SpikeTheLobsterBlogging Basics 5: Getting Listed
April 5th 2009 19:14
Once your blog is up and running, you're posting regularly and feel more comfortable in your new 'home', the next consideration is this: how to tell people where you are.
There are two types of listing that are important in the blogging world. First and foremost, as with any web site, it's vital to ensure your work is picked up by search engines. If you're blogging with the intention of earning money, this is doubly important as the vast majority of your visitors will come to you via a search, at least until you have tens of thousands of regular readers.
Now, if you're starting a new blog, it might take a while to get picked up by the engines. This is true even for those on their own domain. It'll take even longer to start earning a Page Rank on Google. However, there is a nice, easy way to submit your site to over 350 search engines - a free site I was lucky enough to discover some time ago over at www.official.my.
The other kind of listing for bloggers is in a blog directory. Sites like Orble, called 'blog networks' maintain their own lists of blogs, of course, but a blog directory is much bigger. The best known and most popular is still Technorati. It's pretty much essential to be listed there if you wish to be recognised in the blogging world. Technorati isn't the only blog directory, though. There's BlogCatalog, BlogHub, BloggingFusion, Alltop and dozens upon dozens of others.
Getting your blog listed in a directory is usually as simple as registering with the site (generally free) and 'claiming' it. A claim is necessary to prove that you are the blog's owner. This is done by posting a code or small banner on the site, which is verified by the directory and can often be removed afterwards.
Now that you're listed, you also need to remember to submit your RSS feed's URL to the directory and instruct their system to ping your blog regularly (if possible). "Pinging" is the process of sending out a signal to see what's there - just like sonar in a submarine, from which it takes its name. The site checks your blog's landing page or RSS feed (depending on how their ping works) and, if new content is detected, your entry will move your blog onto their 'new posts' list.
Some blogging software allows automation of pings, but not all do. You may need to ping manually to ensure that everything's kept up to date. If that's the case, there's a rather neat little service over at www.pingomatic.com that will send the required signal to tons of blog lists at the same time.
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Comment by Edward Allen
Sanity Road
Thank you for posting.
Comment by Laura Thom
Total Health Freak
Goodness what a long comment lol!!
Comment by Volkus
Comment by Samantha Elley
Food Journo
The Sandwich Shak
Vintage Foodie
Little House among the Canefields
One thing I also do to get more traffic is visit forums in relation to the topic of my blogs and make sure I have my blog addresses in the signature which appears automatically every time I make a post.
Thanks for the tips.
Sam
Comment by Spike 2
Wordophilia
Qwerk
Peanut Butter
Laura: Hadn't heard of Submit Express. I shall have to check it out. Thanks!
Volkus: You're welcome. Thanks for dropping in (got your MyLot message, will be there in a minute).
Sam: Anything that promotes is good! I think I'm avoiding writing about getting traffic at the moment, because it's such a huge subject!
Comment by Heather Gorby
Health Stripe
Comment by Postmodern Critic
Postmodern Critic
Relativity Watch
Padsoc
Comment by Samantha Elley
Food Journo
The Sandwich Shak
Vintage Foodie
Little House among the Canefields
Just one question, I registered with Technorati and tried 'claiming' my blogs but it isn't registering them. Am I doing something wrong or not doing something?
Sam
Comment by Spike 2
Wordophilia
Qwerk
Peanut Butter
PmC: That's a really good little site. Totally fluked in finding it on linkreferral a few months ago!
Sam: Is it doing the 'Technorati monster' thing? If so, it's probably working but might need retrying in a new browser. It's a bit twitchy, the claiming process.
Comment by SpikeTheLobster
Wordophilia
Qwerk
Peanut Butter