Blog Listing is an a blog directory that also has articles. I wrote a note to them to find out how articles can be submitted and they wrote back very quickly with the link and directions for submission. it is  webmaster@bloglisting.net. The very good thing is that all submissions is reviewed manually.

I will also give you some definitions of two terms that you will run into on their submission form. Excellent for search engine optimization (SEO)but may be a bit confusing for the new blogger.Meanwhile here is part of the description of the site below directly from the home page:

BlogListing.Net takes pride in remaining a free blog directory and takes steps to continue to improve it’s own rankings in the search engines, to help pass that along to the listings within this blog directory.

We are currently accepting blog submissions for the directory. If you own, or know of a quality blog that needs added, please suggest it for acceptance.

Now some of you might have some questions about the submission form. There are two terms that is not clear for the new blogger. One of them is .reciprocal links I give you the following definition from Wiki.

A reciprocal link is a mutual link between two objects, commonly between two websites to ensure mutual traffic. Example: Alice and Bob have websites. If Bob’s website links to Alice’s website, and Alice’s website links to Bob’s website, the websites are reciprocally linked. Website owners often submit their sites to reciprocal link exchange directories, in order to achieve higher rankings in the search engines. Reciprocal linking between websites is an important part of the search engine optimization process because Google uses link popularity algorithms (defined as the number of links that led to a particular page and the anchor text of the link) to rank websites for relevancy. The other word is meta description. This is a powerful term and not boomer friendly at all.(smile)

So it is important to note that you must place the code they provide on the blog you are submitting. Then put the url of the blog in the space for reciprocal link. THIS MUST BE DONE BEFORE YOU COMPLETE THE FORM Be sure to include the http:// so I would include http://www.bloggingforboomers. And the code back to their site is here.

But after some problems getting the form to accept the link,  probably because I am still learning, I decided to leave that space blank. Hopefully, I will still get accepted.

The other term used is meta description.

So I went to Ask.com and asked the question “How to write a meta description.” The result was an excellent article by Susan Ward. I am placing the first couple of paragraphs here and the rest you can follow with the link following the excerpt.

Put your keyword phrase in your page’s other metatags.

For the best search engine optimization results, you want to be sure that your keyword phrase is in all your page’s other metatags, too.

Putting your keyword phrase in your page’s metadescription is important not only because it’s another part of your page that “tells” search engine spiders what your page is about, but because many search engines use your page’s metadescription to describe your page in their search listings.

So writing the page’s metadescription is a special challenge; for good search optimization, it has to include your keyword phrase several times, but it also has to be written in such a way that it’s enticing to people browsing search engine listings. If you’re finding writing this metatag difficult, aim for clarity – the clearer an idea you give people about what your page is about, the more likely they are to visit your page.

The metadescription for the page I’ve used as an example below reads:

[blockquote]Why waste time on Web site promotion methods that will only bring you minuscule returns, if any? If you’re prepared to work on them, these five free Web site promotion techniques will deliver, rewarding you with the increased site traffic you’re looking for.[/blockquote] You will also list your keyword phrase in your metakeywords tag. You might also list other related keywords here that appear in the content of your page. If you do, list no more than six or seven.

Once again this is from Susan Ward

To read the entire article.

So today I attempted to give you some search engine optimization info as well as another blogging directory to submit your blog(s) I hope it helps. Now I am going to go back and submit some more blogs to bloglisting.

However, I must be honest with you and say it can be frustrating. So if anyone is out there who has had more experience let me know your insights. It seems that it is best to leave the space for recipical links empty because with one blog it kept telling us that the blog listing button was not on the site. So I have sent two messages to the owners. I could not find a help section. They were great and got right back to me. So I feel better knowing someone is there I can talk to. I will make the suggestion about the HELP feature and from the friendly tone in the letter I think they will listen.

So give them a try and they also refer you to partner directories and that is a cool thing.

Rosie