SmallBusinessNewz

You may have a blog, and that blog may be full of very interesting content, but it's not serving much of a purpose beyond honing your writing skills and allowing you to get something off your chest if other people aren't reading it.

As with getting visitors or potential customers in any other aspect of your online business, it is going to take some promotion.

There are a ton of directories and search engines specifically catering to blogs, and it is probably in the best interest of your blog's readership to get it listed in as many as possible. There are a few key places that I would recommend starting with:

1. Technorati

I like to think of Technorati as kind of the Google of the Blogosphere. When I think of search, I think of Google. When I think of the Blogosphere, I think of Technorati. It carries the brand that blog enthusiasts know. I believe this is the premiere place to have your blog appear.

2. Google Blog Search

If Technorati is the Google of blog search, then where does that leave Google Blog Search? Well, technically that title belongs here, but I think that Google would do better to brand itself as the place for blog search if it had a link to it on its home page. Nevertheless, it's blog search with Google behind it, and many people no doubt use it to find blogs frequently. You'll want yours to be found here.

3. Blogpulse

Keeping with the major search engine analogies, I guess you could consider Blogpulse the Yahoo of blog search. It's still a very big name in blog search and a place where you will likely acquire a lot of traffic, and maybe it's just my opinion, but I feel like Technorati has the stronger brand. I don't think you should play favorites, though. Get listed here too.

4. Icerocket

So that must make Icerocket the Live.com or Ask.com of blog search. Hint: Ask.com has a blog search hat you should appear in as well. Icerocket, much like BlogPulse and Technorati has popularity in the Blogoshere.

5. 2RSS.com

I included 2RSS.com in this list for the simple fact, that it is a place for RSS feeds, and typically feeds come along with blogs, so you should be promoting these too. There is a good number of other RSS directories as well, so let's let 2RSS.com be representative of the others.

I guess in the end this is really more of a starting point than a true top 5 list, because by no means am I saying that you should just submit to these and leave it at that. Are there any blog and/or RSS directories you prefer personally - from the user's perspective?