When I create a new blog, or a new web site, one of the first things that I do is to seek out a number of good and reliable web directories to submit my newly created site to. I count doing this more important than sorting out the SEO!
The reason I seek out and submit my web site or blog to a web directory is because I believe this will help me gain traffic for it. I also believe that it will help me when I start building backlinks, but the traffic is far more important to me at this stage of development.
Obviously the holy grail is to be listed on giant directories such as DMOZ or the just as popular Yahoo directory. Having your site listed on these big directories will bring in a ton of traffic but you have to have something quite special to be listed on these ones.
In fact I have discovered, during my time doing this, that any business web directory is good for driving traffic to your web site or blog. It may not be the right kind of traffic but your web site or blog is new so any traffic is ‘good traffic’ at this point in time, isn’t it?
Now, being somebody who likes to save money, and loves a bargain, I have so far only used free web directories, these are web directories that will not charge you a fee to submit your web site or blog. You can call me shrewd for sniffing out these free directories or you can call me just plain tight.
In my experience the free services work just as well as the ones that charge a fee, the only difference that I can see is that the ones that charge have less entries so you’re web site or blog will probably get more exposure.
The only downside is that it can become rather boring and tedious if you have a lot of directories to submit to. My advice to anyone thinking of joining these sites is to not try and do them all in one sitting. Draw them up into lists of about ten and do one list a day.
That way you will not burn yourself out and the whole process does not turn into one mind-blowing chore.
Don’t be put off by that last paragraph. If you don’t try and do them all at once you will find directories can help boost the traffic to your site or blog. If even if they only bring you ten visitors that is ten visitors you have got for nothing.
Photo by luisosorio from FreeImages
