Some SEO experts and online marketeers think web directories are dead. That may be right for general web directories that have been penalised by Google for selling links, but niche directories can still provide a good quality link to your site because they actually offer a web surfer useful information and provide a relevant link to your site.

Bloggings Most Wanted is a blog directory that lists and categorises a wide range of blogs from Travel Blogs to movie and video blogs, and the ever popular Make Money Online Blogs. Is a link from a directory like this worth the money? Well, that depends on your site and how well it fits in with the other sites in it’s category. That’s the benefit of a niche directory - the other sites listed are more likely to be relevant to yours.

Niche directories like this are a useful resource, for both surfers and bloggers looking to promote their blog.

MySpace.com has more than 2 billion members and has become a great way to advertise all kinds of services online, like music, products and websites.

All you have to do is create a MySpace profile, upload your music or video - any information you like about your product, service, or website - and then generate traffic to your profile. How do you do that? Easy, you build a network of friends. The more friends you have, the higher your rank will be and the more people will view your profile. More friends results in more people visiting your profile, because your profile will be listed on all your friend’s profiles.

But, adding MySpace friends manually is time consuming and boring. Automated tools allow you to send MySpace friend requests quickly and easily. Of course, this could be against the sites terms and conditions so you should check and be careful not to abuse the system.

Sickest Adder is a MySpace friend adder offering great features for a free. Check out the free download.

Building links to a site is the most critical factor if you are looking to rank highly in the search engines. A great place to get these links is from blogs. Links within blog posts have several advantages over other links types such as text-link ads.

• The links are often found quickly by the search engines because blogs tend to be indexed quickly.
• The links appear more ‘natural’ because they are embeded within text and don’t look like paid link.
• If the whole post is about your site, the links are in context and can naturally use keyword-rich anchor text.
• If the whole blog is about the same theme as your site, the link becomes even more powerful.
• Posts appear on the front page first, so your link is initially on the page which is viewed the most has the highest PageRank.
• Posts are often archived in categories, which means it will be on the same page as lots of related content and links.
• Finally, a post usually has it’s own page, where the links to your site will remain forever.

So where do you find blogs willing to review your site? One source is the brokerage sites that act as middlemen between bloggers and advertisers. Examples include reviewme.com and payperpost.com. You pay a premium for this service, but the blogs are usually of good quality and often provide traffic as well as link popularity.

Site review blogs and web master blogs are another good source. They are usually cheaper and some even allow you to write your own post. Good ones have a number of categories for posts, which keeps a post alongside relevant content once they are off the home page.  Crea-futur.com is one that has categories ranging from automobiles to mobile phones.

Probably the best, but most time consuming method is to search for relevant blogs and directly approach the blogger. It may be neccessary to be more flexible about your requirements, i.e. the number of links to your site, the anchor text used and deadlines, but it could be worth it for a very natural link back from a highly relevant site.

Search engine optimisation (SEO)  is all about helping a site to rank highly in search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and MS Live by targeting the keywords that are going to attract the right customers. A good SEO company can help analyse your market and determine which are the best keywords for your site.

Traffic from MS live, Yahoo! and  the numerous other search engines is usually tiny compared to Google, so most online businesses and site owners want to improve Google ranking above everything else. How do you do this? Well, the most important factor is the number of links pointing at a site (backlinks).

Links are seen as votes for a site and basically, the more links the better. One of the easiest ways to get these links is from directories - you submit your site to them and they list it in categorised pages. Some directories require a fee to review your site but there are also thousands of free directory sites. IF you are going to submit to them in a big way, a directory submission service or software can save you time and money.

A lot has been written about web directories and their usefulness for Search Engine Optimisation. Recent efforts by Google to crack down on the link selling market have hit directories hard - especially the big boys. But there are still quaility small directories out there that offer good value.

Directory-King has a very simple, clean layout (maybe even unique - at least I haven’t seen it before!) making it easy to navigate. There are a wide range of categories to choose from and the categories are supplemented by articles and news feeds, which helps to keep the content fresh and unique. Features like this help to make a directory stand out from the crowd for visitors and search engines.

And, as well as the standard directory listings, the site offers a variety of frontpage & sitewide advertising options.

Good features and good value make this directory well worth a look.

Best of The Web Directory is offering a massive 25% off advertising.

The offer includes all new submissions and sponsorship advertising in their general web directory and blog directory.

Just submit before the end of March and use the promotional code: SAVEBIG

Here’s the submit page. It’s one of the oldest and most trusted directories so it is well worth getting a listing there (even Google still likes it - it has a PR of 6).

Caigslist was originally developed as a San Francisco mailing list by Craig Newmark, but has grown into one of the most popular sites on the internet. It has expanded to cover cities across the world providing forums, classified adverts, online dating and a variety of other useful functions.

However, it can be difficult to find what you want on the site because it is so vast. As a novice user, the hundreds of categories and pages can be very off-putting. So, a number of sites have sprung up to help people use Craigs List, such as craigslistinfo.info.

The site has some great information about dating at craigslist - something you may not have thought it was good for. Craigslist is quite different from many dating sites in that it doesn’t require users to divulge a lot of personal information.  This means you can remain anonymous and know that your personal information is safe.

Canada is known as a country with a broad immigration policy and this is reflected in the country’s ethnic diversity, which includes a significant Pakistani community. This obviously makes it a popular choice for Pakistani immigrants. However, people looking to enter Canada and become Canadian citizens have to undergo a series of tests and interviews which can be aa daunting prospect for many immigrants.

Luckily, there are sites on the internet which can help you to prepare for the Canadian citizenship test. Apnatoronto.com provides online quizzes with questions that will help you to practice, and hopefully pass the real test. The site also provides immigration interview preparation - an illustration of the types of questions a Canadian immigration officer might ask.

There is also a very useful online version of the Ontario G1 Test, which is the written road knowledge test for drivers. The site highlights incorrect answers so that you can see where you went wrong and improve your score.

Just a reminder, you could win $10000 by submitting your site to Best of the Web directory before the end of November.

Find out more here, or use the following promotional code:

WIN10K

You will also get $15 off whatever you purchase.

This is available on any new directory submission or sponsorship advertising

(You have to be a resident of the US to be eligible for the prize draw)

Up until the end of November, you could win $10000 by submitting your site to Best of the Web directory.

Just use the following promotional code for any new directory submission or sponsorship advertising:

WIN10K

You will also get $15 off whatever you purchase.
BTW, you have to be a resident of the US to be eligible for the prize draw.

There are many things to consider when looking to market a website online; keyword research, link building, copy writing and creating a site that converts visitors into customers. Datadial is a UK based web development company that was established in 1998 and provides an complete web marketing solution.

Datadial’s site is well designed and clearly explains their search engine optimisation services in easy to understand language. This is unlike some internet marketing websites which use complicated technical terminology and are over optimised. They also provide several detailed case-studies to help you understand what they do and to show you some of the sites they have optimised.

Most importantly, Datadial.net emphasize that the service they offer based on results and targets - a very important factor when you are spending a significant sum on a long term internet marketing campaign.