Hi Lisa,

I registered my blog with Blog Catalog and got a very small readership from that.  I have not tried other directories.

My big hits come from commenting on other blog sites and StumbleUpon.

Hope that is helpful.

Susan

I agree with @lisaschulteis as I use blog directories to create more links to the specific blogs, however, I find that those who belong to blog directories and take the time to find other bloggers within those forums and interact with them can create more relationships and connections and opportunities.

There are blogger sites that are free and you can accomplish quite a bit with just the free account such as Technorati and BlogCatalogue and Bloglines which are the ones I chose to join.

@lisaschulteis I am using just a couple that provide real SEO value to me (JoeAnt is one of them), but other than this I am focusing on other areas that have a better return.

@eugenoprea what other areas are you focusing on?

@kristi-hines I agree with your assessment about building links, which can be a powerful tool. Alltop Directory by Guy Kawasaki is a good directory and helps because of it’s high PR value. @lisashulties you mention Update Services in WordPress. Here is a link that list’s some of those. http://codex.wordpress.org/Update_Services if you Google, you can find other longer lists, just not so sure how effect they are.

@blairevanball Alltop is awesome.  I never really considered them a directory in the traditional sense though.  Not everyone is guaranteed inclusion – many sites don’t get in.  Those that do could take weeks / months.  The upside is it is free and never hurts to try!

@michaelmurphy I am focusing more on writing content, rather than looking for directories that might have a low value.

However, links are important and I’ve seen this the hard way sometimes, when my articles cannot get past a specific position for a competitive term.

That is why I am preparing a guest posting campaign to build my audience and more links to my website.

@eugenoprea for the short term I think getting listed in directories is helpful for search positioning but I wonder how long it will continue to be beneficial. If an individual is searching for something/information online do they go to a directory to find that information? No, they go to a search engine. Search engines are in the business of creating a great experience for their users. Directories don’t provide relevant data as to what is actually relevant to what an individual is searching for. I wonder how long it will be until the major search engines develop algorithms to factor out links coming from directories.

@lisaschulteis @blairevanball @kristi-hines

I too have found Alltop to be a good source. It’s been awhile now since I’ve added blogs to their directories so I can’t say how long it would take to be included. But I have received traffic from alltop. I also enjoy perusing it from time to time, coming across blogs I wouldn’t have come across otherwise.

Debbie