There are many website and blog directories online today and for good reason. They are popular because being listing in a directory gives a link back to your site, which all sites need to rank with the search engines. A website or blog directory is a place for you to describe your site, services, and products without being afraid to toot your own horn.
Some directories give you only enough space to list your website URL with a brief description while others will give you enough room for a full-page display. The more room you have the better. On directories that allow a full- sized article about your site you can go into a lot more detail, giving you the chance to open visitors up to the idea of your product or services. Most of these directories that allow a full-sized article will also allow you a couple of anchor text links back to any page on your site. This is like gold and is the kind of website or blog directory you should be seeking out.
Three Ways Directories Help Your Site
A Backlink - Every time you list your website or blog URL in a directory this creates a backlink to your site. Backlinks are a lot like a report card to the search engines, so the more backlinks you have the better your site may be rated.
Traffic - Not all directories will produce traffic for you, but some of the more popular sites will occasionally send traffic your way. In this case the backlink is more important than the amount of traffic.
Exposure - The exposure you get from listing in a directory is two-fold. You get your site exposed to visitors of the site as well as the people listing their blogs or websites. In fact, more of your exposure may come from other website owners. Before they list, they look at sites already on the directory to see what competition they may have.
Promoting and marketing your blog or website takes a lot of time if you do it right, unless you outsource some of the tasks. And promoting through directories is just one of the ways. Many of the directory sites allow free listings and some ask for a reciprocal link. You can also pay for a featured listing in many cases. Usually these featured listings don't cost that much and could last for a month or year, depending on the owner of the site.
A featured listing usually either highlights your listings or even shows it in a rotating slider across the pages. Anytime you can have a featured listing it will get your site more attention.
Promoting your website is the one thing people tend to ignore after getting it up. The right directory will give you a head start to building backlinks and rank.
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