click on the Save Image button.


The magic will happen. See the Download Icon at the top left.


This will be a good time to correctly name the file for upload.


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