Say No to Forum Spamming

When you are speaking with children, repeating yourself may sometimes be the key to getting yourself heard and understood. But you’re not speaking to children when you’re posting the same message over and over in forums, are you? Since you’re not, isn’t it safe to conclude that such tactics won’t work? Worse, they can even backfire on you! Here are five good reasons to avoid spamming in forums.

It Annoys Moderators

Spamming is considered a blackhat SEO technique, and most, if not all, forum moderators do not tolerate it. Other forum members are sure to report you and when a moderator finally takes notice, you’ll certainly have your membership suspended if not revoked immediately and permanently.

There are several reasons why spamming will annoy moderators. Firstly, it’s their job to keep other members happy and what you’re doing is the opposite. You are, therefore, giving them extra trouble to deal with. Secondly, spamming consumes web space and web space costs money. Spamming also makes use of bandwidth, and that costs money, too. By spamming, you are forcing moderators to spend money on something they don’t consider acceptable.

It Irritates Other Members

Again, there are plenty reasons why forum members aren’t happy with your spamming. First of all, these people consider your messages a waste of time. By posting the same message over and over, you force them to spend precious seconds on just scrolling the window until they reach a message that you haven’t posted.

You also make back reading difficult for them. Instead of being able to read all the information they need from one page, you force them to load a new one just to get to the next important message.

Once members realize that you are knowingly practicing spamming, they won’t take your actions lying down. Besides reporting you to moderators, they can also submit your name to concerned agencies that are against unlawful and undesirable Internet marketing tactics. They can also spread the word about your not-so-nice marketing techniques and before you know it, you’ll be banned from every forum in the Internet.

It Doesn’t Work

Adults are different from children. They’re already smart and mature enough to understand a simple lesson at the first try. Repeating the same message over and over, as it is, is unnecessary.

Now, if you’re practicing spamming in hopes of convincing people to try out your product or service, you’re going about the wrong way, too. To convince a person, repetition is not needed. Instead, you need to give people different reasons to change their minds. The more reasons you give them, the greater chances you’ll have of convincing them to see things your way. But if you stubbornly sticking to one reason then you’ll achieve nothing.

Forum Marketing Strategies to Replace Spamming

You should be convinced by now of the utter futility of spamming in forums. Don’t wait till your online business collapse before you decide to change your ways. Use a different – not to mention legitimate – technique now and you won’t regret it.

To help you get started, consider providing valuable contribution that showcases your expertise. Choose questions that you can answer as an “expert”. Get to know other people in the forum and build relationships with them. Post your link in your profile page and signature. Last but not the least, use a cool username to get more attention!

How to Use Forums to Promote Your Blog

Having a blog is a great thing: you can promote your products and services and get a lot of attention for your business; you can promote your work, whether as a painter, photographer, or writer, and maybe even get a job related to the things that you love; or you can simply express yourself and even update your relatives and friends on the goings-on in your life, which can be great if you live in a faraway place and cannot update your relatives and friends more than once.

However, a blog can also be a good way for you to earn money, over and above mere expression and promotion.

Thanks to a lot of different online money-earning methods, you can earn commissions when visitors go to your blog. For instance, you can put up advertisements on your site through an affiliate network or through an advertising program. If one of your visitors clicks on your ads, then you get commissions. The ads are tailored to fit the contents of your website, and they are made so that your visitors will most likely be interested in them and thereby click on them. Therefore, you need to have good website content, as this is what the ad companies need in order to know what kind of ads to place on your site.

Moreover, the more visitors you have, the greater the chance that someone will click on your ads and that you will get commissions.

This means that you need to invite more and more people to your blog, and not just to get money, but to get attention. After all, if your blog is interesting enough, you may get a lot of people linking to you. One way that you can promote your blog is through posting on forums.

If you are interested in posting in forums and getting your voice heard, and if you want to get your blog noticed in the Internet universe, then you may be interested in the following tips. Take note, however, that these are only a few tips to guide you on your way to blog superstardom, and you need to learn on your own along the way and pick up your own lessons, too.

- Post in a forum that you are actually interested in. Believe it or not, the degree of your understanding of and interest in a topic in a forum will shine through your post. If people see that you are interested in the forum topic, then you may get more attention than people just reading your forum post.

- Post in a forum whose topic is related to your blogging topic. This can be critical when you are dealing with die-hard fans of a certain artist or film, because posting off-topic posts in a forum concentrated with users who have a single interest and aim can be distracting, not to mention grounds for kicking you out of the forum.

- Be dignified enough to spell right. Text shortcuts can make texts almost unreadable, and you can annoy a whole lot more people. If you make the effort to write in your blog, make an effort to write well on the forums, or you may find it harder to invite people to read your blog. Why should they read your blog when they can’t even understand what you are posting on the forum?

- Extend help to other forum members when they need it. Remember, people do not care about what you have to say until they find out that you care about them first.

Blog Promotion through Email Groups

Email groups are important targets for your promotions, and gaining their support can go a long way in increasing the popularity of your blog.

Major Sample of Your Target Market

Email groups are created on the basis of shared interests or any other common factor. Email groups may be composed of people with the same hobby, living in the same area, or with the same occupation.

Whatever the reason an email group had for establishing itself, what’s important is for you to determine whether they can match the profile of your target market. When it does, getting the group hooked to your blog instantly lets you kill several birds with just one click!

Unified Response

Another great thing about tapping on email groups is the kind of relationships members have with each other and how group decisions are made. In email groups, there is always a clear distinction between moderators and ordinary members. When moderators make a decision, members almost always automatically perform a similar action.

If you can manage to convince the moderators of the email group to visit your blog and maybe even link to it, you can expect the members to promote your blog as well. Convince the one that matters and you win all!

Variety

As we’ve mentioned earlier on, email groups are established for varying reasons. It is unlikely, therefore, that you won’ find any email group matching the description of your target market. As such, you should take the time to browse through email group directories. Pay attention to the information they’ve provided for their group and you’ll know whether they’re likely to be interested in your blog or not.

How to Tap on Email Groups

Now that you’re aware of the importance of email groups, here are a few tips to effectively promote your blog through them.

Join the Group

Your messages will be welcomed more warmly if you join their group first. To do so, you’ll usually need a valid email address, pass their security test, and maybe explain your reason for joining.

While it’s always good to be candid, it wouldn’t hurt to mention any other reason you may have besides wanting a chance to promote your blog. If you’re stuck for a reason, try thinking of yourself as an ordinary member instead. Think of the benefits you’ll enjoy from joining the group and make sure to mention that.

Know the rules

Every email group has rules for members to follow. Make sure you learn these carefully so that you avoid unknowingly violating any of their rules. Abiding by them as you start posting your messages to the group is sure to endear yourself to other members as well.

Introduce yourself

Before posting any message, it’s important to introduce yourself to other members. Remember to thank them for letting you join their group and take the time to get to know them as well. Introducing yourself is a great way to direct the conversation to your blog and from there, you’ll able to start on your marketing plan.

Return the favor

Last but not the least, remember to return the favor. If the email groups you’ve joined are working hard to promote your blog, you should return the favor and promote them as well. Doing that is good karma, and that’s never bad for your business!

Forum Posting Techniques to Help You Promote Your Blog

Having a blog can be a great start to an online writing career. A blog will allow you to express yourself, providing you with an outlet for your stress, which can be especially useful if you are working or in school. A blog can also allow you to share your experiences with friends and family, and you can simply post your pictures and diary entries without having to tell the same stories over and over again. Aside from all these, you can also use your blog to sell things, organize your web pages, and even earn some money.

Thanks to the power of technology and prospecting, there are now many ways through which you can make money through your blog. For instance, you can get commissions through paid advertising on your site. There are two ways that you can do this: you can either solicit offline and get brick and mortar companies to pay you to post their ads on your site, or you can join an affiliate marketing network and get paid for each click that visitors make on your ads. You can also blog for a living, and get paid for each entry that you write.

Either technique, however, demands that you have a lot of people visiting your site every single day. This can be a daunting task: you will need to be able to market your site so that it stands out amongst the millions of other blogs online. You will also need to sustain this onslaught of people reading your site by constantly adding to your content, keeping your content useful and fresh, and of course, never lagging in your marketing efforts. One way that you can promote your blog is to post in forums with subjects that are related to your blog posts.

If you are interested in promoting your blog and getting more people to read your work, then you may be interested in posting in forums and knowing how to go about it. Here are a few tips that you may need when posting in forums.

- Always pick a forum that has something to do with your blog. You may think that this is common sense, but you need to know why it’s the best practice for any blogger. Many bloggers make the mistake of spamming blogs in an effort to spread themselves throughout the forum and have their news spread faster. This can be a costly mistake: you do not only alienate your potential market, you will make yourself appear desperate. This air of desperation makes you appear like a hard-selling puppet of capitalism, and in the world of the Internet, where free and open source rules, you can work against your own potential.

- Avoid text lingo and spell like a pro. You may think that your audience is young and on the go, and would not care about your spelling. However, if you cannot even spell well, how can anyone trust you to blog well? How can anyone trust you as a credible source of high quality information? Spell well, check your grammar, and look at your punctuation. You need to look like you are someone who is meticulous and knows what people want, so don’t risk damaging your reputation by taking the shortest cut.

- Help people. Put your blog address in your signature, but start out by helping people with their problems. If you allow people to feel that they are important, they will be interested in you.

Have a Blog? Don’t Do This to Your Email Sig!

If you send out emails a lot, and if you write to a lot of friends and family, then you may be aware of the power of your email signature. A lot of businesspersons use their email signature in order to show their contact information, which can save them the effort of having to provide all of it in their email, and which can also save them the effort of having to sign every single email. Some business owners also use their email signature to post information about their offerings, or to advertise big discounts or sales that their customers might want to hear about or be updated on.

Even writers need an email signature in order to post their favorite quotes, or even their favorite passages from their own works.

An email signature acts as an identifier, and if used well, it can be a great way for you to post information about yourself and get a lot of people to visit your blog. However, you can also overestimate the power of this email signature, and if you do not make your email signature carefully and with your audience in mind, then no one will visit your blog. If you are interested in promoting your blog through a great email signature, then here are a few tips that you may want to take into account when knowing what not to do.

- Be considerate of people who have to work with slow Internet connections: avoid placing multimedia files in your email signature.

Some email software will allow you to place photos and videos in your email signature. If you are working with people who have fast Internet connections, these files can load properly and quickly. But if you are working with people who are still using dial-up Internet, then you may put their computers in a whole lot of trouble. Save them this trouble by keeping your email signature to a text-only format.

- Don’t overload on the text, either. You may be tempted to put in paragraphs and paragraphs of text, with smilies and other emoticons that you think will make your signature look “cute.”

The thing is, such a signature stops being cute when someone is forced to read through it. Think of how tired your eyes would be if you were made to read through a sea of words; now, transfer that to an email signature, and think of what your email reader would think if you had to post information on your blog using a thousand words!

- Don’t just hyperlink: put your blog address down. Some blog owners will often put the words “click here” and hyperlink it to the blog. This may not show up when email readers select a “text only” option when reading their emails, and clicking on a hyperlink while the browser is not open can tax on a computer’s resources. Keep your blog address readable.

- Avoid putting colors in your text: the simpler, the better. You don’t have to overload on the text formatting in order to make your email signature nice to look at and appealing. Stay with the staid and simple black, and avoid having to change colors or have words that need to be colored in or formatted. Again, if you have email readers who have the “text only” option on, all your colors and formats will be gone.

- Stay with three lines of text, and avoid going for more than this. Think of the succinct compactness of a dog tag: dog’s name on one line, owner’s name on the next, and then contact information on the last line.

Using Tags to Get More Traffic to Your Blog through Blog Directories

Tags are generally ignored by site owners and bloggers in terms of potential. They're small, for one and very often easy to overlook. Furthermore, those who do not understand their use or significance or at least why and how they work may not often appreciate their value. This is unfortunate because tags can help increase the traffic coming in to your blog from blog directories. Learn what tags are and how they work so you can maximize their use.

Tag – you're it

A tag, also referred to as a meta tag, is a keyword that is used to label specific information found on a web page. A meta tag uses HTML tags that are hidden from plain sight but clearly 'visible' to web crawlers.

A tag functions mainly for identification of an article, for example, or a title, subheading, site description or image – hence the name 'tag'. They are often used as tools to ping multiple search engines, create a presence for use in social bookmarking and to drive traffic to your site, especially your blog. With tags, it will be easier for your site, article or web page to be found in search engines where they are supported.

Put simply, a tag is a small piece of identification on your blog that informs a search engine bot or spider what your site is about and how it should be indexed. If you can choose and design the right combination of tags for your blog, you will be able to manipulate the number and type of traffic that reaches your site from blog directories legally.

Using tags on your blog to drive more traffic

Blog directories are repositories of information and news regarding the types of blogs available for a particular topic or subject. As such, they can be very useful sources of highly targeted traffic for your own blog. To maximize the use of blog directories for this purpose, consider doing the following:

Choose your words carefully

Keep in mind that your blog is just one of millions out there vying for attention. Even if you're trying to build a reputation within a relatively smaller niche industry, you will still be competing with at least a dozen others in your market segment. Careful consideration in choosing the specific keywords (or tags) to use with your blog will help you stand out in blog directories.

There are three important tags that you should focus on when designing your blog for traffic increase from blog directories. These are the title tag, the description tag and the keyword/s tag.

The title tag. The title of each blog entry you have should contain the most essential keywords that appear in your write-up or are relevant to your content. This will help optimize your entry and make it easier for search engines to find and index.

Prospective visitors who perform a search using Google, Yahoo! or MSN Search, for example, will be able to reach an optimized blog, since it's more likely to appear in a search engine list. As a result, you drive more traffic to your blog.

The description tag. Although description tags are ignored by some search engines, adding this to your blog can help influence how your blog (or at least its web pages) is described.

The keyword tag. The keyword tag is the word or phrase that you will repeat within the content body or web page in question. Used strategically, these keywords can help increase your blog's results in search engines and bring in more traffic to your site by allowing visitors to easily find you.

Don't be afraid to combine keywords, though. That's how you will be able to create highly targeted key phrases to optimize your blog. Three- to four-word key phrases will do. Multiple word tags are advantageous to single word searches as well. If you use a keyword phrase tag that says 'rock paper scissors', for example, your blog still has the potential to show up in case someone uses only the word 'rock' or 'paper' in his search.

Don't overdo the use of tags

If you don't watch out, tags can be addictive. It could reach a point where you might find yourself using tags that have little relevance to your blog. This usually happens when you try too hard to make sure that your blog or web page appears in more listings.

Although it may seem like a good idea to help increase traffic to your blog particularly as a means to shine in blog directories, overuse of tags can be counter-productive. Try to be careful in choosing only the kind of tags that your blog truly needs. Leaner but highly targeted tags are much more effective than generic ones.

Follow through

A good tag can gain initial interest in your blog and increase traffic coming from blog directories. However, it can only do so much. Now that traffic is beating at your door, you should be able to throw a real party thereafter. Make sure that the content associated with your tag/s is well worth your visitor's click. It should offer specific information for a specific purpose and should include the content that you so readily promised in your links.

Otherwise, you won't earn the trust of a loyal readership or following. A baited title that lacks the backing of useful content will be viewed as a cheap trick and won't earn you a lot of respect – or traffic.

Comment Posting: A Power Blog Promoting Technique

You keep on hearing bloggers marvel about the wonderful benefits of leaving comments on other blogs but you’ve yet to try the tactic yourself. If you still aren’t sure about the wisdom of following their steps, here are a few reasons that could convince you to take that final step.

Show Your Expertise

Everyone prefers to listen to an expert than an amateur. With an expert’s advice, you spend your time wisely and get to learn something in return. Unfortunately, there isn’t always an opportunity to show your expertise.

As such, you have to create the opportunity for yourself once in a while and you can do that by leaving comments on other people’s blogs. Try spending a few minutes visiting other people’s blogs. Go around the blogging community, and once you’ve found some questions you’re very much in the position to answer, go ahead and share your wisdom.

Giving advice whenever it’s solicited is so much better than bragging, don’t you think?

Show Your Charm, Eloquence, and Wit

People can be terribly greedy. To please them, you not only have to be intelligent but you have to be articulate and witty, too. If you had a choice between visiting the blog of an extremely smart but humorless Internet marketer and one who’s moderately smart but witty, which blog would you choose? Many would choose the latter, don’t you think?

Now that you know what’s demanded of you, the next thing to do is determine how to prove that you indeed have all those great qualities. Again, you do that by leaving comments on other people’s blogs.

It’s very important not to overdo your bit when you’re out to display your wit. While providing excessive information can be seen as simply being detailed, being too funny could make other people you’re trying too hard to be so.

There’s a right time, place, and reason to be funny. Make sure you know when such moments occur!

Reciprocate

If other people left comments on your blogs, you owe it them to return the favor. Technically, you’re not obliged to do so but good business dictates reciprocity. And it’s really not that bad. Leaving comments on each other’s blog regularly will soon lead to link exchanges, another factor that can generate more traffic for your respective blogs.

If you continue to nurture your partnership after that, it can lead to even greater collaborations that would benefit both of you.

How to Make Your Comments Effective for Internet Marketing

All three reasons below are able to achieve the same goal: catch your target market’s attention and make them visit your blog. To increase your chances of success, you must make sure that your comments follow the tips below.

Write courteously.

Remember the usual rules of courtesy when you’re posting a comment on someone else’s blog.

Don’t be argumentative

Not everyone welcomes a debate so if you truly believe that there’s a need for you to propose an opposing view, make sure you do so politely and be very clear in saying that you only wish to expression your opinion and nothing else.

Don’t forget to link

Lastly, remember to provide a link to your blog whenever you leave a comment. This may be standard procedure but a lot of first-time bloggers still end up forgetting to do so. If you don’t want to risk losing any opportunity, never forget to post your link!

Do's and Don'ts for Reciprocating Traffic to Promote Your Blog

Some mockingly call it as the mutual admiration society and wherein people praise – and link to – each other in order to generate traffic. No matter how way you look at it, reciprocating traffic works not just for promoting websites but blogs as well. Here are several dos and don’ts to take note of if you’re in the mood for sharing some love with your fellow bloggers.

How to Reciprocate Traffic for Blog Promotion

Reciprocating is easier than you think. You just have to take note of what other bloggers are doing for you and return the favor. Of course, you can also consider initiating things by being the first to post a comment, include a link in your directory, respond with a blog entry, or review another blog.

As long as what you’re doing places focus on you and the other blogger, you’re doing the right thing!

Make your reciprocation valuable

If you are going to reciprocate a favor, be sure to make it valuable and meaningful for the other blogger. It would simply be a waste of web space if all you’re going to say is hi and goodbye. If that’s what you’re going to do, it’s best not to reciprocate at all.

To make reciprocation valuable, consider which areas you can make the greatest contributions – pages which, even better, the other blogger would appreciate to gain more traffic for. Look for questions that coincide with your fields of expertise.

Make it mutually beneficial

Reciprocity is not merely an exchange of links. It also includes mutual acknowledgment – and maybe even recommendation – of each other’s expertise. When you post a comment or display a link in your website, make sure that the information you provide not only reflects positively on the other blogger but on yourself as well.

Pay attention to house rules

Reciprocation means visiting another person’s blog and as they say, when in Rome, it’s important to do as the Romans do. Every blog has its own set of house rules and you must pay attention to them. One example of house rules is the inclusion of links in your comments. Some bloggers prefer not to have any links displayed without their express permission.

Acts of rudeness commonly result from simple misunderstanding and ignorance of rules. If you’re unsure about your statement, you can always email the other blogger and ask for confirmation as to whether your reply is adequate or not.

Don’t be condescending

It’s easy to be so without even being aware of it. When you are visiting a blog that’s less popular than yours, don’t act or speak in such a way that you’ve made it very clear to everyone the other blogger should be grateful for you little act of reciprocation. That’s a big no-no to do, and you’re sure to receive unpleasant feedback even if it’s true. Such things are better left unsaid.

Always return the favor

Last but not the least, remember to return every favor you receive! This is the golden rule of all golden rules and to violate once or several times is something that no Internet marketer forgets. Soon, tales of your infamy will spread and you shouldn’t be surprised if the popularity of your blog starts declining.

Regardless of how much or how little you’ll benefit from reciprocating the favor, do it anyway. It’s called good business!

What Forums to Participate in For Good Blog Promotion

Blog owners pride themselves on a lot of fronts. First, blogs are usually about self-expression, and having people read about your life can be uplifting, not to mention inspiring. Second, blogs can be difficult to maintain, and blog writers need to be bursting with ideas and creativity in order to keep their blogs alive. Third, blogs don’t promote themselves, and the best blog owners are those who are able to spread the word about their blog and get a lot of attention in the process.

Why do blog owners want a lot of attention? Blogs are not just about expression nowadays. Thanks to the power of Internet marketing, blogs can be used to post advertisements. Each time blog readers click on these advertisements, the blog owner can get commissions.

Moreover, there are online companies that pay blog owners to write blog entries on products, services, ideas, businesses, websites, and even speculations! There are many ways to earn money through a blog, and they all involve making the visitors come to a blog. This is the reason why blog owners are often all about promotions.

How do blog owners promote their blogs? They can post their blog addresses in their email messages, tell their friends and family to read their blogs and to spread the word about their blogs, or they can ask friends to link to them. Another way to quickly spread the word about a blog is to post on forums. Forums are a great way to not only meet people, but get the word out on any kind of news. Some blog owners choose to place their blog URL’s in their signatures, or they place them in their posts, enjoining people to read more at their blogs.

What are the best forums to go to and post about a blog?

There is no golden rule for which forums are the best for promoting a blog, since there are thousands of blogs out there that have thousands of different topics, writing styles, and target audiences. The choice of a forum on which to post is entirely up to the blog owner, but there are a few rules that you as a blog owner may want to follow as you look for a forum to promote your blog in. If you are interested in using forum posting to get the word out on your blog, take note of the following pieces of advice.

- Go and post in a forum that is directly related to your blog. You want to have your target audience right in front of you, and you should not make a shot in the dark and post your blog in every forum from A to Z. This is a sign of politeness on your part, not to mention consideration for the people who visit forums and do not wish to see an onslaught of blogs that they are not interested in.

Moreover, this shows meticulousness on your part: you know where your audience is, and you know how to target it. If you look like you are groping about blindly, then you can risk losing your target audience.

- Keep a balance between densely populated forums and smaller communities. You want to be able to reach out to a bigger audience in a large forum, but since a lot of people come and go, and a lot of posts get relegated to the bottom of the forum pile, you may want to offset this density by keeping to a small community as well.

- Have more than one forum to post in. You can never do well if you keep your eggs in only one basket.

Promoting your blog through forums

The most difficult part of blog writing is how you will contribute to the blog the world wide web. Many blogs are swarming the world wide web-a blog about love, relationships, gadgets, games, and much more. What can you do to attract more readers? There is a special way to increase your blog traffic? The answer is Yes. No complications, it's just the usual technique is to use forums to promote your blog.

In a variety of forums, people will be able to view your blog. This means different sets of online residents will be able to gain access to your blog easily and can be able to again link the blog on the Web. The forums are very useful, since it is very interactive. Members of some forums could easily share what the blog is useful or not. What blogs are entertaining or just boring blog. The forums will give way to the popularity of your blog.

The forums are very useful, since it is very interactive. Members of some forums could easily share what the blog is useful or not. What blogs are entertaining or just boring blog. The forums will give way to the popularity of your blog. This means different sets of online residents will be able to gain access to your blog easily and can be able to again link the blog on the Web. The forums are very useful, since it is very interactive.

Members of some forums could easily share what the blog is useful or not. What blogs are entertaining or just boring blog. The forums will give way to the popularity of your blog. This means different sets of online residents will be able to gain access to your blog easily and can be able to again link the blog on the Web. The forums are very useful, since it is very interactive.

Members of some forums could easily share what the blog is useful or not. What blogs are entertaining or just boring blog. The forums will give way to the popularity of your blog. This means different sets of online residents will be able to gain access to your blog easily and can be able to again link the blog on the Web. The forums are very useful, since it is very interactive.

Members of some forums could easily share what the blog is useful or not. What blogs are entertaining or just boring blog. The forums will give way to the popularity of your blog. This means different sets of online residents will be able to gain access to your blog easily and can be able to again link the blog on the Web. The forums are very useful, since it is very interactive.

This means different sets of online residents will be able to gain access to your blog easily and can be able to again link the blog on the Web. The forums are very useful, since it is very interactive. Members of some forums could easily share what the blog is useful or not. What blogs are entertaining or just boring blog.

Members of some forums could easily share what the blog is useful or not. What blogs are entertaining or just boring blog. The forums will give way to the popularity of your blog.

Reasons Why Leaving Spam Comments is NOT the Way to Promote Your Blog

There are basically three words that can describe spam accurately: desperate, manipulative, evil. While that may sound like the resume of some soap opera villain, it rings true for every one of us who have ever been burned by spam. Spam is an example of why sometimes, the means does not justify the end.

True, the aim is to build buzz for your blog but the technique used is just plain wrong. If you're planning on leaving spam comments on other websites any time soon, know that it's not the way to promote your blog. On the contrary, you might even do damage to your blog without knowing it.

Understanding spam comments

Spam comments started sprouting their evil seed when online guestbooks began appearing on websites. Unscrupulous site owners and marketers bombarded these guestbooks with links (many even used purely links) back to the spammers' websites. If any comment is included at all, it may contain highly generic ones such as 'cool post' or 'great website' or 'nice page'.

Spam appears in just about anything these days, including blogs, often in the form of a comment. How this is done is quite simple. Any blogger who wishes to promote his blog can simply write down keyword-heavy texts in the guise of a comment and then post it at random on another blog or website. Sites that allow hyperlinks to be displayed are usually the prime targets.

The problem here is that this type of commenting is not purposeful at all. It's done at random, similar to throwing darts at a huge dartboard while wearing a blindfold in the hopes of hitting something, anything.

Why spam commenting will not work for you

Leaving spam comments to promote your blog may seem tempting enough but it's best to avoid it. That is, if you want to be taken seriously and see your blog last long enough for your grandchildren to appreciate. Here are reasons why leaving spam comments to promote your blog are NOT the way to go:

You're being watched

These days, you spam someone once and you'll be branded for life. Or at least the blog or business you're trying to promote will be. The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 makes sure spam is controlled and no one can wave it around like a weapon.

Becoming associated with spam is bad news for your blog. People hate spam… period. They will be more than happy to report you to your host provider or even your affiliate companies and avoid your blog altogether. And yes, Akismet and a host of other plug-ins designed to fight spam will be watching.

You will be penalized

By leaving spam comments on another website with the sole purpose of promoting your blog, you give that website's owner the permission to become a witness against you. Your host provider will cut off ties with you and if you're using your blog to promote an affiliate's products, even your affiliate will drop you.

Should this happen, you will have to start all over again, from square one, with a tarnished reputation. If you leave more spam comments in the future, you'll only be repeating the cycle all over again, all to your detriment.

You'll be seen as unprofessional

Leaving spam comments to promote a blog is for the lazy, the uninformed and the desperate. Why else would you use a technique that is generally viewed as unsavory? If you're unprofessional, your visitors will find it difficult to trust you ever again.

You'll be violating certain unwritten codes

The reason why comments are allowed in websites is to provide people a platform with which to interact. Blogs, forums and discussion boards are large meeting places, open to people regardless of their age, sex, location or personal beliefs, with the implicit agreement that those who participate will be respected for their beliefs.

By leaving spam comments on these sites mainly to promote your blog, you break this code of trust.

Leaving spam comments can increase your blog's ranking... artificially

Although an artificial increase in ranking can mean good news for your blog (it will allow your site to appear high in search engine rankings), this is only an initial effect, sort of like anesthesia. Soon, it will wear off.

This is particularly true if your blog has nothing else to offer. Visitors who have been driven to your blog through search engine links (which you were able to achieve artificially) will sniff around your site and if they find nothing there, they'll leave soon enough, never to come back.

Worse, word might even get around that your website is filled with nothing but air. If you must promote your blog this way, make sure you have the content to make visitors stay.

4 Ways to Promote Your Blog Using E-mail Listings

When it comes to survival in blogosphere, it's all about connections. All those links and good word thrown in by happy and loyal readers and visitors do wonders for promoting your blog and spiking its traffic. And then, there are those e-mail listings – e-mail addresses and names of people who just might be interested in becoming regular recipients of information and news from you. If you want to give your blog a fighting chance, here are 4 tips on how to promote your blog using e-mail listings:

Target, target, target.

If you have to start promoting your blog now, then start right. Carefully determine your 'market' – the type of readership you want to focus on and the type of visitors you want to bring in. This can vary greatly, depending on the main theme of your blog.

Look at your main subject and the sub-topics you regularly write about. Who would want to read your blog on a regular basis? What kind of topics would they want to find in your blog? Once they find their way to your site, would they stick around and look at your other entries?

Would they participate in any polls, discussion boards and forums you might offer or at least leave a comment? Furthermore, would the people in your e-mail listings be willing to promote your blog to others or mention it on their own blogs? With a targeted e-mail listing, the answer to these questions is a resounding yes.

The point here is simple: the market for your blog is already out there. It's now up to you to let them know who and what you are and where they can find you. By focusing on promoting your blog to highly targeted e-mail listings, you can avoid marketing to that segment of blog visitors that: a) are totally uninterested in what your blog has to offer, b) are only partly interested and cannot be relied on to stay for long and c) have vague interests and may or may not be willing to participate or sign up for your promotions.

Offer relevance at all times

If you are unable to use relevance in your invitations, it will be like throwing thousands of invitations to a violin concerto in a gym full of wrestling fans. You probably could hit a few bull's eyes and some might be even willing to give your invite a try but the meager results will not compensate for the sheer effort and resources you will be using.

Avoid wasting your precious energy by ensuring that when you promote your blog using e-mail listings, it will be relevant enough for the recipients to respond positively to.

Be clear about your motives

The people who belong to your e-mail listings may be very familiar with the industry by now. When promoting your blog, make sure you state in clear terms what the blog is about, what subject(s) will be offered and how they can respond.

Don't hide behind vague terms or try to be mysterious. Remember that your e-mail list has plenty of other options out there, blogs that are willing to state their offerings in clear, understandable language.

Allow your e-mail listings the freedom to opt out

So maybe you've garnered some terrific responses from your initial foray into opt-in subscriptions with your e-mail listing to promote your blog. Does that mean risking a percentage of that number to unsubscribe by offering an opt-out option? Definitely.

Allowing new members obtained from your e-mail listings to opt-out is not only polite, it also shows professionalism on your part. Withholding the opportunity for subscribers to unsubscribe is considered rude and makes you seem desperate for readers.

If you choose this method of retaining your readers, you risk being ridiculed in the industry. If word gets around, you could risk losing even more potential leads for your e-mail listings. To gain respect and eventually, a loyal following for your blog, promote it with your visitors' interests in mind.

Have the Right Email Signature to Promote Your Blog

Having a blog can be a great thing if you want to earn a lot of money. First of all, there are many ways for you to earn money from your blog, if you know where to look and how to write to meet the needs and demands of your market. You can post advertisements, and then get commissions for each time that your blog visitors click on your advertisements.

You can get paid for each blog post that you write, and then get paid in bulk if a company likes you and decides to outsource you as their primary blog writer. You can also get paid by brick and mortar companies who want to use your blog as their own advertising posting site.

In all these cases, you can get money and make a profit only if you are able to prove that a lot of people visit your blog, and only if you can show that people are actually interested in what you have to say. This may mean that you need to have a lot of people commenting on your blog, a lot of people linking to it, and a lot of people coming in each day to read each and every entry that you have written. This also means that you need to promote your blog in as many channels and through as many places as possible that are appropriate to your blog content and your intended target market.

One way that you can promote your blog is to have the right email signature in each of your emails. True, you can ask people to link to you, and you can post in forums, but you can also get the word out fast if you are able to let each of your email readers see that you have stuff that they might be able to use. An email signature, moreover, is the easiest to see and catch: people always check their email, but to be able to see your posts in a forum or to see your link in a neighboring blog, they will need to open their browser and spend their time surfing the Internet. Your email signature should therefore be the ultimate invitation to open that browser and check your blog out.

So how should you fashion your email signature?

First of all, know your limits: you should keep to a very small number of lines, and you should avoid any formatting or inserting files that may make your email hard to read and difficult to load. Keep your email signature to three lines: your blog address, your name, and a description of your blog.

Why put your blog address out there? You need people to see what your blog name and address is, instead of having to make them click on a “click here” or “see more” link that you intend to hyperlink into their browsers. You need your name as author, of course, and you need a quick description of your blog in order to tell your reader what he or she should expect.

Make your blog description short (one sentence of less than fifteen words should be a good benchmark), but make sure that it meets someone’s need. For instance, avoid saying, “A blog about gardening,” and be more action-oriented, such as “If you need more information about how to make your garden attractive at all times of the year, then visit my blog!”

These are only a few tips that you may want to take into account as you go about using your email signature in order to promote your blog. For more information, note what kinds of email signatures work with you, and see how you can make your own better. If you are able to use your email signature well, then you will be able to get more visitors to your blog.

7 Ways to Leave Comments and Drive Traffic Back to Your Blog

People say that to make an impression, you'll have to open your mouth. While that is physically impossible in the virtual world of the Internet, saying your piece is not entirely difficult to do. Thanks to forums and discussion boards, you can leave a comment or start a discussion thread about virtually any topic from anywhere in the world. And yes, you can even leave comments to drive traffic to your blog and increase your readership.

Leaving effective comments

You're probably old enough to know that not every comment that gets thrown into an opportunity for interaction creates the desired effect, much less become appreciated by those who hear or read it. If you don't use this technique carefully, you will either waste the opportunity or simply allow it to create the wrong impression. Here are 7 ways you ought to do it:

Choose the sites you leave comments on

Ever wondered why Tiger Woods is great? Because he chooses his battles well. You'll never find Woods swinging his club at a lesser known tournament – not because he's a snob but because he focuses on the games that truly matter and on being on equal ground with other greats.

Keep this in mind before you leave comments on a website. Just because you have the burning need to drive traffic to your blog doesn’t mean you can just drop by a site – any site – and write there.

Choose the sites and blogs whose forums you participate with. Find out if the site deals with a topic or subject related to your very own blog. Practice only purposeful commenting – the kind where you leave only well-crafted comments on sites that will help build the buzz about your blog.

If the site is completely irrelevant but you have the urge to leave a comment, do so only during your spare time. Otherwise, focus your energies only on more productive activities.

Know what you're saying

Before you leave a comment with the purpose of driving traffic to your blog, at least write one that is useful. Your goal is to be noticed AND respected for your opinions so leaving useless and dead end comments such as 'Cool!' and 'Way to go!' just won't cut it.

If this is the best you can do, forget about leaving comments right now and focus on other strategies to drive traffic to your blog. Better avoid this technique than be embarrassed or be viewed as lame or mediocre.

But if you can write and have something meaningful to say, by all means, do so. With every comment you have, make sure you keep it short, concise, to the point and useful. Talk about relevant topics and avoid those that will do nothing for your purpose.

Avoid strong language

Of course, some sites will probably allow you to leave comments that are strongly worded or at least camouflaged as symbols such as !#$%&*, but there are ways to get your point across, regardless of how angry, upset or argumentative you are.

Furthermore, majority of sites and blogs impose certain regulations that restrict the use of certain words. Try to rephrase a sentence without losing its main thought. Use an online thesaurus, if necessary. Remember that once a comment is posted online, there's no way to get it back especially if it's not your site. You can leave that comment there to rot but you can never take it back.

Do not be rude

Have a sense of humor. The Internet is a vast expanse of space, currently limitless. In fact, it's a whole universe unto itself. If people leave comments on your post that seem to insult you or argue with you, don't fight back without thinking.

First of all, we are a democracy and people have every right to their own opinion. Second, firing back with the same kind of idiotic language will not be a good reflection on you. Third, you're way better than that. If you must defend your stand, do so with class.

Calm down

Please, if you must drive traffic to your blog by leaving comments on other websites, keep it professional and tone it down. DON'T LEAVE MESSAGES LIKE THIS ONE!!!!!!

A good rule of thumb is to follow accepted structure of the English language or whatever language it is you're using to post. If you must use exclamatory points, make sure they are truly needed. Otherwise, avoid them.

Leaving comments written in purely bold or capitalized letter smacks of desperation and unprofessionalism. It's hardselling and makes people stay away in droves.

Check replies to your blogs

Maximize commenting on other sites and drive traffic by frequently checking back on the forum you participated in to see if there are any replies to the post you left. This is a good way to build buzz and network.

Check your facts

If you will be quoting someone or citing a certain study, make sure your facts can be corroborated. Don't use make believe or newly invented figures and statements or even half-truths and try to pass them off as legit. You will be exposed. If you want to drive traffic to your blog by leaving comments, make sure you don't tarnish your reputation with the effort.

Social Networking to Improve Your Blog’s Traffic

There is no doubt that blogging is qucikly becoming popular and there’s no stopping its popularity. The fight for supremacy heats on. The battle for the highest ranked blog or the most frequently visited blog is now at its peak. It is also no surprise that blogs now are becoming popular because of its use as a vehicle for earning extra bucks.

What do you need to increase your blog’s traffic? It requires no extra complication as a matter of fact, all you need to do is to maximize your networking skills. That’s right! No need for additional special skills – just plain old networking skills. So how do you start?

First you need to have a constant appearance online. You can visit other blogs as well, in that manner bloggers will see your blog entries as well. It’s more like a give and take relationship. You can also participate in blog forums and recommend your blog to those people who are seeking information which your blog provides. Aside from forums, you can also chat with other bloggers online.

Advertise your blog online. You can visit other blogs as well, in that manner bloggers will see your blog entries as well. It’s more like a give and take relationship. You can also participate in blog forums and recommend your blog to those people who are seeking information which your blog provides. Aside from forums, you can also chat with other bloggers online. Advertise your blog online. It requires no extra complication as a matter of fact, all you need to do is to maximize your networking skills.

That’s right! No need for additional special skills – just plain old networking skills. So how do you start? It requires no extra complication as a matter of fact, all you need to do is to maximize your networking skills. That’s right! No need for additional special skill, just plain old networking skills. So how do you start? First you need to have a constant appearance online. You can visit other blogs as well, in that manner bloggers will see your blog entries as well.

It’s more like a give and take relationship. You can also participate in blog forums and recommend your blog to those people who are seeking information which your blog provides. First you need to have a constant appearance online. You can visit other blogs as well, in that manner bloggers will see your blog entries as well. It’s more like a give and take relationship. You can also participate in blog forums and recommend your blog to those people who are seeking information which your blog provides.

All you need to have a constant appearance online. You can visit other blogs as well, in that manner bloggers will see your blog entries as well. It’s more like a give and take relationship. You can also participate in blog forums and recommend your blog to those people who are seeking information which your blog contains.

You can visit other blogs as well, in that manner bloggers will see your blog entries as well. It’s more like a give and take relationship. You can also participate in blog forums and recommend your blog to those people who are seeking information which your blog provides.

In short, social networking is the key to improve your blog’s traffic.

How to add your blog in blog directories: a Primer

There are more than a million blogs now online, and there are thousands and thousands of readers who have to sift through all the intellectual and creative sedimentation to find things they like to read. After all there are so many tastes and thoughts as there are people on the planet, and having a blog can be bet for everyone to be heard. If you have a blog, surely you have had dreams of making it big in the blogosphere and get people to read your work no matter where they are in use. To do so, however, you will need to find ways to promote your blog.

Thanks to the power of technology and the Internet have many methods to choose from when it comes to promoting your blog. For one, you can post on the forums that have themes that are related to your blog, and that there are members who might be interested in the things that you have to say. Another way that you can publicize your blog is posting to the mailing lists: you can extend assistance to people who you know can benefit from your experience, or you can simply join the mailing list where people that share your interests.

Another way for you to make more people come to your side bloggin Universe is to add your blog in blog directories.

In the same way that Google indexes the individual websites and puts them under the right word so you can add your blog to the directory online blog. Blog directory is a great way for you to get noticed. By posting your blog into certain categories or keywords and by putting it in a place that allows you to search and where individual entries can be grouped and filtered according to the theme you can get more readers – and not just random readers that pass, but those who actually may share your interests.

How do you get your blog to blog directories online?

There are many different directories, and you will need to find one that not only offers free ad-there are a lot of them, so you don't need to worry – but ones that will allow you to get the most visibility. In addition, you are not limited to one blog directory: try placing yourself in about four or five years, as there are readers and browsers that often stay loyal to one blog directory. This method may allow you to extend yourself further and faster.

Before you enter your blog to the online catalogue, make sure you know exactly what your blog.

They are needed when you register your blog site. You want to put down some random keywords in an effort to get your blog noticed everywhere and anywhere. You know what it feels like to stumble upon a website which has absolutely nothing to do with the search term, so imagine that blog reader will feel when he or she finds your blog, but not interested in its contents!

Don't turn away potential readers!

At the same time, make your content readable and worth going back to. There are many blog writers out there who don't even spell correctly or write with feeling, and you need to set yourself apart from the rest. Make sure that your blog is ready for peace before putting it on the blog directory.

These are just a few tips that you can take note of before you start to put your blog to the blog directory. For more information, go through the about and FAQ sections of the blog directories to see which rules you need to follow and the scope of the catalog. Good planning and good keywords not to mention good content, you will succeed in blogging.

Blog directory for your blog WINS

Nowadays, people are very fond of writing blogs. Some say that blogs are just for the heck of it and some makes the blog income source. This right. Blogs can generate revenue as well. But it's not just for your blog to generate money is you must first create a large number of views. The movement is the main key. The higher your blog traffic, above, for more money, which you can get from your blog. So the main question is how to get the traffic? How to promote your blog to millions online drifters.

One of the most common ways to do this is through blog directories. Blog directories attracts a large number of blogs that are available to the public. They diversified and segregation in a way that would fit the theme of the blog you're looking for. Are you looking for technical stuff? Political issues? Tips for troubled relationships can be? No matter what topic you are looking for is always a good way to promote your blog through blog directories.

Are you looking for technical stuff? Political issues? Tips for troubled relationships can be? No matter what topic you are looking for is always a good way to promote your blog through blog directories. Blog directories attracts a large number of blogs that are available to the public. They diversified and segregation in a way that would fit the theme of the blog you're looking for.

Blog directories attracts a large number of blogs that are available to the public. They diversified and segregation in a way that would fit the theme of the blog you're looking for. Are you looking for technical stuff? Political issues? Tips for troubled relationships can be? No matter what topic you are looking for is always a good way to promote your blog through blog directories. Are you looking for technical stuff? Political issues? Tips for troubled relationships can be?

No matter what topic you are looking for is always a good way to promote your blog through blog directories. Blog directories attracts a large number of blogs that are available to the public. They diversified and segregation in a way that would fit the theme of the blog you're looking for. Blog directories attracts a large number of blogs that are available to the public.

No matter what topic you are looking for is always a good way to promote your blog through blog directories. Are you looking for technical stuff? Political issues? Tips for troubled relationships can be? No matter what topic you are looking for is always a good way to promote your blog through blog directories.

No matter what topic you are looking for is always a good way to promote your blog through blog directories. Are you looking for technical stuff? Political issues? Tips for troubled relationships can be? No matter what topic you are looking for is always a good way to promote your blog through blog directories.

In general blog directories can be used to increase your blog traffic and the perfect way to promote your blog online.

Choosing blogs to comment on

Assuming that you already know and appreciate the advantages of posting comments on other people's blogs, here are some tips to help you choose the best blogs to leave these wonderful comments your on.

Similarities in interests

There is seldom a point to comment on blogs that have nothing to do with the main theme of your blog. Direct connection is unnecessary, but preferable. If you, for example, maintenance of Vitamin supplements, you don't always have to restrict your comments to blogs that deal with very similar themes. You can also visit the beauty salon blog, for example, and post comments on the benefits that vitamin supplements offer in terms of physical appearance.

A quick way to determine the nature of any blog is by checking out his blog description. If not, just browse through it and see if you are targeting the same keywords.

The Popularity Of Similarly, it makes no sense to leave comments on the blogs a little-known. With such a small audience base you will not be able to justify the amount of time and effort it can take you to leave the best comments. If you are going to use to promote your blog comments, you better post them on blogs that are equally popular, or more than yours.

Blog page ranking can be used to determine the rating of popularity of other blogs and compare it with your.

Possibility of reciprocity

Of course it's better to concentrate on the blogs whose owners are likely to respond to your actions. Whether or not you first contact, as the other side, took advantage of the comment you wrote, it's just good business for them to reciprocate.

To determine the odds of having comments left on your blog and link exchanges, please try to read the other posts on other blogs. Follow the links of those who posted comments on their blogs and see if the favor was returned. You know what to do next.

The similarity in the target market

Blogs should not have the same interest to benefit from sharing comment. With careful planning, traffic can be created for two different blogs with just a couple of comments on each other's entries.

Dance blog and food blog may have nothing to do at first glance, but if you look closely, you will realize that both can be oriented in the same age group. Two different blogs can also be targets of the same geographic area.

If you can find the main links between both of your target markets, Exchange useful comment is very possible, but only with careful planning. First you will need to think about a topic that could combine your interests. Just focus on your target market, and you are sure to find.

If we consider the example blog food and dancing and assume that both adolescent orientation articles that might require in the blog owners to exchange comments about the best food for the dancers during the competition and best dance workout for those on a diet.

Of course it's not bad at all to leave a comment on someone else's blog, just because you want to. If you have the time and inclination then go ahead! There may be no way for you to benefit from such action now, but this small act of generosity and goodwill can be very good for you in the long run.

How to Find Email Groups to Promote Your Blog

Having a blog can be a great way for you to practice your writing and let others know more about you and get to know you better. Also in this day and age of internet business, a blog can be a great way for you to earn money.

The system called affiliate marketing you can get the Commission whenever people click on the ads that are placed on your site. In this way you will not only enjoy writing, you can also make money from it. Of course the only way that you can get money through this method is to get more visitors to your blog and have great content that everyone will want to take advantage of.

One of the ways for you to get more visitors is to find a group e-mail, which you can use to promote your blog. Group of e-mail or mailing list is a great marketing vehicle: you can reach a lot of people who have the same interests as yours, you can find a lot of people who may even have the same attitude as yours, and you can get the word out is faster for the product or service that you like. In the same way you can get the word out much faster on your blog, and you may be able to spread the word if you know how to talk to people in your group email.

But how to find a group of e-mail messages? Here are a few tips that you can use as you search for a mailing list that will let you talk to a lot of people to keep in touch with people with whom you share interests and there is a lot of fun in promoting your blog!

Firstly, what are your interests?

Many e-mail groups are built around common interests, whether it be movies, music, crafts, and even romance and love. List down all your interests. You can start with your hobbies, your favorite songs, artists, movies, books, authors and actors. These interests can be used as keywords when searching for email lists. Almost all of the e-mail list networks have a searchable database that can be used when searching for groups for you to be a member of a. So you can be sure to find people who have the same interests as yours.

Secondly, it is your blog?

Use keywords about your blog in order to find more group emails. For example, if you have a blog about pets, you can search for a group of e-mails that talk about pets, animal feed, pet grooming, vet visits and the vet and just animals in general. You can be as specific as you like: there is a mailing list for the proud owners of certain breeds of dogs, or for people who like a certain kind of reptile. You can be as general as you like. However, you may have a hard time with large groups because they can be filled with people who do not carefully read all posrs.

-In - the third uniformly yourself, but not too thin

The disadvantage to the fact that too few mailing lists to be a member in is that you will also have fewer contacts in your network and a smaller range, as if you were to put all your eggs in one basket. The downside to the fact that too many mailing lists, however, is that they are much more difficult to manage on your part, and you could end up getting a lot of emails, but do not get to respond quickly enough.

Top Blog Directories to Submit Your Blog to

If you have a blog, then you can count yourself among the thousands of other people on earth who have a blog, who can sell their products and services online, and who find ways to network through friends, former classmates, relatives, even acquaintances, in order to make more money. There are thousands upon thousands of blogs on the Internet right now, and you will need to shine through the muddle of language, or, at the very least, be known to a few well enough in whatever niche you choose to place yourself.

One way for you to establish your audience is to actually have a niche that you proclaim yourself to be in, and one way for you to do this is to place your blog address in a blog directory. You also have the pick of the litter: you are not limited to placing your blog in a single directory, which is advantageous if you consider how these blog directories have their own audiences whom you might lose if you aren’t meticulous enough.

If you are interested in submitting your blog to a blog directory, make sure that your blog is ready for the viewing. Do not simply place your blog address and then expect people to read half-baked essays, poor stories, or no entries at all. Have a lot of good content to welcome your new and current readers. Moreover, be aware of exactly what keywords your blog will have.

This means that you will have to go through your content, and then evaluate what keywords to use, so that you can properly categorize your blog and then provide the right keywords if the blog directory service asks for it.

Here are some blog directories that you may want to consider when you are finally ready to sign your blog up.

1. Blog Catalog (http://www.blogcatalog.com) allows you to not only place your blog into a category. It also shows which categories are the most popular, so that you can be better guided as to what market has the biggest readers. Through blog catalog, you can join discussions and form or join groups.

2. At Blog Hub (http://www.bloghub.com), you can add your blog and chat at a forum, chat with your fellow bloggers, and get news on affordable web hosting services, as well as other articles that might be of interest to you. Blog hub also offers information on how to use services to monetize your blog.

3. You can also add your blog to the directory at Blog Hint (http://www.bloghints.com), where you can view the latest blogs added, the most popular, and the highest rated. Blog Hints will even suggest a category for your blog, and you can access some Wordpress themes if you are using that service. There are many different blogs in this directory that you can search through. The blogs are also arranged in folders that are readily visible on the front page of the site.

4. At Blogging Fusion (http://www.bloggingfusion.com) you can also readily view the available categories, and you can even get your blog featured. There are also available blog ratings systems and popular blogs lists for you to browse.

5. Another directory is Blog Flux (http://dir.blogflux.com) where you can look through an alphabetical directory, see featured blogs, and see the latest updates to blogs listed in the directory.