Blogging can be a deeply satisfying, intensely personal experience. Generally simple to use, blogs allow the household mom, the serial author, the political activist and the high school poet to publish and archive their best efforts and satisfy the creative muse in all of them. Whereas, in the past, publishing was a privilege for the elite few, it is now open to anyone with the time and the means to access a computer.
But if no one is reading the blogs, they can become a disheartening and frustrating experience. A lack of audience can even cost a blogger money – there are numerous blogs on the web that are intended to be significant sources of personal income, between advertising programs and personal product sales. A key step in getting a blog read, therefore, is the use of a specialized web directory known as the blog directory.
What is a Blog Directory?
A blog directory is not a search engine – it is an indexed list of blog links, broken up into categories and keywords for ease of reference. Blogs are submitted or invited for review; the directory looks over the material, and then determines if it meets the criteria for inclusion. Listing in a blog directory increases the chance that a blog will come up in search engine and keyword requests, meaning more users will ultimately be directed to read the blog.
There are as many different types of directories as there are categories of blog. There are directories for video blogs, personal blogs, business-only blogs, and hobby blogs. Some directories cater to the politically minded web journalist; others only admit a self-defined best-of-the-best by personal invitation, according to their own eclectic or exclusive criteria. Even more specific are directories seeking a narrow culture subset. The Ultimate Directory of British Blogs seeks out what they call British blogs, defined as much by culture and common language as by arbitrary terms of location.
In addition, directories are broadly divided between human-edited and automated submission directories. Human-edited directories maintain a staff of reviewers who examine each submission before listing or rejecting it. Automated systems look for keywords or organizational patterns in submitted blogs, and make determinations based on pre-set, machine-learned criteria.
How Do They Work?
Directories present a number of options or models for how they list blogs; equally as diverse as the way they categorize their indices. The basic model is the free listing – bloggers are not charged for the review and listing of their blog in the directory. Paid submissions require a fee – either one time or ongoing – for the review and listing of their blog on the site. Some directories require a bidding process for listing blogs, and some blogs have a ‘featured’ listing that gives a particular blog top billing over their other listings, for various reasons. Just to make things more interesting, any of these listing options can also include a link-back clause, namely that the user must display (in a matter that satisfies the directory) a link to the directory where their blog has been listed.
In theory, blog directories are simple to use; a blogger finds a directory they think is relevant, and submits their blog for listing. In practice, there are steps to make the process more profitable and effective than blind, mass submission. The first step is research; bloggers should visit forums related to their field of interest, and ask which directories have good results, or which are best suited to their category of writing. When submitting, bloggers should look into the directory’s submission procedures and follow them exactly. The savvy blogger is never afraid to ask for advice, whether from the forum or a directory’s contacts page. Sometimes a thoughtfully worded question will accomplish much more than a careless series of submissions.
A Few Free Ones
A handful of free directories bloggers may be interested in include bloglines.com, answers.com, blogfinds.com, technorati.com and boingboing.net
Each of these is a good choice for a blogger to consider registering and submitting to while looking to save money. None charge fees, and each one offers additional services beyond the blogging directory itself. Because of this, they are more likely to draw additional users interested in more than the directory, who then can follow up by perusing the listings for more information. At most, they require registration and a link-back, which are comparatively small demands. Some directories charge a minimum of five dollars for a review and listing, and others charge as much as 150 dollars for a front-page spot.
Bloggers should take the time to do their research, visit the forums of their preferred blogging communities and hobbies, and find out which directories best suit them. With a little effort and energy, a good blog can find a great directory, and reach the audience it deserves.
Enzo F. Cesario is a Copywriter and co-founder of Brandsplat. Brandcasting uses informative content and state-of-the-art internet distribution and optimization to build links and drive the right kind of traffic to your website. Go to http://www.Brandsplat.com/ or visit our blog at: http://www.brandsplatblog.com/
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Directory Assistance – How Can I Help Your Blog?
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One of the most difficult aspects of being an independent service professional is being seen as credible and as a viable expert in your industry. Until recently, that process often took years and required an investment of much blood, sweat and tears. Ultimately, it wasn’t until you paid your dues that anyone of influence in your industry would pay any attention to you or be interested in speaking with you. Thus, any hope you had of creating a strategic alliance or joint venture would fall on deaf ears because your potential VIP had no idea of your existence.
However, with the advent of Internet marketing, that time process has been greatly accelerated. You can now become a person of influence in your industry and become known to other industry VIPs in a matter of months, rather than years. Here are 7 strategies that will help you build successful relationships with your industry VIPs:
- Become the instant guru. One quick way to do this is by recording an audio. You determine your target market and the top 3 problems that plague your target market. Then, create an outline detailing solutions to those top 3 problems, and record an audio of yourself speaking about those problems and your proffered solutions. Create an audio CD and CD cover and have the CD duplicated. Offer your CD as a client attraction device on your web site and blog.
- Create your strategic alliance list. Write down your ideal list of strategic alliances or product launch joint venture (JV) partners. If you’re just starting out, you might want to begin with a second- or third-tier list (i.e. those who are not as well-known as the industry gurus but have some standing in their own right).
- Use Web 2.0. Use social networking on Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter and follow/friend the members of your list. Interact with them often, commenting on their status updates, videos, etc. Retweet useful information to your followers that they send out to their followers and friends. Go to their blog posts and comment on those, as well.
- Become a customer. Buy a product from your person of influence. Review the product on your blog or in an article and submit the review through your social networks. If you purchase a physical product, take a photo of yourself holding the product and send the photo to your VIP or send the VIP a card containing your photo and some word of praise about the product.
- Attend live events. Many industry VIPs attend a number of live events each year. Because you’re now following these industry VIPs via social networking, they will tell you what events they plan to attend. Attending these same events and meeting these people in person helps them remember you, especially if you take a photo of yourself with that person and send it to them or post it to your social networking profiles. Many times you can buy your VIP a drink or take them to dinner and have a 1:1 conversation with them. Remember, if you don’t ask, you’ll never know!
- Become an affiliate. If you love your VIPs products, become an affiliate and promote those products to your list. If you can genuinely talk about how this product has helped you, you’ll be of service to your list members and attract the attention of your VIP, as well.
- Stay in touch regularly. Set up a direct mail “stay in touch” campaign. Rather than using email or social networking exclusively, I think the most effective strategy at this stage is to send a direct mail card or postcard, as those get more attention as they are used far less often these days.
Begin your campaign today to increase your visibility in your industry by connecting with industry VIPs. You’ll soon discover how quickly your business will grow when you’re in touch with those in the know!
Internet Marketing Automation Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals create prosperous online businesses that make more profit in less time. Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at ==>
http://www.TurbochargeYourOnlineMarketing.com
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7 Strategies for Building Online Relationships with Industry VIPs
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Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that was originally launched in March of 2006 and has since grown into a real-time short messaging service that works over multiple networks and devices. Twitter enables users to stay in touch and share information with each other in real time. Users can use a maximum of 140 characters per message or “tweet” as they are called. You can tweet as little or as often as you want, as long as each individual tweet does not exceed 140 characters.
Once you have joined Twitter, you can use their search tool to find specific people, companies, and their tweets. Hashtags are an effective method of allowing users to sort topics into useful categories to revisit later. Hashtags are a community-driven convention for users to provide add additional context and other relevant info to their tweets. The basic structure of a hashtag is simple: it’s the pound sign (#) followed by an acronym or word.
Twitter didn’t itself create hashtags; they were borrowed from IRCs (i.e. Internet Relay Channels such as chat rooms). Rather, the Twitter community adopted them as a means of creating “groupings” on the service without having to alter the basic service itself.
The Twitter community uses a hashtag in front of frequently used terms in order to categorize them for searches and filtering. So, when talking about an iPod for example, people might also reference “#Apple.” If you’re looking for company specific news that’s happened recently or what’s being said about a company’s product, the hashtags can be very helpful.
Using hashtags to search Twitter for specific information is now even easier since the company purchased the search engine Summize in July of 2008. Twitter can now track hashtags itself at search.twitter.com. The engine tracks keywords too, which makes hashtags not quite as necessary for trend tracking as they were in the past. Nonetheless, they still possess unique advantages. For example, you know that anyone tagging their tweet with one of these acronyms means for it to get categorized within that topic. It also serves as a visual indicator to others following their Twitter stream that they’re tweeting about a particular subject.
One of the potential disadvantages of hashtags is their very popularity. Hashtags are so prevalent on Twitter these days that it can be hard to keep track of them all as well as what they mean. However, there is a resource available that can assist with this as well. Tagalus is a service that acts like a dictionary for hashtags. Tagalus enables users vote on definitions for tags if there’s more than one version. The definition with the most votes will be the one that defines the tag. If you invent any new tags or just want to help build the resource, you can send a tweet to @tagalus to suggest a meaning for a tag. The format for doing so is as follows:
@tagalus define mynewtag as a new tag that describes everything about me
You can also use Tagalus to provide you with a meaning for an already existing tag. The format for this is @tagalus define ____ (fill in the tag that you want the definition for).
Cory Threlfall is the Editor and Publisher of a online web development publication called… The Web Development Central BLOG, where you’ll receive via the Web, Mobile or RSS syndication Expert Articles, Video’s, Product Reviews, HOT Tips, Resources and More on how to Promote and Build your business(es) online. Visit ==>
Web Development
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The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Using Twitter Hashtags
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