Whether you are just starting to blog or have been blogging for a while there is likely nothing more important to you than knowing how to get traffic to your blog.
One of the good ways you can get blog traffic is to comment on other blogs as I have covered in my post Get Blog Traffic With Comments. Another good way to increase blog traffic is to build links to sites that will help your blog to be found by others.
Link building is a part of SEO. I have mentioned some elements of SEO in my post called Blogging SEO Strategy.
There are hundreds of blog directories that you can list your blog in. I would start with the top ones first. I’m Vance Sova and I invite you to read on.
The following is a guest Post by James Adams:
Top 10 Directories That Will Help Get Your Blog Noticed
Once you’ve got your blog set up and have been blogging for a few days or weeks, you may have wondered why the readers and visitors aren’t flocking in.
The answer is: you’ve got to get the word out. If you don’t tell anyone about your blog, then no one will even know that it exists.
One of the best ways to get instant exposure for your blog is to submit to a blog directory. There are hundreds of these around the Internet, but some are much better than others. Here are the top 10.
- DMOZ: This is one of the oldest and most respected directories on the Internet. DMOZ.org won’t accept your site until it has been reviewed by their editors to make sure that it’s not spam. Unfortunately, this process can take several months, so it’s a good idea to get started early. When your blog finally does get listed with DMOZ, Google will look upon your site with much more respect.
- BOTW: Best of the Web is also an established and highly respected directory. It has been in business since 1994. A link from BOTW will instantly give your blog a boost in credibility and visibility.
- Business.com: If your blog is commercial in nature, then this is an essential place to get it listed. For a listing fee of $299, you’ll be able to get targeted traffic all year.
- Yahoo: Yahoo bills itself as the oldest directory on the Internet. Although Yahoo may not have the prominence that it once did, it still gets a ton of traffic every day. If you can get your site listed here, it can be well worth it. It’s free for non-commercial sites, but $299 for commercial sites or if you’d like your site reviewed within 7 days.
- Bloggeries: Bloggeries is a great directory because of its organization. Visitors will be able to quickly find your blog by category, which will result in more targeted traffic for your blog.
- Eaton Web: This is another highly respected blog directory. One of the strengths of this directory is that blogs can be rated and will be listed based on their overall strength and popularity momentum. This can get you a lot of exposure if people begin to find your blog valuable.
- The Blog Frog: This is a directory that is quickly rising in popularity. The Blog Frog combines a blog directory with a social media platform. Not only can you list your blog, but you can interact with other bloggers directly on this site.
- Blog Search Engine: Blogsearchengine.com is another highly selective blog directory that can give your site a nice boost. Many Internet users come here directly to search for blogs, so you want to make sure that your site is served in their search results.
- MyBlogLog: MyBlogLog already had 45,000 members when it was acquired by Yahoo in 2007. Now, it has more than a quarter million members and 22 million visits per day. You can list your blog and encourage other members with similar blogs to form a community around you. This is one site you don’t want to skip.
- Blogged: Blogged is similar to news aggregators like Google News. The only difference is that it pulls news stories from blogs rather than traditional news sites. If you write about topical subjects on your blog, then you definitely want to list your site at Blogged. You’ll be able to show up on the radar screen of web surfers looking for fresh content.
If you haven’t yet begun to promote your blog, or if you have been using other methods to get the word out about your blog; then your next course of action should be to begin submitting your blog to a few directories. The sooner you get started, the sooner you’ll begin to see the results you want. Update July22, 2018: The most prized blog directory at that time DMOZ is now gone. So is Yahoo blog directory and My Blog Log. I think that getting listed in the remaining blog directories may still be beneficial but I wouldn’t bother anymore. Building links has lost it’s value. Google was placing a lot of value on links at that time. Now it almost punishes sites for links, on balance. By their algorithm changes and biases, Google has built and destroyed many bloggers lives. That’s what some people think anyway.
This guest article was written by James Adams who is a full time blogger working with an online supplier of ink cartridges. Check out their blog for more of his posts about design and marketing.
Please go ahead and make a comment. Have you submitted your blog to any of the directories above or any other ones? Have you noticed an increase in traffic?
Bookmark and tweet the post for others to see.
.
Authored by Vance Sova
Subscribe to Vance Sova.com by Email
Filed under: Get Blog Traffic, Increase Blog Traffic
Hey Vance
Great list – never really considered submitting my blog to directories such as these.
Top post Vance and something I’ll definitely be working on shortly.
James
.-= James Stewart´s last blog ..How To Forward a Domain Name Directly To an Affiliate Product Sales Page =-.
Vance Reply:
May 10th, 2010 at 11:29 pm
Hi James,
I’m glad that you find this post valuable. Thanks for commenting.
Doing things like link building is definitely going to pay off for you in the long run.
Some directories take a long time with the approval process so the sooner one starts the better.
Vance
Hi Vance,
Thanks for this post, I have just started a competition with my fellow AJ students and I need lots of traffic to my blog so this will help for sure, going to read your other posts now too.
Sally 🙂
.-= Sally Neill´s last blog ..In It To Win It And Need YOUR Help =-.
Vance Reply:
May 11th, 2010 at 9:57 am
Hi Sally,
Thanks for the visit and comment. I’m glad that you found this post helpful.
Getting traffic is the most important thing. Not just any traffic but a targeted traffic of course.
Read the other posts too and visit my blog periodically as there will be more helpful posts to read.
Vance
Hi Vance,
Thank you for the list! I had given a try at submitting to blog directories before but had kind of forgotten about it. I should go back to submitting with a better idea now.
Getting your blog listed in DMOZ is recommended in most every book about blogging but it’s not an easy task and you have to keep trying. And post good and often too.
Again, thank you for the post,
Jose
.-= Jose@Notes on Blogging´s last blog ..Choosing a domain name =-.
Vance Reply:
May 11th, 2010 at 10:22 am
Hi Jose,
Thanks for the comment. Getting listed in DMOZ is not a short process. I think they want you to have a minimum of 20 posts on your blog before they’ll even look at it.
They evaluate it and decide or not to approve it by a real person, it’s not automatic like with some directories. And it can take months before they get to your site. I submitted my blog about 2 months ago and nothing happened yet.
But even if you don’t get approved the first time you can keep on trying and as your blog will grow the chances are that you will get approved sooner or later.
A big caution here: I’m told by a millionaire marketer that you shouldn’t submit more often to DMOZ then every six months. It could take that long for them to take for the approval of one submission and by submitting again before they get to your blog you would cancel the previous submission.
That way you’d just be making it impossible to ever get approved. So be patient, submit once and wait a minimum of six months before you submit again if that is necessary.
Vance
Hi Vance,
This post is much appreciated especially for a newbie like me. So true it is about targeted traffic and something that I hope to achieve pretty soon!
Anna
Vance Reply:
May 15th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
Hi Anna,
Thanks for your comment. I’m glad you found the post useful.
Visit again and I hope you traffic will be on the increase soon.
Vance
Hey Vance, I am going through all your old posts to get some tips! I submitted to most of the ones above, except Yahoo don’t have the cash for that right now, but when I do I am submitting my site there too, been submitting my blog to lots of directories, but not seen any results as yet, hopefully start to drive me some traffic soon, thanks for this post, Sally 🙂
.-= Sally Neill´s last blog ..Increasing Your Blog Traffic By Planting Seeds =-.
Vance Reply:
May 24th, 2010 at 12:52 am
Hey Sally,
Thanks for reading all my old posts. That really makes me feel good. I hope you’re finding some good tips.
The directory links aren’t as valued by Google as they once were but they are still worthwhile. I wouldn’t worry too much about Yahoo for now but when you have the money to spare I think it may be worth it to spend it. What I don’t like about it is that it’s a yearly thing so unless you want to make it a long term commitment it’s better to not do it at all.
I think the results from having the directory links are slow in coming and thus hard to notice.
Thanks for the comment.
Vance
Its universally accepted that basic link building for blogs begins with listing them in blog directories. Personally, I love launching a new blog, or adding one to an existing site, and watching the high valued links roll in. Gaining exposure for your blog is critical to building a following, readership, and revenue. Thanks for the share.
Vance Reply:
June 18th, 2010 at 6:30 am
Hi Ariel,
Thank you for the comment. While directory links are said to not have as much value as they once did I think that they are still very valuable.
Vance
I have already added my site to the bigger part of the above included directories, though there were two-three I missed. I can’t really tell how efficient those directories are, since I’m still not getting much traffic from those. Will add my page to the others and see how things go.
.-= Daniel Sharkov@Marketing product reviews´s last blog ..YouTube Revolution – Discover YouTube’s Endless Marketing Potential =-.
Vance Reply:
June 18th, 2010 at 9:15 am
Directory links do help but to quantify how much is nearly impossible. Perhaps they aren’t as efficient as they once were but they are still links that give your blog or a site a boost.
Vance
Hi Vance, hope you don’t mind if I save your directories list to my computer. I didn’t know I can submit my blog to directories if I want some traffic to come my way. Thanks and looking forward to new posts on your blog!
Felicia @ No deposit poker´s last blog post ..Phil Ivey hired a bodyguard at the 2010 WSOP
Vance Reply:
August 5th, 2010 at 7:03 am
Hi Felicia,
I don’t mind that at all. The information is there for you to use as long as you don’t publish it as your own. Submitting your blog to directories is helpful although some people say that the links are not as valued by Google as they once used to be. But nobody really knows for sure. The fact that a link to a good directory is still valuable.
I’m glad you find my blog helpful and thank you for commenting.
Vance