5 Popular Blog Directories for Quick Blog Rankings

There are a number of things you can do to boost your blog rankings. Besides other stuff like pinging your blogs on search engines, joining forums and etc., what you can do is blog directory submissions. This is an effective way to build backlinks to your blog and build your blog rankings.

Here's 5 popular blog directories that you should keep in mind (not in any particular order)

• Blogged.com - Very popular, has a feed-type of layout and you can follow each other which is great for networking
• OnTopList.com - Very popular directory that reviews your blog for free. It's human-edited which is always preferred by search engines and can help your blog rank better faster.
• Bloggepedia - Very popular. Perfect for newbie-bloggers who are trying to pick a topic/niche to blog about because they show popular tags used by readers.
• BlogCatalog - Very popular. Can easily be used to build free targeted web traffic and blog rankings. A perfect networking tool to socialize with other bloggers.
• Technorati - Very effective and popular. A great way to 'claim' your blog. Very easy to use and uses the 'voting' system that could help you build your ranking easily. The more your articles get 'dugg'  the the more popular you get, which gives you a better ranking as you post more quality content.

Why it's effective?
Besides the obvious reason (it is a blog directory after all), blog directory submissions helps promote your blog to other existing bloggers and at the same time get to know other bloggers and make it easier for other bloggers to get to know you too. Blog directory submissions is a great way to make yourself known to other bloggers. I repeat, other bloggers. Beats having to search in Google or Yahoo for other bloggers. Blog directories are in other words 'Bloggers' Central'. It's the place to meet, and build relationships with bloggers of the same interest/niche/business as you.

Other than that, it's a great way to create backlinks, do as much needed networking, makes commenting on other blogs easier and also gets free targeted web traffic to you blog. All these combined, boosts your blog rankings easily. What else is there to say. You should try it out and see the results for yourself. :)

Tips on Boosting Index Times by Pinging

It's time you focus on boosting indexing times for your blog. One of the many ways you can gain exposure on the web is by pinging your blog on search engines to inform them that your blog has been updated. There are other ways too, but lets focus on this part for this blog post, shall we?

So I'm gonna give you tips on how to boost you indexing times by pinging.

Let's start with Blogger.com users. Unlike other services, pinging is done manually. But first remember to set your blog for public viewing. Under the settings tab there are items like 'Add your blog to our listings' and 'let search engines find your blog'. So apply 'yes' for both items and your good to go. So every time you post an article you have to ping it on search engines so that they know you have updated your blog. I use Pingates.com just put in your blog name and address and pick a number of services that you want to ping and you're done. Just remember to pick relevant sites. For instance, no point of pinging an english blog on a japanese blog search (google.jp)

So as for you guys who are using Wordpress. You get to set your pings automatically. Here's how:

1. First set your blog for public viewing by going to the Privacy tab under 'settings'. Then choose your blog to be available to everyone.
2. Then go to 'Writing' which you can also find under the 'Settings' tab and copy and paste this list.

http://rpc.pingomatic.com/
http://feedshark.brainbliss.com/
http://api.feedster.com/ping
http://ping.blo.gs/
http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/
http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/
http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2
http://www.blogoole.com/ping/
http://www.blogoon.net/ping/
http://www.newsisfree.com/RPCCloud
http://www.popdex.com/addsite.php
http://www.snipsnap.org/RPC2
http://www.wasalive.com/ping/
http://www.blogsdominicanos.com/ping/
http://www.xianguo.com/xmlrpc/ping.php
http://www.feedsky.com/api/RPC2
http://api.moreover.com/RPC2
http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2
http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php
http://xping.pubsub.com/ping

Easy ain't it? :)

Now if you're using Joomla 1.5, it's a bit tricky. (got this tip from my friend Faiz Suberi, check out his cool website by clicking his name)

1. First you have to download the 'Easy ping' plugin.
2. Then under 'extensions' tab, click 'install/uninstall' button. Upload and install the plugin.
3. Go to 'extensions' again and now click the 'plugins manager' button. Look for 'systems-easy ping' in your list and then click on it. 
4. Copy and paste the above list in the 'ping services' space.
5. Enable the plugin.

You only need to do this once and it automatically send pings after every post you make.

And there you have it. Tips on boosting index times. Keep on the look out for more tips from me. Until then, I'd like to leave a word to you guys. Keep up the good work. This making money online thing can be stressful sometimes. But with a little time and effort it will work out for you. :)