Social Bookmarking And Blogging -Say What?Part 1 Get Ready For Reddit

This entry is part [part not set] of 1 in the series Social Bookmarking

What is Social Bookmarking?

Social bookmarking is an online service which allows bloggers to add, comment, edit, and share bookmarks of web documents. It is a critical tool to help pump up your search engine optimization. SEO)

Social bookmarking sites can make it easy for people to find blog sites and help you generate backlinks to your website. If you bookmark your website more in social bookmarking websites, you will get backlinks from each website. This results in a higher page rank for your webpage or website.

A backlink is a link from some other blog to another blog page or post. Backlink strategies have been an important part of online marketing for a long time now. They help improve your website’s traffic, rank, reputation, and even relationships. It is critical that you have quality content, with something valuable to say in order to earn your backlink.(Not anything that looks like spam or needs to be trashed.)

Join Social Bookmarking Sites

Please consider taking the time to join Social Bookmarking sites. I challenge you to try and join at least 20 sites before the end of the month. Let’s start with REDDIT

WIKIPEDIA states: As of February 2021, Reddit ranks as the 18th-most-visited website in the world and 7th most-visited website in the U.S., according to Alexa Internet About 42-49.3% of its user base comes from the United States, followed by the United Kingdom at 7.9-8.2% and Canada at 5.2-7.8%. 22 percent of U.S. adults aged 18 to 29 years, and 14 percent of U.S. adults aged 30 to 49 years, regularly use Reddit.

Please note the demographic. That means, my fellow babyboomer, that you should post stuff that the indicated age groups may feel is quality content. I personally feel that most of what we write about is “quality content” but must be perceived as such by others.

How Does Reddit Work?

As  with all the social bookmarking sites you must first register. With REDDIT you submit your content to the site such as links, text posts, images, and videos, which are then voted up or down by other members. Posts are organized by subject into user-created boards called “communities” or “subreddits”, which cover a variety of topics such as news, politics, religion, science, movies, video games, music, books, sports, fitness, cooking, pets, and image-sharing. Submissions with more up-votes appear towards the top of their subreddit and, if they receive enough up-votes, ultimately on the site’s front page. Despite strict rules prohibiting harassment, Reddit’s administrators have to moderate the communities and, on occasion, close them

Reddit suggests that you join at least 5 communities. Once you do you can create posts, videos etc and select which community you want your content to be seen in. The interface  is easy, very easy for this boomer to use.

As you begin this journey it is important that you document each site you join and keep a record of the passwords and the sites you join.

I decided to provide a FREE copy of the blog directory form for your use. Although it does not say social bookmarking, you can still use for that purpose.

Let’s make this happen.

3 Cutting-Edge Blog Directories With FREE Submission That Can Help Your Blog Travel in SEO Space

A good way to get your  blog out there in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Space is to use blog directories. Blog directories are websites which will categorize your blogs under many different categories. Usually the best blog directories are human edited, meaning that each submitted blog is reviewed by a person , not a robot, who will decide whether our blog belongs in their directory or not.

Now not only will blog directories help get your blog to people who are interested in the topic you write about but they will also provide strong back links and can help your posts get ranked in search engines. Also, note that many people search blog directories to research blogs that are similar to their blogs.

Did I hear someone ask “Whats a backlink?

A backlink is a link that one blog site gets from another blog site or static website.  Backlinks can make a big impact on a website’s ranking in search engine results. This is why they are considered so important  for improving a blogs SEO ranking. Search engines will use their own methods to calculate rankings using multiple factors to display search results.

One of the many methods that can help your rankings is to submit your  blog and article directories. I am only going to focus on three directories I have recently submitted this blog to. In another post I will talk about article directories and perhaps other blog directories..

I am only listing those sites that I recently submitted to in June of this year and have a easy user-friendly portal. So, check them out for yourself. As I continue with my research I may post about others later after I submit my sites.

Ontoplist

The site is easy to navigate. It does not make you feel like it is a “spammy site”I was quite surprised that the site I listed was indexed so quickly. So I am encouraged to submit more sites.

Blogflux

Blogflux lets you know on the first page that they currently feature 157,056 blogs. So you get excited about adding your blogs to the number. They stress the type of blogs they WILL NOT accept. It is an easy submission process.

Blogarama

Is also stupidly easy to navigate. It has been around for a long time so their is a high level of reliability. Their blog directory tab when clicked does not allow you the opportunity to search the categories. But I they make it easy  to contact them. So I will let them know that this boomer is concerned. I am sure it will be corrected.

I used one of my handy forms from the  Blog Management System to record the name of the directory, user name and password plus the specific blog I submitted.

If you have other favorite blog directories please share.

 

 

3 Reasons To Join Blog Catalog

Blog Catalog is a blog directory that has matured to a lean and must-be-seen-blogging machine. There are 3 solid reasons why I encourage you to join this active blog directory.

1. Great link traffic back to your site.

There are loads of opportunities to exchange links with other bloggers, get comments to your sites.

2. Send broadcasts, initiate and participate in discussions.

Once you establish friendships , join groups, neighborhoods, plus more. You can send broadcasts for everyone in your friend groups to read.

3. Blog Catalog constantly works on improving the directory.

Just like a blog, it is never static. There are always attempts to improve and they listen to all their members.

Now, of course, there are more than 3 reasons and if you are a member of Blog Catalog please share your reasons. And if you are not a member and you have a blog I encourage you to join.
Rosie

Directories vs Search Engines for Your Blog

Remember that old commercial “Is it live or is it Memorex?” Well that’s what comes to mind when looking at the difference between submitting your site to a search engine vs directory.

Here is my current assessment and I welcome anyone to add to this or make corrections.

 

Search Engines

1. Search engines use computer programs called Robots,spiders and worms to automatically go from page to page through the web, reading content, and adding it to their databases. This speeds up the process of getting your site indexed.
2. You usually only have to tell a Search Engine the URL (address) of your site and it takes care of the rest.
3. The “spiders, robots or worms” search in different ways – and different parts of the Internet. The same search with different engines will yield different results.
4. Some index words in the title, URL, introductory paragraphs, or full-text of all documents on a web site or blog. Some use a combination of these words and phrases, all of which are entered into the search engine’s database.

About.com has a super, I mean super comprehensive listing of search engines. Click Here


Search engines also LOVE blogs. Imagnine a tank full of hungry fish. As soon as new food comes they go for it. Your blog site entries are fresh food for the search engines. Whereas, static web pages, that change very little and often, cause little stir with the search engines.

Directories

1. Directories are run by humans, live people, who review web sites and categorize them within their directories.

2. The staff consists of webmasters,directory staff and or volunteers. Sometimes staff are subject experts; sometimes not.

3. Review of you site require significant human effort to develop and maintain. Hence, it may take longer for your site to be indexed.

4. Some charge and some do not. For example, Yahoo charges a non-refundable fee of $299 if you site does not have adult content. If it is adult content it is $600. However, the payment of the fee does not assure you acceptance. But if accepted it gives you great placement.

Check out , Libarians Index, DMOZ, Medweb and Yahoo’s Directory

Yahoo and DMOZ are the two biggest directories on the web, but other important directories include local directories for your state, town, chamber of commerce, etc.

Hope this helps to make it clearer for many folks who want to know.

Claim Your Blog at Technorati

Technorati is one of those blogging directories that has been around a very long time. You may not be in the directory but talk about your blog may show up as a “blog reaction”. You may see Technorati as a source when you get a Google Alert on your blog name.

Note: if you do not have a Google Alert on your blog name stop reading this and go to Google. Type in Google Alert and set your blog name as an alert. This way you will know if mention has been made about your site in the world wide web.
I claimed this site a lonnnnng time ago but recently noted that it is showing as unclaimed so I am doing the quick claim by including the code in this post. I suspect that the unclaimed status is due to a change in my password from the standard Admin, Admin which leaves your site wide open for hacking   so be sure to change that password if you are on the WordPress plateform.

Blogging Directories-Pt.8-Blogged.com

Blogged is a directory that will allow you to submit your blog in less than 3 minutes. Thats right I submitted two blogs in under 5 minutes without signing up. Now, of course you can sign up, which I will do later and become a member. But if you just want to get your site listed you can submit your blog right away.

Now, I strongly suggest that you register so you can take advantage of other features of this easy to use directory. Also, study the extensive listing of categories. When you submit your blog url you can list it in two catergories.

Hope to see you there.

Rosie

Blogging Directories Pt.7-Blog Listing PLUS a Tip About SEO

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

Blogging Directories Pt.6-Blog Explosion

Just the name Blog Explosion brings images of increased traffic statistics and excitement to my mind. It is a diverse directory that includes:

  • Podcast directory
  • Blog tools
  • Battle of blogs
  • Blog rental
  • Plus lots more

Each site is manually reviewed and they promise a decision in 48-72 hours. There seems to be a lot of opportunities to surf other sites . The guidelines must be read carefully. They are strict but fair with their requirements. I applaud them for their attention to detail and concern about quality.

Rosie

Blogging Directories-Pt.5-Weblogalot.com

Yes you can submit your site RSS feed to the directory Weblogalot.com.

If you do not know your RSS feed you can always get an account with feedburner.com and they will create a feed for you in seconds. If you don’t know what I am talking about click on the category RSS for some earlier postings.

There is a request that you either link to them or place a graphic button on your blog. For those of you new at doing this it is called reciprocal link exchange. Please observe that I placed the link for this site directly in the phrase link to them.

For those who are new to this I created the link by highlighting the words and then clicking on the box on the tool bar that looks like a chain. I clicked on the chain image and a box came up. In the box I pasted the link I copied on the directory site.

A little bit more about the directory Weblogalot. Once you submit your site RSS you can then place the code they provide into your blog software so that every time you post something new to your blog it is automatically pinged by your blogging software.

Now, that is a mouth fill. I can tell you that for WordPress.org and WordPress.com you can go into the OPTIONS panel then the WRITING tab. Scroll down to the section that says Update Services. In that wide box you can key in the places you want to be pinged every time you bost. And a ping is just a message that is sent to the sites to say, “Hey, some new stuff is up on this blog. Check it out!”

Also, this directory is really good about showing recent blog entries , breaking news and an archive. So I think this will be worth our time to submit our sites. Don’t forget to link back to them.

Rosie

More On Webloogle

In an earlier post in the Blog Directory series I told you about Webloogle. Well, I joined them and today I received an email indicating that I needed to include a link to the site for ranking.

Just wanted to let you know that you should expect this if you join. Many directories require this step. This is another site that has humans approving the entry of the blogs. So be patient with the acceptance or rejection of your submission. Stay tuned as more develops.

Rosie

Has anyone else used this directory?