Blogging can often be discouraging when you’re just starting out and nobody reads your posts…but it doesn’t have to be.

Although you should optimize your blog for the search engines (i.e. keyword title/body placement, tags, etc.) please remember you’re writing in your blog for REAL PEOPLE.  One of the most important aspects of conducting business online and building trust is PERSONALIZATION.  People are not robots so just be yourself and write freely.

You also must give your readers something with substance.  No matter what your blogging about you must write compelling and informative posts that your users can use to improve some aspect of their life or business.  Often this requires you to do a little research around the web to really offer your viewers some great content.  Do this and your users will come back to your blog time and time again.

Now on the flip side there are obviously a number of things you can do to increase web traffic to your blog.  An excellent free marketing method is to submit your RSS feeds and blog URLS to the most popular blog directory sites on the web.  So that’s what I have for you.

My Recommended Blog Directory and RSS Directory Sites:

2Rss http://www.2rss.com/index.php
About.com http://weblogs.about.com/library/nosearch/blsubmit.htm
All-Blogs.net http://www.all-blogs.net/submit.php
Answers http://www.answers.com/main/new_blogger.jsp
BOTW Blog Directory http://blogs.botw.org/helpcenter/submitblog.aspx
Blawg http://blawg.org/modules.php?name=Web_Links&l_op=AddLink
Blogcode http://www.blogcode.com/signup.php
Blog Ranking http://www.blogrankings.com/addblog.php
Blog search engine http://www.blogsearchengine.com/submit/
Blogarama http://blogarama.com/index.php?show=add
Blogbib http://www.blogbib.com/submit.php
Blogbunch http://www.blogbunch.com/suggest/
BlogCatalog http://www.blogcatalog.com/blogs/submit_blog.html
Blogdex http://blogdex.net/add.asp
Blogdigger http://blogdigger.com/add.jsp
Blogflux http://www.blogflux.com/add.php
Blogfuse Directory http://www.blogfuse.com/directory/suggest.php?action=addlink
Bloggernity http://www.bloggernity.com/cgi-bin/add.cgi
Bloghop http://www.bloghop.com/account/index.htm
Bloghub http://www.bloghub.com/cgi-bin/add.cgi
Blogintro http://blogintro.com/Form/Submission.html
Bloglisting http://www.bloglisting.com/addablog.html
BlogMap http://www.csthota.com/blogmap/submit.aspx
BlogMatcher http://blogmatcher.com/u.php
BlogOrama http://www.blogarama.com/index.php?show=add
BlogPulse http://www.blogpulse.com/submit.html
Blogrankings http://www.blogrankings.com/
Blog-search http://www.blog-search.com/
Blogsearchengine http://www.blogsearchengine.com/add_link.html
Blogsweet http://www.blogsweet.com/suggest_link.php
Blogtopsites http://www.blogtopsites.com/register.php
Blogtree http://www.blogtree.com/signup.php
Bloguniverse http://www.bloguniverse.com/radlinks/
BlogWatch http://www.blog-watch.com/add-url.php
Blogwise http://www.blogwise.com/submit
Blogz http://www.sarthak.net/blogz/add.php
Bloogz http://www.bloogz.com/man_en/add_your_url.php
BoingBoing http://boingboing.net/suggest.html
Bulletize http://www.bulletize.com/add.php?sid=0
Complete RSS http://www.completerss.com/AddFeed.aspx
ContentsMatter http://www.contentsmatter.com/add.php
Crayon http://www.crayon.net/using/suggest.html
DayPop http://www.daypop.com/info/submit.htm
Diarist http://www.diarist.net/cgi-bin/links/add.cgi
EastonWeb http://portal.eatonweb.com/add.php
Easy Rss http://www.easyrss.com
Everyfeed http://www.everyfeed.com/addsite.php
Fastbuzz http://www.fastbuzz.com/main.jsp
Feed-Directory http://www.feed-directory.com/addfeed
Feeds4all http://www.feeds4all.com/AddRSS.aspx
FeedsFarm http://www.feedsfarm.com/a.html
Feedster http://blogs.feedster.com/add.php
FindingBlog http://findingblog.com/add.php?cat=
Findory http://www.findory.com/submit-blog
FlybySearch http://www.fybersearch.com/add-url.php
Geckotribe http://chordata.geckotribe.com/suggest.php
GeekPhilisopher http://geekphilosopher.com/MainPage/gpBlogLinkAdd.php
Globeofblogs http://www.globeofblogs.com/register.php
Gobignetwork https://www.gobignetwork.com/blog/AddBlog.aspx
HeadlineSpot http://www.headlinespot.com/site/suggest.htm
iBlog Business Directory http://www.iblogbusiness.com/add.html
Icerocket http://www.icerocket.com/c?p=addblog
Industry-blogs http://www.industry-blogs.com/submit.php
Kiosken http://www.esperanto.se/kiosk/engindex.html
LSBlogs http://www.lsblogs.com/howtosubmit.php
NewsXS http://www.newsxs.com/en/sources
NewzFire http://www.newzfire.com/suggest.aspx
NewsGator http://www.newsgator.com/ngs/subscriber/Folksonomy.aspx
Nooked http://dir.nooked.com/submit.dir?action=Start
Only Feeds http://www.onlyfeeds.com.addfeed.html?catid=
Plazoo http://www.plazoo.com/en/addrss.asp
Pluck http://feedfinder.pluck.com/SubmitFeed.aspx
Portal.eatonweb http://portal.eatonweb.com/add.php
Postami http://www.postami.com/rss.finder/submit_feed.php
Pressradar http://www.pressradar.com/suggest
PubSub http://www.pubsub.com/add_feed.php
Rateitall http://www.rateitall.com/suggest.aspx?WL=0&TopicID=20004
RDFTicker http://www.anse.de/rdfticker/addchannel.php
ReadAblog http://www.readablog.com/AddFeed.aspx
Redtram http://www.redtram.com/pages/addsource/
RocketInfo http://reader.rocketinfo.com/desktop/AddRSSFeed.jsp
rss network http://www.rss-network.com/submitrss.php
Search4Rss http://www.search4rss.com/addfeed.php
Small Business Blog Directory http://blogsforsmallbusiness.com/directory/add.html
SmallBusiness.com New http://smallbusiness.com/wiki/Weblog_directory_company_blogs
Sphere http://www.sphere/com/feedback
SynBlog http://www.synblog.com/addblog.html
Tailrank New http://www.tailrank.com/import
Technorati http://www.technorati.com/ping.html
Terrar http://www.terrar.com/addurl/
Topix http://www.topix.net/bin/feedback
The Weblog Review http://www.theweblogreview.com/submit.php
TruthLaidBear http://www.truthlaidbear.com/addtoscan.php
Wilsdomain http://www.wilsdomain.com/blogs/wilsdomain9b.php?op=newsubmit
Yahoo.com http://add.yahoo.com/fast/help/us/my/cgi_rss_submission

I highly recommend you take a few hours (or longer depending on how fast you can type and surf) to submit ALL of your blogs and RSS feeds to the above blog directories.  Please take the time to read through the submission guidelines of each blog directory listed above to ensure your blog meets their requirements.

In a short time you should see a substantial increase in your blog traffic from your listings in the above blog directories.  Please keep me informed of bad links and new services so this RSS Directory List stays fresh.  OK, now get to work!