Who’s a blog directory really for? One can argue that a blog directory is for the bloggers. Bloggers can get a backlink to their blog thus raising their Google page rank and search engine rankings. In some blog directories, bloggers can also connect with other bloggers in a forum like setting. Both of these reasons and maybe a few other benefits blog directories give bloggers, are good reasons why a blog directory is for the bloggers. We don’t agree. Well, not totally.

If a blog directory were to be divied up into 6 parts, we believe a blog directory would be 1 part for the owner, 2 parts for the bloggers and 3 parts for the visitor who is looking for interesting blogs to read.

1 Part the owner? Sure! Why not? They have to make a living too.

2 Parts for the bloggers: Like Dazzlin Donna said Getting your blog listed in directories is one of those standard tasks that all bloggers should do in order to gain links and traffic to their blogs. Directories are easy to find and easy to submit to, so there’s no reason not to take advantage of listing your blog in many of them. Not all directories have the same value, however. Some provide value to the blogger beyond the standard URL, Title, and Description.” Submitting your blog to a blog directory is a good idea for serp rankings, page rank and extra exposure. The majority of bloggers want people to read their blog, otherwise you probably wouldn’t blog at all. So a blog directory listing is a definite plus for the bloggers.

3 Parts the visitor: People visiting a blog directory are more than likely searching for or browsing for a good blog to read. Visitors shouldn’t be subjected to sift through a bunch of spammy blogs to get to some really good blogs. We believe a visitor to a blog directory wants to find a good blog on topic to what he or she is interested in. They also would be intrigued to see what a blog has been posting lately or see their most recent tweets so they can make a better decision to visit that particular blog or not. Some visitors also want to connect with a blogger through an arrayment of social networking avenues such as Twitter or Facebook. It’s a social world and people want to engage with people one on one now more than ever, so a visitor would also like to know how to reach a blogger on a more personal level.

Another argument about blog directory prices, especially the one’s that charge over $50/year or more is that they value their site high, for various reasons. They may place a high value on their directory because they have a higher page rank then some or receive good traffic, which is great! We plan on Blogirific.com having both in the near future. Having said that though, no matter what our page rank or how much traffic we receive in the future, we prefer to place value on bloggers and our visitors.

Once we decided to place more value on bloggers and our visitors it was an easy choice to charge less. Wed prefer to attract as many good bloggers as we can than to charge a ridiculous price and turn off the majority of good bloggers. We didn’t stop there though. Staying true to making Blogirific.com about bloggers and our visitors, my wife and I decided to try and make it easier for bloggers to get their admission fee recuperated by letting bloggers display their OWN Google Adsense ads and their OWN affiliate banners on their profile page. We knew we couldn’t afford to not charge a fee, but we also knew we had to give bloggers a chance to get that fee back.

In conclusion, we truly believe that putting value on bloggers and our visitors is the right thing to do and that’s why we charge less then most. We hope we made our point and that the majority of you agree with us. Thanks for visiting, have a great day!

Rick and Lisa

We’re doing our best to help our bloggers/members and will continue to do so in the future. Just another reason why Blogirific.com is fast becoming the most popular blog directory on net.

Submit your Blog and Google Adsense ID today!

I was running a few websites and I was looking into getting them into some directories, so I was browsing a lot of them and noticed that they were basically all crap. I mean some of these web directories were just terrible and wanted me to pay $50 a year to get listed right above the newest Viagra site. In every one of these directories, in the “more details” page of any particular website listed, displayed things like their Google page rank, their Alexa.com or Compete.com  traffic details or some other lame information that nobody cares about (except maybe the webmaster/owner of that particular website – either way, he won’t be visiting that directory to see that information IF he/she wants it).

Some of these web directories didn’t even have a details page for their listings. All they had was a small amount of information under a link that takes them to the website. I know, I know! DMOZ.org looks exactly like this. It doesn’t matter, I still think it sucks.

I believe these directories are stuck in the 80’s. But Rick! There was no Internet in the 80’s! Yeah, I know, that’s why it’s a metaphor. Slap!

Today’s web directory visitors aren’t just looking for basic information about a website in their chosen interest and they certainly don’t care about their traffic details or page rank, etc. Today’s and tomorrow’s web directory visitor not only wants to find the most helpful and interesting websites or blogs, the majority wants to know even more information. Some want to know what the site looks like or what the owners look like. Some visitors want to see what kind of posts a particular website or blog has made recently. Some want to know how to reach them on various social networking sites to make a one on one connection. Granted, some might not care about any of this but I’d be willing to bet it’s very few.

I knew then it was my duty to create a better, more valuable and more interesting web directory (I knew LATER, it was my duty to make a better, more valuable and more interesting blog directory).

When I came across BlogCatalog, I thought to myself “well this is kinda cool”. The only thing that bugged me about it was that all of these bloggers were blogging, err, I mean, having discussions on BlogCatalog. This doesn’t make sense to me as I think all of these discussions should be held on each of their blogs. Bloggers don’t know it yet, but that’s exactly what they want. (In a near future post I will address how I plan to get this done and I hope some of you bloggers will give me your input.) Another thing that bugged me about BlogCatalog was the fact they made everyone link back to them. I don’t agree with this. I believe if your site is cool, bloggers will link back to you in one way shape or form and if they don’t, well, that’s their right. As well, BlogCatalog doesn’t allow bloggers to link to their Twitter profile or anything like that. I guess we are the first of our kind to encourage this. We want to connect our visitors to you in any way shape or form. To be fair though, I do like BlogCatalog, I do, I even listed Blogirific.com there. I just think there’s room for improvement, that’s all.

Okay. So what’s my point here? I guess all I am trying to say is that I truly believe web directories and blog directories have to change. Whether it be in how or what information is displayed to our visitors or the price. Speaking of price, did you know that blogs.botw.org charges something like $75 a year for you to list your blog and all they do is list your link and a small blurb about you or your site? Personally, I think that is a total rip-off. I don’t care how old or how popular Socialrific.com or Blogirific.com gets, I’ll never charge a ridiculous price like that. It takes maybe a minute or two to properly review a website or blog (for the purposes of a directory listing). If it takes two minutes, they make like $35 bucks a minute! Anyways, enough with the craziness. I’ll take some cheese with that whine James! Mmmmm.. thank you! As well, to be fair, blogs.botw.org do offer a way to get in for free, but I don’t think they look at those submissions very much.

I’m going to do my very best to make Socialrific.com and Blogirific.com two of the very best, if not THE best directories on the net. I want them to be something you can be proud of, or at least fond of. I want you to be able to say something like “Yep! I got into Blogirific.com. Did you?” or “Why haven’t you got you’re blog listed on Blogirific.com yet? Haven’t you heard of all the traffic they send to you?” or how about: “Of all of the directories on the Net, I’m most proud of my listing on Socialrific.com!” -> Alright, I can’t see anyone saying that one either, but it’s good to dream, no? Hehe

I’m always thinking of ways to not only make Blogirific.com and Socialrific.com better, but I’m also always thinking of new ways to promote you and your listing(s) on whichever one you’re “in”. I mean, I’ve done the basics like having a Facebook page with your listings and a Squidoo page, that sort of thing, but I’ll think of something new and you can always count on me to do more. I’ll make sure you get what you pay for and more. Even though you’re paying for your listing(s), my goal is for you to think YOU’RE ripping me off. When you feel that way, then I know I’m doing a good job and I deserved your hard earned money.

For now, I’d like to hear any of your thoughts on what I’ve said above and I bid you adoo and I hope you have a great November 15, 2009! G’night.