This article will walk readers through the process of listing a blog in a directory. Anyone of any web skill level can list a blog in a directory if they know how to copy and paste and if they exercise a little patience, common sense and sometimes a few problem solving skills.

Every directory is put together somewhat different and so you will have to approach each directory with the expectation that you may have to slightly change your methodology to complete the listing in that directory.

Most directories are also similar and they often times require some of the following fairly standard types of information

1. Title of the Blog
2. URL address of the Blog
3. Feed address of the blog
4. Description of the blog or key phrase describing the blog
5. The category or categories that the blog fits in
1. (ex. Technology blog, cooking blog, how to blog, etc)
2. So if you have a blog that talks about your custom pen collection and all the custom pens you have obtained from trade shows throughout the year, you might list it as a hobby, collection, maybe marketing, or just get creative and pick something!
6. Tags for blog (this can be very similar to categories just a different type of web tool)
7. email address to be associated with the blog

In addition, some directories will require that you provide a link, badge or button on the blog to be listed, before they will list your blog in their directory.

This often comes in the form of html code that might look like this

<a href="http://www.bloginspace.com">

<img src="http://www.bloginspace.com/_assets/img/BIS_trigger1.gif"

 style="border: 0;" /></a>

This is an image tag embedded in an a tag. To put it differently, it’s an image that can be clicked like a hyperlink(a tag)

These tags are often put in the lower part of a blog sidebar or at the bottom of a blog all together. They usually must be placed on the main domain of the website

Ergo www.blogdomain.com and not www.blogdomain.com/some-deeper-page-in-the-blog/

Advanced Tip for listing a blog in a directory!

Sometimes blog directories go bad or shut down, or change or move or something. You should pay attention to your directory buttons to see if any of the buttons stop working or looking right. The real code example above provides an image that is ‘hot-linked’. That means the directory holds the actual image on their servers as opposed to on your blog host server. If their site or blog server goes down, your image will not look right.

You may choose to consider downloading the image from their server (right click and save or save as or save image) and then upload that image onto your own server. Then replace the embedded image address of theirs with your own after you upload it.

Warning for Listing a blog in a directory!

If you do that, make sure you still use the a tag link to their website, otherwise you will not get credit for the link from your site to theirs and they may remove you from their directory, which defeats the purpose of getting listed all together.

Getting Started

1. Gather together in soft copy all the items I mentioned above that the directory may ask for.
2. Proceed from 1 directory to the next and copy and paste that information into their submission forms (note sometimes submission forms move around, so you may need to hunt a bit in the website)
3. If the directory requires you to upload the code, buttons or tags to your blog, do it so that you can complete the process.
4. Go to the next directory and repeat the process
5. If the directions/instructions are atypical, do not get frustrated, just attempt to use your best judgement and follow the process to get the blog listed. It may not be perfect, but the goal is to get it into the directory.

Benefits of Blog Directories

1. Builds up backlinks to your blog, which increases your page rank (90% of benefit)
2. Might provide opportunity to attract new readers that find your blog in the directory(5% of benefit)
3. Gives you some good practice at navigating the web, putting together simple forms of html code and networking with other bloggers. Consider checking out the other blogs in the categories that you will be listing your blog in and contacting them, commenting etc. Getting a direct link from a related blog is even more valuable than a directory link, even if you are just trading links!

Listing of Blog Directories

There is a list of over 100 blog directories at Softduit Partners.

They arrange the list from highest to lowest page rank and from several other perspectives as well.

• Alphabetical - http://www.softduit.com/Blog_Directories.html
• Ranked by Alexa score – http://www.softduit.com/ranking_directories.html
• Ranked by SEOMOZ – Page Strength - http://www.softduit.com/ranking_directories_seomoz.html

Tip! If you find a reference at Softduit that is outdated, you can receive a credit link from Softduit referring to your fix or update from their site! (send fix to hotline@softduit.com and identify the directory and the item that needs to be updated)

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 6th, 2007 at 11:37 am and is filed under Blogging Tips, directory listings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.