14 thoughts on “Essential Blog Directories

  1. > “But to claim that there’s zero feedback is ridiculous, especially since you didn’t complete process (haha!). And given the fact that we get 100s of submission each day, without a problem, your workflow issue seems to be nullified.”

    It’s my point of view from the user workflow side. Like a bug report. Let’s finish this discussion.

  2. now, now, boys

    We’ve gotten a bit off-track, eh?

    Going back to the initial topic of directories…

    I like Loren’s list, it’s amazing how a few links from top directories can give you trust / authority / early search rankings, etc. The one problem I find with directories is that they’ve failed to evolve. Read more about this here: 10 Ways To Improve the Traditional Directory Model.

  3. 1. Given that you didn’t pay for your submission, it doesn’t make sense to assume that there is zero feedback. It’s an unjustified assumption.

    2. An email is automatically sent to every person who submits his or her blog. Sorry you didn’t receive yours.

    But to claim that there’s zero feedback is ridiculous, especially since you didn’t complete process (haha!). And given the fact that we get 100s of submission each day, without a problem, your workflow issue seems to be nullified.

    But please, do feel free to start your own directory and make it better.

  4. > Didn’t you get an email saying that we were in the process of reviewing your blog?
    No, I checked my spam folders and the mail account.

    Edit: Pls. have some user interface designers have a look at the submit and registration workflow. The zero feedback when submitting a blog is ridiculous. Sorry for my harsh words

  5. Markus,
    Didn’t you get an email saying that we were in the process of reviewing your blog? Blogs don’t show up until they’ve been reviewed.

  6. > “Yes, in fact, Markus’ blog was being reviewed by one of our editors because I actually saw it come through (eyeballs again).”

    Thanks for that but how do I find it now. It is not in my dashboard and searching for my name results in zero. ‘Newest additions’ is also the same.

    I like directories but I also like some kind of status feedback: In queue, xxx blogs before you, accepted, published, reviewed.

  7. Yes, and on a thankful day, I’m thankful for your insight. I’ll try to fix the pagination issue. That’s pretty serious actually.

    “Lesser” blogs are featured more prominently when you browse the directory by “Momentum” – that’s because it ranks blogs by measuring growth. It’s much harder for a site like TechCrunch to show substantial growth than a new blog that’s growing by 200% each quarter.

    “can blogs be listed without being reviewed?”

    Yes, in fact, Markus’ blog was being reviewed by one of our editors because I actually saw it come through (eyeballs again). We get 100s of submissions each day. 90% of them are unpaid. We browse through all of the submissions, but generally only review one that really stand out and grab our attention.

    The fact is that running a directory is hard work. It’s hard work because 94% of all submissions are from spammy blogs looking for a quick fix. Filtering through the mess takes time and energy. Thus, to ensure that your blog gets noticed, we charge a fee.

  8. Negative? Anyone who knows me will know that isn’t the case. Cynical? Yes, sometimes. Perhaps having lived under a government run by Teflon Tony for 10 years, it has made me, let’s just say, hypersensitive to spin 😉

    But nonetheless, thank you for making it personal.

    Of course, my negativity provoked you into taking positive action and ensuring that people are clearly informed that there’s a review fee required. That’s a wise move on your parts, so I’m glad I was of some assistance there.

    The question is: can blogs be listed without being reviewed? The other question is: why would they need to be ‘reviewed’ in year 2 and so on? Would the ‘review’ be rewritten in the subsequent years?

    That’s not me being negative by the way, but just wanting to know the answers to perfectly reasonable questions.

    Looking at your ‘internet’ category, for example, I see the likes of Techcrunch and Problogger, blogs which enjoy huge exposure already, are getting so much prominence in your directory. You have to click through quite a few pages until you start seeing the lesser known blogs.

    Your pagination in the footer only allows me to go to ‘previous’ or ‘next’. It gives me no indication of how many pages in this category there are. I can’t scoot along towards the end to find the lesser known blogs, presumably that’s where the ones who have paid a ‘review’ fee reside.

    The likes of Techcrunch and Problogger are not, and never will be, your bread and butter, so why do they have such high prominence? I know I know, your algorithm… yada, yada, yada. Personally, I don’t see that as being a ‘feature’.

    But what about giving more prominence to the blogs who have paid a review fee? Maybe display the latest ones to be ‘reviewed’ first? And, in the sidebar, display a top ten chart of the big guns like Techcrunch etc? In the meaty area, your canvas, give it over to the payers.

    Ryan, I hope you don’t decide to see this as me being negative (once again) but merely offering you some positive feedback.

  9. I tried to register my performancing.com blog at EatonWeb and the final step when registering was the question for a submission fee(?). I canceled that question and never was listed. I saw no possibility to skip that step.

    Finalize Your Submission

    Thank you for submitting your blog to The Eatonweb Blog Directory. Submissions to EatonWeb cost a low annual review fee of $34.99. To finalize your submission and have it reviewed within 7 days, please click on the following button:

    If I do not click on that PayPal button I don’t see my blog in my EatonWeb dashboard and assume that I am not listed.

  10. Garri,
    It doesn’t cost to be listed at EatonWeb. That’s false. More than half the blogs at EatonWeb are non-paid listings. Most of the blogs are hand picked by our editors.

    So please. The fee is for a review of your site. You are paying to bring your site in front of our reviewing eyeballs. Otherwise, most smaller blogs would go completely unnoticed.

    Plus, now, when people register, they are clearly told that submissions involve a review fee.

    The fact is that EatonWeb is an attempt at doing a blog directory that algorithmically filters the best blogs towards the top of the listings. Why not give us some kudos? Why alway be so freakin’ negative?

    I’m serious. When’s the last time you’ve had something positive to say?

  11. I can’t really say if directories now give benefits in term of a higher page rank since google penalized most, but I do know that they barely send any traffic at all.

    I’ve paid to include my blog in the EatonWeb and Best of Blog directories, and haven’t received a single visitor from them in several months.

    The only directory that sends me traffic is BloggingFusion.. and we’re talking about 10 uniques per week here, which is pathetic.

  12. I don’t feel that I should have to pay a subscription fee to be listed in any directory, including Eaton Web and Yahoo! $34.99 here, $299 there, $99 over there .. (sign-up fee) Is it really worth it? Maybe that’s the reason my sites aren’t doing that well.

    So .. I just started my own directory
    http://62-151.com/links/

  13. This is a real question, as opposed to a comment pretending to be a question. I thought with google’s PR jiggering that directories took a big hit. I’m assuming that they don’t send much traffic. Am I wrong? Are directories still a useful tool?

  14. Shamefully he has not listed one of the best blog directories around, in my opinion:

    Delightful Blogs

    One of the great things about Delightful Blogs is they are up front with the fact it costs to be listed ;-))))

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