Welcome to the 3rd installment of the killer free blog directories post. The first and second posts have had such great feedback that we’ve decided to release another.

Those who have been following the previous postings will notice that the list is ever-diminishing, and this is the nature of the directory industry as popularity increases, directories generally convert to paid models, to either capitalise on the traffic or to cull the massive amounts of submission spam they are receiving by being a popular free resource. As with the last blog directories post, I’ve connected this new post with the old one by including the values from the previous post in brackets. So, e.g., The blog directory in position 21, Fresh Link Media, was in position 28 on Mar 11, 2010. It’s current PR is 1, whereas previously it was a PR2. The alexa rank has also improved to 73,208 from 124,628 previously. Any directories not present in that previous post have been designated with a (new) in this one.

New entrant Bigfoot Web Marketing has rocketed into 20th place in the list (exactly halfway) which is a solid effort for a new comer. Time will tell if it can improve up the rankings. The other new entrant, Seek Kong, has debuted in 39th place. I expect that with conversions to paid models, and some aging it will steadily climb the list and be closer to the middle the next time we post a killer list in a few months time.

The blog directory in biggest decline seems to be LSBlogs. Once a PR6 (back in our Feb 09 posting), the PR has decreased in each update, to PR4 in March, and now PR3 in September. On the flipside their Alexa continues to improve which indicates that they still have a strong webmaster-based traffic, and the directory is still a worthwhile entity to visit.

The list is ranked firstly via the directories PageRank, then secondly via the Alexa Rank. Some of the blog directories are subdomains on popular domains, so their Alexa might not be really as impressive as it looks. Once again I will reiterate that the pageranks and alexa ranks are subject to change almost immediately after this post is made so please do not ask for these values to be updated. Instead please visit the free blog directories list page on Info Vilesilencer which is regularly maintained and updated.

If you have a blog directory that you are interested in having reviewed for possible inclusions into the list then please register and use our submission form.

After much speculation we’ve decided to bite the bullet and join the masses that form the Twitter brigade. Whilst we’ve had a Twitter account for some time (follow us on Twitter here) we’ve deigned not to utilise it until now, instead concentrating on other communication mediums.

Rather than do this half-baked, we’ve actually taken some rather large development steps using the API to automate tweets from the IVS site whenever a new directory is included in the site.

We plan to use Twitter to communicate the following:

• Any new directories added to the IVS site via the Newly Added feed.
• Any directory list/excel updates
• Submission and advertising discounts and coupons
• Directory Industry news
• Updates to important threads on the IVS Directory Forum, such as the Web Directory FAQ

See you on Twitter!

Due to the immense popularity of the first killer free blog directories post, just on 13 months ago now, I’ve decided to let loose another, and I am contemplating on revisiting this list more frequently to give everyone a crack at free entry into blog directories as they come through, because a lot don’t last free for very long, such is the popularity and traffic that posts like this send them.

Quite a few of the blog directories from the previous posting have converted to paid models, and some new ones have come through as well. I’ve attempted to connect this new post with the old one by including the values from the previous post in brackets. So, e.g., The blog directory in position 6, Blogio, was in position 14 in the Feb 13, 2009 post. It’s current PR is 5, whereas previous it was a PR4. The alexa rank has also improved to 92,547 from 144,003 previously. Any directories not present in that previous post have been designated with a (new).

The list is ranked firstly via the directories PageRank, then secondly via the Alexa Rank. Some of the blog directories are subdomains on popular domains, so their Alexa might not be really as impressive as it looks. Once again I will reiterate that the pageranks and alexa ranks are subject to change almost immediately after this post is made so please do not ask for these values to be updated. Instead please visit the free blog directories list page on Info Vilesilencer which is regularly maintained and updated.

If you have a blog directory that you are interested in having reviewed for possible inclusions into the list then please register and use our submission form.

* A fully functioning Astor Mickey 1947 - photograph reproduced courtesy of Brad, The “man of gumption”, from Vintage Radio, Australia.

Arts, artists and artisans. That’s a mouthful. These creative and dare I say it artistic directories are a collection of useful online art references and resources. People are passionate about their craft, and artworks seemingly inspire that passion in all of us. Chock full of useful resources, including suppliers, known artists, hobbies and crafts.

We’ve spent a lot of time cleaning up the arts and artists directory list of the Info Vilesilencer directory lists. Each directory now has its own unique description, and is categorised specifically for its artistic niche:

- Antiques and Collectibles Directory List
- Crafts Directory List
- Design Directory List
- Film Directory List
- Graphics Directory List
- Photography Directory List
- Stage and Theatre Directory List
- Woodworking Directory List

A number of the directories in the top-level of the arts niche are called Crafts directories. However, they have a much broader category structure that incorporates more than just crafting sites, so we’ve kept them at the top-level because they offer things like photography, painting, sculpture and other non-craft artworks.

For anyone thinking that Info Vilesilencer has a small list of directories, I’d like to say that the reason for that is simple. We are all about quality not quantity. We’ve always had a very focused list of directories. Firstly, we do not list link farms, whereas almost every other directory list has them in abundance. Secondly, we do not list directories who do not add websites, have broken submissions, or are abandoned - something that the other directory lists seem to ignore.

This is why our lists are considered such high quality by the professional SEO community. We cut out all the garbage to eliminate wasting time visiting offline directories or submitting to directories who will never add websites that are submitted to them. We also avoid those directories who add every spammy website that is submitted to them. These sorts of directories are considered link farms and are often abandoned soon after being built or quickly become bad neighbourhoods.

So, with that in mind, quite a lot of previously considered quite good art directories have some major failings preventing them from remaining on, or being added to, the list. A couple of these are:

Online Art Directory - broken submission
Hellas Dance - site offline
Joannes Crafts - domain expired
Coin Link - no submissions available
Photolot - not adding sites (last addition is January 25, 2008)

Until these issues are fixed these directories will remain off the lists. We have a strict policy on the content we include, and this is reflected in the reputation we have within the internet and SEO community of being the number 1 directory list, for a very long time now.

We hope you enjoy this small yet high quality collection of art directory resources. We look forward to progressing through each and every category throughout the new year, and building them up with useful directories. We’ll have another blog directory list post up shortly. The last killer blog directories list was immensely popular, and although 11 months old now, it still attracts a large number of visitors.

This is the top 20 most viewed directories on Info Vilesilencer (as at 23rd Dec 2009).

This section has been tabulated via the number of unique page views each directory’s individual “details page” has had since Sep 2008 (the inception of the new site). Each details page is unique and hand-written by an Info Vilesilencer editor. This level of content is not offered on any other directory list, and is the reason IVS drives real traffic to the highest quality directories available on the web.

Top 20 Most Viewed Directories for 2009

1. Illumirate (1268 views) - #4 on Free Directory List

2. BUBL (1220 views) - Listed on Trusted Directory List

3. Chiff (1137 views) - Listed on Trusted Directory List

4. CANLinks (1131 views) - #1 on Free Directory List

5. BOTW (1128 views) - Listed on Trusted Directory List

6. Arakne Links (1074 views) - #7 on Free Directory List

7. Turnpike (1059 views) - #21 on Free Directory List

8. Yahoo! Dir (1048 views) - Listed on Trusted Directory List

9. Joe Ant (1031 views) - Listed on Trusted Directory List

10. Classifieds 1000 (1016 views) - #2 on Free Directory List

11. Business.com (1010 views) - Listed on Trusted Directory List

12. WoW Directory (990 views) - Listed on Trusted Directory List

13. Skaffe (972 views) - Listed on Trusted Directory List

14. Web World Index (964 views) - #20 on Free Directory List

15. Apexoo (958 views) - #32 on Free Directory List

16. DMOZ (948 views) - Listed on Trusted Directory List

17. AMRAY (936 views) - #81 on Free Directory List

18. Domaining (920 views) - #28 on Free Directory List

19. Submit Blog Now (918 views) - Listed on Blog Directory List

20. Go Guides (915 views) - Listed on Trusted Directory List

Just missing out in 21st place is Wikid Web (909 views) - #8 on Free Directory List

There are other notable exceptions. The Librarians Internet Index which has merged with the Internet Public Libary to form ILP2.org, Until the merger the LII directory held the #1 spot on the Free Directory List for the entire year, and as such had a large number of views to their details page (the most by far of any directory) at 1684. Unfortunately, the new merged directory no longer has an option to submit, and so we have removed it from the lists.

It’s not surprising that free web directories and trusted directories dominate the list. The former bring in the most traffic and will therefore be the most viewed, particularly the ones that are closer to the top of the rankings on that list. A few surprises made the list, but if we look to their over zealous caretakers as the reason for their high visit count, then we shouldn’t be too surprised. The latter Trusted Directories are considered to be the best directories that the web has to offer. They’ve long established themselves, and have a reputation that precedes them, so I fully expected every single one of them to be there.

From the paid directory list the closest to making the list was Aviva Directory (784 views).

From the niche directory list there was a number of close contenders including:

Automotive Directories Ltd (882 views - automotive directory list)

ABC Blog Directory (865 views - blog directory list)

2CV (853 views - automotive directory list)

Wizz Travel (839 views - travel directory list)

What would you have expected to be the most viewed on the lists?

The Directory Editor’s Prayer

Our submitters which art on the internet
Hallowed be thy domain
Thy submissions come
They will be done
Today or next week when I get the chance
Submit today via forum threads
And forgive us our rejections as we forgive those that also reject us
And lead us not into PR temptation
But deliver us from evil MFA sites
For directory editors are the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen