Submit Blog to Blog Directories

This article discusses the benefits of submitting your Blogger Blogspot blog to blog directories and provides a comprehensive list of some of the best blog directories on the internet. This is an introductory article aimed at the new Blogspot blogger but is suitable for any blogger who wishes to build site traffic quickly.

Benefits of Submitting to Blog Directories

By adding your Blogger Blogspot blog to blog directories you are likely to increase your site traffic expotentially. If your site has been languishing in the doldrums and not getting the kind of traffic you were expecting it could be that you haven't generated enough inbound links to your site. Signing up to some top performing blog directories will create quality backlinks and expose your site to many potential visitors.

I have signed up for each blog directory in the recommended list below and in all cases have found that they have generated at least some site traffic. A few have boosted traffic considerably and have helped me establish new blogs quickly by generating an audience. One or two blog directories have more than exceeded my expectations.TopBlogList and Blog Catalog fall into this category attracting 10 or so unique visitors within a day of sign up.

How do Blog Directories Work?

Most blog directories require that you place their button somewhere on your blog. In some cases the button's function is to track visitors from your site to the directory. Some buttons may reflect the ranking of your blog in relationship to other blogs in your chosen category within the directory. If you see a number appear on the button it denotes your blog's position.

Get Organized Before You Begin Submitting to Blog Directories

To add your blog to a blog directory you first need to register. The sign up process will run more smoothly if you get a little organized before you begin. I suggest that you take the following steps first:

Craft a description for your blog of around 400 words

Check your feed details as you may be asked to provide the URL of your feed. This is especially important if you have burned your feed at a feedburning service like Feedburner

Make sure you know the exact URL address of your site. If in doubt navigate to your home page and check the the URL in the address bar

Decide which email address to use. Blog directories tend to create a lot of mail so unless you want to have your mailbox clogged up consider carefully which email address would be best. You may decide to start a new email address specifically to handle this kind of mail.

Decide on a username and password and stick to it throughout as it will make life a lot easier than trying to remember twenty different usernames and passwords

Determine your top six keywords and keyword phrases as most blog directories ask you to provide these tags

With such a big choice of blog directories to submit to I have found it pays to be systematic. Keeping a list of where you've signed up in Notepad or similar will help guard against double ups.

How to Add a Blog Directory Button to Your Blogger Blog
Most blog directories send out an email on sign up. Once you click on the link you membership will be confirmed. In most cases you will then be directed to a menu where you can begin adding your blog or blogs to the directory. Once you have entered the details of your blog the directory will generate the button code which can be copied and pasted into a HTML/Javascript widget. It is a good idea to place all buttons together in one widget for convenience and to reduce loading time. If you are uncertain how to add this widget to your Blogger blog please refer to my earlier post about Adding third party HTML/Javascript code to a sidebar widget. 


List of Recommended Blog Directories to Get Started
All of the blog directories listed below I have personally signed up for as mentioned above. The blog directories are in no particular order except that I have put Blog Catalog and Top Blog List first because I have found them good.


Blog Catalog
BlogCatalog is a social community for bloggers and one of the largest blog directories on the internet. It is a good option to begin promoting your own blog and to connect with other bloggers. BlogCatalog offers lots of linking options. You can add a button, a link to your blogroll or verify your site using a meta tag and dispense with a visible site link altogether. In addition you can add aBlog Catalog Readers widget to your blog like the one you see here.

Top Blogging 
Easy sign up. Only one keyword phrase permitted so make it a goodie. Ranking is based on unique visitors

TopBlogArea 
This blog directory tracks unique visitors. No option for visitors to vote. Every month statistics are reset to zero to give everyone a chance of being highly rated

TopBlogLists
Ranking of pages is done according to the number of unique visits each blog brings in to Top Blog Lists

Blog Top Sites
A nice control panel for site management. Ranking of pages is done according to the number of unique visits each blog receives in a month. 

Top of Blogs 
Ranks blogs according to the number of visits a blog receives in a certain amount of time (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.). 

BlogTopList  
Requires two buttons to be placed on your blog. One is the tracking button which tracks number of visitors and displays the rank of your site. The other button is the voting button. If a visitor votes for you it is equal to 100 unique visits .

BlogPulse
Tracks thousands of blogs. Submit yours. Try doing a check first though as you may be surprised to find your blog has already been located automatically.

BlogFlux
Over 140,000 blogs in the Blog Flux directory. Nice Control Panel interface.
Sign up is immediate although all blogs added are manually checked so there is a time delay before your blog will be included. 

Blogorama 
Top 100 most popular section. Score increases depending on variables like users ratings, incoming traffic and outgoing traffic.

My Blog Directory 

Blog of the day feature chosen on the basis of the number of unique visitors directed by the blog to the directory per day. The blog of the day gets the whole of the site traffic fof that day. Blogs are listed randomly so that every blog gets equal exposure. 


Other Blog Directories You May Be Interested In
I have not necessarily submitted a blog to these blog directories but I am providing a link if you want to follow it up. Not sure about overall chances of an increase in traffic with these ones though. 

Bloggernity
Free Blog Directory
Blog Rankings


Lists of Blog Directories
For a longer list of blog directories try: 
Great Blog Directories for a list of free directories

In this article I have discussed some benefits of submitting your Blogger Blogspot blog to blog directories. I have suggested ways to get organized to make the process less daunting and I have recommended some blog directories which I have personally signed up for to get you started. Adding your Blogger blog to these blog directories should result in an increase in site traffic

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Add a Digg Button to Blog

Today's article discusses where to place a digg.com button on your Blogspot Blogger blog and shows you how to add an integrated digg button to your blog. The button allows your blog's visitors to digg posts from your blog and submit those articles to Digg.

What is Digg.com?
Digg is a social content site where readers submit stories, videos and images. Depending on interest and popularity articles are commented on by members. You can encourage your readers to digg your stories by adding a Digg button to your Blogger blog. The button will display a real time count of the number of times your post has been dugg.

Why Add a Digg Button to My Blogger Blogspot Blog?

Why would I want to add more buttons to my blog you may be wondering. Well there are a number of reasons why getting on board with Digg will be helpful to you in growing your blog.

• Digg is a ready source of traffic that can drive visitors to your blog and it is too important to overlook. When visitors digg your stories it will encourage new readers to visit your blog.
• Posts that have been submitted to Digg appear in search engine results so your blog will receive exposure.
• A digg button will encourage visitors to submit your blog's content including images and video to Digg. This will encourage others to comment and write about your post and possibly link to it. 

What to Consider When Choosing to Add Digg to Your Blog
When adding a Digg button to your Blogger Blogspot blog there are some important considerations to think of before you get started. You will need to decide about:

• The look of the button to place on your blog as Digg gives you the option of several sizes to choose from. The look and feel of your blog will dictate what button you decide on.
• What pages your Digg button will display on. Do you want it on the home page as well as the post pages for instance? I strongly advise that you place any integrated button only on post pages otherwise you will find the loading time of your homepage will be noticeably reduced.
• What position to place the button in on your blog. Under the post title, beside the first paragraph, below the post are all common locations for a Digg button. Placing a button near the top of your posts can be a good ideas as visitors will see it as the page loads because the button will be above the fold ie the area that visitors see without having to scroll down. If you have a bunch of social media buttons at the bottom of your posts already you might want to include your Digg button in this sequence.

Can I Digg My Own Blog Content?
Yes. You most certainly can digg your own Blogger posts as this will get you a listing in Digg.


How to Add a Digg Button to Blogger Blogspot Blog
I am going to show you how to manually change your Blogger Blogspot template to include your Digg button. While this is not a difficult tweak you will be changing your template. Make sure you take care not to overwrite any code. My suggestion as always is back up first by downloading your template before beginning the addition of this code.

To add a large Digg button to appear next to the first paragraph in your Blogger Blogspot posts:


1. Login to your Blogger blog if not already logged in

2. Navigate to Layout > Edit HTML

3. Back up your template by downloading full template as a precaution

4. Check the Expand Widgets Template box

5. Find this line of code using CTRL + F

<p><data:post.body/></p>

6. Paste the Following code above <p><data:post.body/></p>

<!--Digg.com Button-->
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;item&quot;'>
<div style='float:right; margin-left:10px;'>
<script type='text/javascript'>
digg_url=&quot;<data:post.url/>&quot;;
</script>
<script src='http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js' type='text/javascript'/>
</div></b:if>
<!--end Digg.com Button-->

7. Click on the Save Template button

8. Click on View Blog link and navigate to an individual post page. You will see your new digg button is only visible on the post page.


Customizing Your Digg Button Tips and Troubleshooting

To have the Digg button display on all pages not just the individual post pages remove this line:

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;item&quot;'>

To have the Digg button aligned to the left instead of the right change this line from:

<div style='float:right; margin-left:10px;'>

to:

<div style='float:left; margin-left:10px;'>

To replace the large button with the compact button replace the code in Step 6 with:

<!--Digg.com Button-->
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;item&quot;'>
<div style='float:right; margin-left:10px;'>
<script type='text/javascript'>
digg_url=&quot;<data:post.url/>&quot;;
digg_skin=&quot;compact&quot;;
</script>
<script src='http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js' type='text/javascript'/>
</div></b:if>
<!--end Digg.com Button-->

To change the background color of the button from white to your own desired color add this line:

digg_bgcolor=&quot;#ff9900amp;quot;;

below this line:

digg_url=&quot;<data:post.url/>&quot;;

Note: Change the value #ff9900 to whatever hex color you would like.

To move the Digg button to below the post content instead of at the top paste the following code:

<!--Digg.com Button-->
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;item&quot;'>
<div style='float:right; margin-left:10px;'>
<script type='text/javascript'>
digg_url=&quot;<data:post.url/>&quot;;
digg_skin=&quot;compact&quot;;
</script>
<script src='http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js' type='text/javascript'/>
</div></b:if>
<!--end Digg.com Button-->

to the end of the section of code beginning with this line

<div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-2'>

If you have a third post footer line then place this code after that block of code.





In this tutorial you have learned about what Digg is and the benefits of adding an integrated Digg button to your Blogger Blogspot Blog. You have also learned about different placement options for your Digg button and been given step by step instructions on how to customize the Digg button to suit the needs of your blog.

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Add Twitter Retweet Button to Blog

Did you know that Twitter can help drive traffic to your Blogspot blog? In today's Blogger tutorial I show you how to add a free Twitter Retweet button to your Blogger posts. Adding a Tweetmeme Twitter Retweet button to Blogger will help promote your blog on Twitter in 2 ways: one by attracting new Twitter followers and two by increasing the direct traffic to your blog from Twitter.

What is Twitter and How Does it Work?
Twitter is currently the fastest growing free social networking site. Essentially, Twitter users micro blog about what they are doing or what others are doing by posting tweets of around 140 characters to Twitter. When Twitter members read these tweets and like what they read they can become followers much in the same way that your readers can choose to follow your blog.

Twitter is great news for bloggers because it can be used as a vehicle to promote blogs. Blogger can easily be linked with Twitter services so that every time a post is made to Blogger a short message with a link is posted on Twitter. As every follower is notified that you have tweeted, a blog publisher can gain lots of exposure for their blog with very little effort. 

Once you add Tweetmeme retweets to the mix the spread compounds because not only do you have followers hearing about your tweet but the followers of followers. So say one of your followers retweets your post all that person's followers hear about it too and pretty soon a tweet plus your retweets can popularize a post to the point that it spreads so widely that it goes viral. 

Advantages of a Twitter Retweet Button
A Tweet/Retweet button looks similar to and behaves like anintegrated Digg button  but it counts retweets rather than diggs. A Retweet button counts reposts of a tweet so that readers can see at a glance how popular your article is on Twitter. Another benefit of the Retweet button is that it allows your blog readers to retweet your post so that their followers hear about your post too. 

How to Add a Twitter Retweet Button to a Blogger Blog (Blogspot Blog)

The following instructions will place a Tweetmeme Retweet button into all of your blog posts.

1. Login to Blogger if not already logged in
2. From the Dashboard navigate to Layout > Edit HTML
3. Check the Expand Widget Templates button
4. Back up your Blogger template by clicking on Download Full Template as a precaution
5. Using CTRL + F find the following code:

   <div class='post-header-line-1'/>

6. Directly after the above line paste the following code depending on which Retweet button and position you prefer:
   Large Retweet Button - Right Aligned
   

   <div style="float:right;padding:4px;">
   <script type="text/javascript">
   tweetmeme_url = '<data:post.url/>'; 
   tweetmeme_source = 'your_twitter_user_name';
   </script>
   <script type="text/javascript" src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js">
   </script> </div>

   
   
   
   • Large Retweet Button - Left Aligned
     

     <div style="float:left;padding:4px;">
     <script type="text/javascript">
     tweetmeme_url = '<data:post.url/>'; 
     tweetmeme_source = 'your_twitter_user_name';
     </script>
     <script type="text/javascript" src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js">
     </script> </div>

   • Compact Retweet Button - Right Aligned
     

     <div style="float:right;padding:4px;">
     <script type="text/javascript">
     tweetmeme_style = 'compact'; 
     tweetmeme_url = '<data:post.url/>'; 
     tweetmeme_source = 'your_twitter_user_name';
     </script>
     <script type="text/javascript" src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js">
     </script> </div>

   • Compact Retweet Button - Left Aligned
     

     <div style="float:left;padding:4px;">
     <script type="text/javascript">
     tweetmeme_style = 'compact'; 
     tweetmeme_url = '<data:post.url/>'; 
     tweetmeme_source = 'your_twitter_user_name';
     </script>
     <script type="text/javascript" src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js">
     </script> </div>

7. 
   
8. Change your_twitter_user_name for your actual Twitter username. For instance I would enter BlogWizz
9. Click on Save Template
10. Click on View blog to admire your Tweetmeme Retweet button in your Blogger posts

Tips and Troubleshooting

• To Add Retweet Button Below Blogger Post
  If you want the button to appear at the bottom of Blogger posts instead of just below the post title locate the first instance of the following code and then paste the code for your chosen button immediately after this line: (don't forget to change your Twitter username as in Step 7)

  <data:post.body/>

• To Have the Retweet Button Appear on Post Pages Only in Blogger
  If you want the button to only appear on the post pages and not the home page you will need to enclose the button code in an if statement. See below for an example of what the full code would look like with this extra code.

  <b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
  </b:if>

  
  Thus the full code for a right-aligned large Retweet button which only appears on the individual post pages and not the home page would be:

  <b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
  <div style="float:right;padding:4px;">
  <script type="text/javascript">
  tweetmeme_url = '<data:post.url/>'; 
  tweetmeme_source = 'your_twitter_user_name';
  </script>
  <script type="text/javascript" src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js">
  </script> </div>
  </b:if>

In this tutorial you have learned how to add a Tweetmeme Retweet Button to your Blogger posts. The Retweet button will encourage your blog readers to retweet your content on Twitter thereby increasing your blog traffic. I have provided the code for both a large and compact button with the option of left or right alignment. The button appears just below the post title and counts the number of retweets of your Blogger post. I have also included details of how to add the Tweetmeme Retweet button to the foot of your Blogger blog and how to add the button to post pages only.

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Track Visitors to Your Blog

Track Visitors to Your Blogger Blog

A tracking and statistics program is a necessary tool for anyone wishing to build a profitable blog. It will show you useful information about how people found your blog, keywords they used to find it and how long they stayed.

There are a number of analytics programs that are available for use with your Blogger (Blogspot) blog. Three popular free options are:

Google Analytics (up to five million page views per month)
Site Meter (starting at 25K pageviews)
Stat Counter (up to 500 pageview log/250K pageviews/monthly)

While each of these have certain limitations any of these will give you access to invaluable data about traffic to your Blogger blog.

Advantages of Tracking Visitors to Your Site

There are a number of advantages of tracking visitors to your site.

Firstly you will get a clear understanding of the demographics of your site traffic including information like geographical location and length of visits. This kind of information is useful for targeting content to meet the specific needs of your visitors age groups, lifestyles etc. It will enable you to extend your reach and tap into a larger target audience.

Another advantage is that as your site grows you will have the ability to identify trends. An analytics program will provide a snapshot view of the results of different strategies you might employ, the success of posts and of additions like social bookmarking and networking, stumbles and diggs. You will be able to determine the rate of increase in traffic and identify areas where you could improve for instance by targeting specific keywords.

Without this kind of information it is difficult to gauge the performance of your site. If you are interested in growing your site and I am sure you are then you will find access to analytics invaluable in determining where to put your energies. If you decide to sell your site further down the track you will need hard evidence about the level of traffic your site receives.

How to Add Analytics to Your Blogger Blog?
To add a tracking and statistics to your Blogger blog you will need to place a code block in your template. This is a relatively straightforward process. For a step by step tutorial of how to add Google Analytics to Your Blogger blog see my previous article Add Google Analytics to Your Blogger Blog.

This article has covered the advantages and benefits of adding a statistics and tracking program to your Blogger blog. An analytics program will help you track visitors to your blog and understand traffic trends. Grow your Blogger (Blogspot)site today by adding a free tracking and statistics program such as Google Analytics, Site Meteror Stat Counter.

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Add a Social Bookmarking Button to Blog

n this tutorial you will learn how to add an Add This free Social Bookmarking button to your Blogger blog (Blogspot) blog. By adding this feature to your blog you will enable visitors to your blog to create links to popular social bookmarking sites such as Google, Technorati, Facebook, MySpace, Digg, Stumble Upon, Reddit, Delicious, Furl, Yahoo etc. Adding personal social bookmarks enables visitors to share these links with others thereby helping you attract more traffic to your site. For more information on the benefits of social bookmarking please refer to my article - Benefits of Social Bookmarking for Blogger bloggers.

This tutorial shows you how to place a social bookmarking button on your site by accessing a free social bookmark and feed button builder service called Add This. Add This will supply you with a simple piece of code which when placed in a widget will insert a social bookmarking button either at the end of each post or in the sidebar. If you wish you can add the social bookmarking button to both as I have done on this site. For those new to blogging don't worry if this sounds complicated as this article gives you step by step instructions suitable for any Blogger user including beginners.

How does an Add This Social Bookmarking Button Work?
The code from Add This places a button on your site which when clicked on by a visitor to your site opens a menu of the most popular social bookmarking services. When a selection is made by a visitor egDelicious, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, MySpace, Stumble Upon they are given the option to submit your blog to their online bookmarks. Once a visitor submits your blog to a social bookmarking service Add This can provide you with useful analytics about bookmarks, feeds and emails depending on which buttons you enable on your site. This kind of statistical information from Add This will help you gain greater understanding of your site traffic and your most popular posts.




Steps for Adding a Social Bookmarking Button from Add This to Your Blogger Blog

1. Register for a free account with Add This



2. Once you supply a username, email address, password and your website address sign up is pretty much instanteous.

3. After sign up is confirmed click on Get Your Button. This will take you to the Create Your Button Page



4. On the Create Your Button page you will be asked to make some selections about your social bookmarking button.

What kind of Button? Select Sharing/bookmarking button

What Look? Choose any of the six button choices. For this example I am going to select the share button



Where? Select on a blog

Blogger Platform? Select Blogger

At this point the information your have entered should look like the picture below:



Once you have confirmed that you have entered the correct information click on the Get Your Code button and you will be taken to the Get Your Code page.

5. From the Get Your Code page you will be given the option toPreview your button. Do so if you wish or move on to Step 6.


Having generated the code for your Add This Social Bookmarking button you now need to decide where to position it on your blog. You may either place your new Social Bookmarking Button beneath each post (see below) or in a sidebar.


Instructions for Placing a Social Bookmarking Button Beneath Each Post of Your Blogger Blog

Click on Blog Post Button option.

Highlight the Javascript code supplied by Add This

Copy the code to the Clipboard of your computer using Ctrl + C command

In a new window open your Blogger Blog and sign in

Navigate to Layout > Edit HTML

As a precaution Backup your template in case you inadvertently overwrite some code.

Once you have backed up place a tick in the Expand Widget Templates checkbox

Use the Ctrl + F command to open the toolbar which will appear at the bottom of your page while using Blogger. You can close this at any time using the Ctrl + F command or by clicking on the blue cross in the lefthand corner.

Now highlight the following line of code and using the Ctrl + Ccommand copy and paste the code into the Search Box on the toolbar at the bottom of Blogger. This action will quickly locate the code for you in your Blogger template. You will be placing the code immediately before this tag.

<div class='post-footer'>

Return to Add This and highlight the Javascript button codesupplied. Copy the code to your clipboard using the Ctrl + Ccommand.

Reopen the Blogger window and place the cursor right before the tag that you located earlier.

Paste the Javascript code from Add This into the template using theCtrl + V command.

Your code placement should look like that pictured below


Click on Save Template

Now click on View Blog from the top menu and navigate to the end of your first post. If all instructions have been followed you will now have a social bookmarking button at the bottom of each post.


Instructions for Placing a Social Bookmarking Button in a Sidebar of Your Blogger Blog

Follow the Add This automated process by clicking on Add the Menu to My Blog button. This will place an Add This social bookmarking button in a widget in your sidebar as you see on this site.



This Blogger tutorial has covered the steps involved in adding a freeAdd This Social Bookmarking Button to your Blogger blog (Blogspot blog). Grow your Blogger (Blogspot) blog today by adding a free Add This social bookmarking button which will enable visitors to bookmark your site and share your posts with others. Add This will provide statistical tracking of social bookmarking activity on your site and help you determine your most popular posts.

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