I have been attempting to do link building to this blog using a free directory list and I tell you it is the most tedious and boring task I have engaged in since I used to sit in a booth taking in dry cleaning for people!

I have spent approximately 8 hours over 3 days on this task and I am way less than happy with the results. See the first days results.

I admit that I have not paid to appear in these directories.

Or to have them review my site.

On the other hand I have asked them to include a site that already has some page rank and has a fair amount of valuable content.

As this is my first attempt at directory link building, I did not bother asking for a link to my other niche sites or blogs.  I just wanted to find out if directory links were worth bothering with.

And frankly my dear – I don’t give a damn!

- apart from blog communities such as Blog Catalog and Blogopedia -

For starters having a long list of outbound links doesn’t do you a lot of favours so far as seo is concerned. It dilutes the value of your incoming links. Second, directories don’t need your link love, they get plenty of it and take it for granted. Running a good directory is hard work and they should be paid but unfortunately, when new bloggers and web site builders are starting out, we have no money to pay anyone with.

Its another of those Catch 22 circular situations, the new site can’t get traffic without links, the links won’t come until you have something of value to link to.  What we need is some ‘new site’ directories! Maybe a three stage directory where anyone can submit a new site, can later apply to be upgraded to an intermediate directory and then, from this directory, can be invited for admission into an authority site directory.

But then I have faith in co-ops and co-operation and Lennon’s “Imagine” was one of my favourite songs.

The execution of getting directory links could be outsourced. If you can – and when you can – in my opinion – DO SO.

Do you have a teenager looking for pocket money? Can you put a project on elance? Maybe pay a company that specialises in this. This is such a boring job and your skills would be far better employed writing articles and content for your blog. So if you are going to bother, my advice is to outsource it.

The creation of different descriptions and a plan regarding keywords and anchor text you must, of course, create yourself.

However, directory links show in your Alexa profile and if you are building an site that aims to be an expert site for its topic or a blog that you may later want to sell advertising on, then building up links of this type is a good strategy, which will give you credentials if someone fast scans your Alexa profile.  Adsense cannot compare for clicks in most cases with regular sponsored advertising from individuals.

If you have a marketing site or blog, or an an ecommerce site or commercial site, or any site with adsense, then maybe try – if you can – to find business or shopping directories. Don’t bother the ‘upper class’ of directories, there is no point wasting your time planting seeds in arid ground.

Also after reading this post – Google Answers - Google also seems to be less impressed with directory links than they were.  So let me ask you – how often do you look for a site in a directory? If links and signposts are not bringing you traffic then it’s not really worth bothering with.  Just a thought.

Maybe look at increasing your RSS subscribers instead – this is a far more current strategic thing to do.

Fill in the email form to subscribe to updates to this blog. We’ll send you a free report and the password for protected posts.

Popularity: 25% [?]

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 25th, 2008 at 12:55 am and is filed under Free Blog Traffic. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.