SEO For The Common Webmaster

I am asking my readers if they could benefit from a directory added to our site. This would be a free directory and the only fee would be for featured links. The directory itself would be a sub domain of this blog but I would promote it separate from this blog.

I know there are thousands of directories already on the Internet so I am wondering of there is any need for another one. Will it add value to this blog? Will it benefit the readers?

Please leave a comment in support of a directory or stating that you do not think you and the blog could benefit from a directory.

Also, what is a fair price that I should charge for featured links?

One of the best ways to increase back links for blog and website owners is by adding comments to related topic blogs. Of course, some are no follow links and some are do follow links. I explained in my post Checking for No Follow Links how to tell the difference.

The key to getting good back links from a blog comment is to offer something in return. People write blogs so that they are read and hopefully appreciated. With that in mind, when you leave a comment, read the post and comment something constructive about the post. Stuff like “thanks for the info”, “wow that is interesting”, and other small meaningless comments will most likely get your comment deleted or marked as spam.

Most blog owners do not mind giving a back link to you when you leave a quality comment. Speaking for myself, I own 7 blogs and I moderate all comments. If they are on topic with my post and not just trying to spam, I will approve them. When I leave comments, I always read the post carefully and I will comment with my opinion on the post either agreeing or disagreeing. This shows the blog owner that you are not just spamming his/her blog.

Another thing to keep in mind is that there is only one place to get a link in most blogs. That spot is where it asks for your website URL. Putting links in your comments will only result in no follow links and could result in having your comments removed.

Blog owners are not stupid and they know a majority of comments are done so the commenter can get a back link. However, they will not tolerate spam and will only approve comments that mean something and offer a value to the conversation. Leaving quality comments will not only benefit you with a good back link, it will also keep your reputation intact.

With all that said, get out there and leave some quality comments and build up your back links. It is a very important key in Search Engine Optimization.

I have discussed before the differences between no follow and do follow links. I have seen a few times in webmaster forums that people were wondering how do you know if a link is do follow or no follow? Well I will reveal my secret to checking for no follow links.

I found a guy who created a little script that will highlight in red any link that is no follow. The script is called Show Non PR Links Bookmarklet and it was created by a guyby the name of Andy Budd. I found this on his blog and it is simple to use. All you do is click once on the link he has on his blog and hold down your mouse and drag the link to either favorites in Internet Explorer or Bookmarks in Firefox and release the mouse.

The script is safe and I have been using it for over a year now and it is a great way to check links quickly. I want to thanks the creator for the great tool and it is free to use by anyone so just visit the link above to get it now.

I have written before on SEO08 about the importance of submitting to free directories. These directories make up a majority of the back links that webmaster get for their site. Normally they are search engine friendly and you can place your site in a category where people looking for similar sites can look and find your site.

One way to list your websites and blogs quickly in directories is to write up several descriptions of your sites and than you just need to copy and paste one of them into the directory. Also make sure no matter what browser you are using, you use the function that saves your information for forms so that all you have to do is click to add all your personal information such as email, name , URL, and titles. I try to have at least four descriptions for each site so that all your listings are not exactly the same.

You also want to make sure to check your spelling and grammar. I recommend for your browser because it checks your spelling as you type and it underlines in read any spelling mistakes that you make. It is always much easier and more reliable than Internet Explorer.

I take every chance I get to list my blogs for free. I try to list my blogs in at least a few free directories everyday and recently I found a few good ones that I listed in. As I find more, I will list them here, right now, here is a few good ones to get you started:

www.dvuw.com

www.universallinks.net

http://www.1morelink.com/

NWO-WMG Web Directory (Requires reciprocal link)

www.dir.reviewlizard.com (Requires reciprocal link)

http://deepld.com (Requires reciprocal link)           

http://www.be41.com/

http://FatInfo.com

http://www.mydirectorylink.com

http://www.better-then-television.co.cc (free but reciprocal link equals a featured link)

http://www.mydirectorylive.com

http://timlua.com/websitedirectory/

http://www.mysearchplace.com

http://www.directorykingdom.com/

http://www.elinkindex.com/

http://www.linksubmitdir.com/

http://www.seoastute.com

http://www.linkbuildingdir.net

http://www.submitdir.net

www.research-paper.us/resources (requires reciprocal)

www.elinksdir.com

www.thefreewebsitedirectory.co.uk

http://www.linkscube.info

http://freesiteindex.com/

http://www.camrosecs.com/

http://certificationsdirectory.com/

http://www.world.com.ru/

http://directory.gtsee.com/

http://bestbloglink.com/

http://www.a2zwebindex.com/

http://www.amray.com/

http://www.instantbacklink.com/

www.directory2site.com

http://www.blogtory.com/

http://www.fastreviews.org/

http://yourwebdirectory.co.cc

http://directory.gtsee.com

http://myblogfollows.com/

http://www.adda4u.com/

http://www.pinby.com/ Requires reciprocal link or pay

http://directory.trybestsoft.com/

http://www.wnym.ws

http://www.nationalloansource.com/

http://www.mqsource.com

http://www.seobbsr.com/dir/

http://linkdor.com/

http://empdirectory.info/

www.whowantslinks.com

http://www.certificationsdirectory.com/

http://www.directoryseek.org/

www.xeenit.com

http://www.shop2show.com/

http://www.selsnetwork.com/

http://www.polemedia.org/ Free with Recip or as a nofollow

www.searchnet.us

http://www.thailand-hotdeals.com

http://www.xeenit.com/

www.directorycomet.com

If you have a free directory that you would like to add to this list, please contact me tom@seo08.com or leave a comment here with the directory name and I will add it. Also, please let me know if it is totally free or requires a reciprocal link.

Please also let me know if you find a directory on the list that is not working or is no longer free.

Disclaimer: These directories are in no way connected to http://seo08.com and are only provided as free information. We are not being paid advertising money to list these directories. All directories are free as of the time they were listed. We make no claims or take no responsibility for any links placed on the directories listed. You the user need to make the ultimate decision rather to list or not to list.

Once you have your site up and running, one of the important things is to get your site noticed. To do this you need to build back links to your site. One way to build back links is to list your site in many directories.

There are many questions to consider when adding your site to a directory. Should you use a free directory or a paid directory? What should I put as a description? Should I pay for a featured listing? Should I only look for directories with High PR?

I always look for the best deal when trying to promote my sites. I submit to just about every free directory I can find. The exceptions is if the directory is filled with garbage links like porn or drug links. If I decide to pay for a link in a directory, that directory has to look better than a free directory, it has to have some age on it, it has to have a high PR, and it has to have very good traffic. Instead of buying a link on a directory, I would rather spend that money on a related niche blog or website. That is why, in my view, I prefer free directories.

When you fill out a description for your website, I would write as much as you are allowed and something that would make people want to visit your site. Use the key words you are trying to focus on and keep it simple. There is a debate in the world of webmasters as to rather you should write an original description for every directory you submit to. I would say it may be better but I like most webmasters do not always have the time to write a new one each time so I use two or three different ones for all my submissions.

Most directories, either free or paid, will offer a featured link for a price. Is it worth the extra price? One factor is how many featured links will be in each category. If they are selling five or less and it is a good price, I say it is worth it. If it is a high price or they sell too many featured links, you would be better to spend your advertising money elsewhere.

When looking at directories to submit to, one thing that many webmasters look at is the PR or Page Rank of the directory. If given the choice and all other factors are the same, I would recommend the higher PR directories. However, traffic is what you want so a directory with PR0 and a 1000 visits a day will be much better than a PR6 with 10 visits a day. I say look for popular directories that have a lot of listings and has good traffic. Another thing to look at is where they are in the search engines. Type in directories or free directories and see who is on top, those are the ones you want listings in.

One last thing I would like to mention is that many people offer a paid service to submit your site to many directories at once. This could be automatic with software or manually done by a human. Though I am sure that some of these services are legit and can help build you good back links, I think you are better to take the time and do the work yourself. My experience with these services are that they list your site in directories that are either junk or from foreign countries that will do no good for your site. I paid one guy and my site was listed in German directories that contained no English language sites. This will do little for traffic so it was not worth me paying for someone to do the work.

Directory listings are important to building links to your website or blog. It helps build PR, traffic, and helps in your search engine optimization to get you ranked in the search engines. Take the time to do some quality listings and you will reap the rewards.

Here is a couple of sites that can be of help with listing your sites:

Directory Critic : A great site that list many paid and free directories and other free tools.

DirZap: A Free Directory Submission Tool