As I embark on a new journey of online business, there are so many things that I want to learn to do. I would love to learn how to do article marketing. The funny thing is, until today, I had never even heard of this. I was doing some research on how to achieve higher search engine rankings, when I cam across this phrase. I think it is something that is going to change my business.

My business deals with online media and promoting the site is going to become a big part of what I do. I have run the site for quite awhile, but it has been quite bland and stale for a long time.

The reason I said that I am embarking on a new journey is that I ma currently just starting Internet marketing. This is not something I considered before, but I knew my business needed a real pick-me-up and doing a little bit of research, I knew this was just what it needed.  Besides, if I don’t market it, no one will know it is there, right?

If you own a website, you know that there are many different ways to promote your site.  You can submit it to the major search engines, write articles, blog about it, and social bookmark it.  But one of the more effective, but often overlooked methods should be an essential part of your website promotion strategy: directory submission.

What is a web directory?  Well, you can think of it like a search engine where a human has decided that the sites listed there are of some value.  Usually, you can find more relevant results if you make a search compared to traditional search engines.

Most people submit their sites to free directories but that takes a lot of time.  For those of you that have the time, that is great, but for the rest of us, thankfully there are directory submission services available.

Quite often free directory submission services are very inexpensive and definitely worth the money.  It is a great way to get your sites indexed and help the ranking for your site.  Just be sure that they allow you to vary your title and descriptions for your listings so you will not be penalized for duplicate listings by the search engines.

So, make web directories one of the tools that you use to promote your sites.

Now if you are promoting your website(s) you are probably submitting them to web directories, right?  Well, if you are, I have come across one valuable resources that will help your marketing efforts.

For example you should check out this list of 8000 web directory listings.  It is the most comprehensive list that I have ever seen and has a boat load of places to submit your site.  Looking for a free general directory?  It is one the list.  Paid directories?  Yes they are there too.

What is nice is that they have niche listings as well.  If you are looking for directories that only allow blogs, they have a list for that.  In fact, I would suggest you check out some of these specialized directories and list your site on the ones that allow deep links.  This way, you will be promoting your main page and your inner pages as well.

Just be sure to do a few directory submissions each day.  This way, your link building will look more natural, and you should see better results.  Best of luck on your directory submissions!

There are many of us active blogger’s out there trying to do everything any other website owner does:  come up with content for our sites, and promote the sites.  This may seem like an easy task, but it takes time.  And that is one resource that never seems like there is enough - I can count the days that fly by without me accomplishing the goals I had set out to do.

So, in my quest to get this and other sites of mine promoted quickly, I have been looking for solutions to promote my sites more effectively and quickly.  I would like to share with you an invaluable resource I found this week: TNX.net.

What is TNX?

Well that is easy.  It is a link marketplace - basically a place where you can buy links (ads) on other websites that point to yours.  What this does for you is get the word out about your site and helps you to rank higher in the search engines.

Won’t it take a lot of time to find the sites to advertise on?

My answer is a big NO.  It is as simple as picking the number of pages you want to advertise on and the pages link popularity, and POOF!  their software does the rest.  It is pretty much a click and forget solution to promoting your site.

If I can buy links, can I sell links?

You sure can.  All you do is add a little code to your site and you can sell links on your site.  This can be a great way to make a little money, or even to "pay" for your website promotion.  Again, they find the buyers for you, so you do not have to go beating on doors trying to find advertisers.

Can I make money from TNX?

Yes you can.  You can take advantage of their affiliate program which earns you free advertising credits anytime someone that you referred makes a purchase or sells links on their sites.  You can even sell your credits for cash.

How do I start?

If you are excited as I was to try out the program, there is a terrific opportunity to try this text link ads program.  Just visit this forum post about this marvelous text links ads program.

Looking for resources and places to promote my websites today, I came across the folowing web directories that will help boost your traffic and increase your search engine rankings. I made sure to find sites that will fit any budget. Take a look at these sites:

A Free Directory is a brand new site (about a week old) that uses a customized version of a free template. The result? Eye-catching and unique. You can get a free or paid featured link and the sites are approved within 24 hours – talk about service.

Directory of Sites is a brand new site (a day or so old) so is yet unproven. They offer free and paid links on the site and the approval for my sites was pretty quick. It remains to be seen how this site does, but I have a good feeling about it… time will tell though.

The Best Damn Links Page is just that – a great directory. This one is an example of what you can do with an older site to make it great again. Whether you have no advertising budget or some money to spend, anyone can get a backlink from this site.

Tower Promote Free Link Directory is a directory on an old, established domain. Search engines tend to rank links from older sites as more important than newer ones, so a listing here is a must. You have three choices of links including free and reciprocal as well as paid featured listings.

Mitefind Paid Link Directory is not a free directory, though I thought I should mention it here anyways. For less than two dollars, you can get a backlink from this site which is an old established domain. Why pay? Usually with a paid directory, your site listing is approved faster which means your link gets indexed faster by the search engines. An added bonus of this site is that any other directories that the site owner creates, your site will be listed on those sites automatically. You can think of this offer as perpetual promotion of your website.

Be sure when you submit to link directories to follow the site submission guidelines - that will ensure approval of your site within the directory.

It seems almost every day I am promoting at least one of my websites. Whether it be submitting them to search engines, writing articles or blogging about them, my work promoting websites is never done. Today, I found a couple of good (and free) directories to promote your site.

Towerpromote free link directory is an older site. Recently, it was converted to a web directory. You can list your site for free or buy a featured listing for a reasonable price. Site approval seems to be very fast as well.

4169.info seo friendly link directory is a newer site started this year. You can list your site for free or get a featured listing for a reasonable fee. Approval on this site is slightly slower as it is a more popular site.

Just remember when submitting your site to directories, follow the submission guidelines. Not only does this make it quicker for the directory owner to approve your sites, but it also gives you a better chance of being accepted.