To get on the fast track to success one needs to:

• Create a website that is dynamic and distinctive. The website name should match the domain name. Bad or broken links must not exist. JavaScript errors must be eliminated. The company's profile should be clear, concise, and complete. Secure ordering must be in place if required. And, visible links to the company's business plan, privacy policy, return policy, and guarantee should be present.
• Employ a design with user in mind. Never use heavy images, 10-12Kb per image will ensure that pages are not slow. Use graphics that enhance content. Avoid images that change color or blink. Use standard layouts that are reader friendly, the page should breathe and font size must be comfortable. Use a few fonts: serif for headlines and sans serif for text. Limit the number of advertisements, banners, and links on a page. Be sure to test your website using multiple browsers.
• Select a directory with vision. Read all the submission requirements and guidelines more than once. Choose a category with thought and planning (browse the directory, look for listings of competitors, and related sites). Review your website from an editor's point of view. Ensure that the title and summary are appropriate and relevant to the content of the web site. List the strengths of your site realistically; be sure to add value to your site,
• Increase traffic by submitting the site to web directories. Choose to submit to major ones as well as minor ones, even a few relevant niche sites will boost your popularity and traffic.
• Link your site to others. Search engines give higher positions to sites linked from others. Link the website to major sites as well as minor ones. Contact high traffic sites and request a mention or link. This will boost your engine placement and direct traffic from the pages that are linked.
• Optimize the PageRank of your website by choosing inbound external links with care. Link up to relevant sites and not at random, quality is the criteria to consider not PageRank. List the website in an open directory and Yahoo as this will provide an artificial enhancement of PageRank. Never place external links on pages that are in turn linked to other sites. External links should be offered on pages with low PageRank containing many links to pages on your site. Construct your navigational structure such that important pages are linked to many other internal pages that do not require a high rank. These extra links will add rank to the major pages.
• Create a site map and link every page to it. These invite spiders sent out by search engines which then index every page on the site. Adopt an easy-to-use navigational structure. Check for errors regularly. Include a site search tool. Be search engine friendly and avoid frames, flash, or code that will trip up a spider or engine.

It is not submitting to a directory that ensures success but taking care of the nitty gritty.