A reusable directory submission template for your product

Product facts that should never drift

Some fields should read the same on every directory: the product name, the website address, the pricing model and what the product does in one plain sentence. When they drift, one listing says free while another says paid, or the name is spelled two ways, and anyone comparing listings, a directory editor included, has reason to doubt both.

Write them once, from sources you control: your homepage, your pricing page and your documentation. If a fact is not stated on your own site, it does not belong in a listing yet.

• Name: the exact spelling and capitalisation your site uses.
• Website URL: the canonical address, with https and no tracking parameters.
• Pricing model: what the pricing page says today: free, freemium, free trial, paid, open source or contact for pricing.
• What it does: one sentence a stranger could check against your homepage.

Tagline and one-liner fields

A tagline is a short phrase that names what the product does. A one-liner is a full sentence that adds who it is for and how. A formula for each:

Tagline formula

[what it does] for [whom], in words your homepage already uses.

One-liner formula

[Product] [does the job] for [audience], [how, or with what].

One invented example per product type, each marked as fictional:

• Fictional example, a web app: “Scheduled reminders for unpaid freelance invoices.”
• Fictional example, a developer tool: “A command-line checker for YAML configuration files.”
• Fictional example, an AI product: “Drafts first replies to support tickets from your help-centre articles.”
• Fictional example, a mobile app: “A shared grocery list sorted by store aisle.”

The profile counts the tagline against 80 characters. That is a common default length, not a limit observed on directory forms; each form sets its own, so check the field before you paste.

Short and long description variants

Keep three lengths, 160, 300 and 500 characters, written from the same product facts. They are common default lengths, not limits observed on directory forms. Write the longest first and cut down, so every version stays true:

1. Start from product truth. List what the product does, for whom, how it works and what it costs, using only facts your own site states.
2. Write the one-sentence job statement. The task a user hires the product for, in the words that user would use.
3. Cut in a fixed order. Remove examples first, then secondary features, then integrations, then audience detail. Keep the job statement, and keep the pricing model when the form has no separate field for it.
4. Never invent to fill space. No user counts, customer names, awards, ratings or results that your site does not show.

Adjectives such as powerful, seamless or revolutionary use characters without telling an editor anything. Replace each with the fact behind it, or delete it.

Categories, tags and pricing

Choose the category from the main job a user hires the product for, not from every capability it has. A tool that uses AI to write invoices is invoicing software first: a capability is not a category.

• Main user task first. Pick the category a user would browse when they have the problem your product solves.
• Capability is not category. Put capabilities such as AI, an API or integrations in tags, where the form has tags.
• AI-enabled SaaS. When AI is a feature of a broader product, use the product's own category and add AI as a tag. Use an AI category only when the product's main job is an AI capability; a product without AI features does not fit an AI-only directory.
• No exact match. Choose the closest broader category and put the specifics in the description and tags, rather than a narrow label that does not describe the product.

For pricing, use the model your pricing page shows on the day you submit. Free plans, trials and prices change, and a listing that still says free after the free plan is gone has to be corrected; the pricing note is there so you can compare it with the page before each batch.

Asset and contact fields

Directory forms ask for images and links in different sizes and formats, and this site has no record of which form asks for what. The profile therefore keeps a list of what you already have, not a size chart:

• A square logo and a wide logo, under the file names you keep them.
• Two or three screenshots of the real product, recent enough that a visitor would recognise the interface.
• A contact page you already publish. It is safer than a personal address typed into many forms.
• Social profiles you actually maintain; leave the field empty rather than list dormant accounts.

Before a batch, open each form and compare its image and text fields with the profile.

How to adapt without changing product truth

Adapting means choosing which true facts fit a form, not changing them. Fit the length, the category list and the tone of each directory; keep the name, the address, the pricing model and the job statement identical on every listing.

A template keeps listings consistent; it does not get them approved. Each directory's editors decide what they list and how.

When a fact changes, change it in the profile first, export a copy, then update the listings you record in the submission tracker. Before you submit anywhere new, check for an existing listing. Keeping the same facts on every listing is also the first check in measuring AI search mentions.