The key to raising your Google PageRank, which determines how far up or down your site appears in search results, is to have high-ranking sites link to yours.

To that end, one of the important ways to start is to incorporate a blog into your site, perhaps by basing it on a major content management system (CMS) like WordPress or Drupal. Blog posts on topical and highly searched for subjects can generate inbound links. You can also list your site on the top-ranked blog directories. Just search for “blog directory” on Google, and list with directories from the first page of hits. The sites themselves will give you instructions on how to do it.

Be aware that some directories will charge you for listings. These directories are only for the desperate and we don’t recommend them as a starting point.

We’ll start by listing with Blog Catalog, Bloggapedia, Total Blog Directory, and blogarama.com. These directories are free and open to all comers, but Blog Catalog and Bloggapedia won’t take your blog if it is brand new and has limited content.

So before you start trying to get listed, make sure that your site has been running for at least a month, and that you have been posting regularly. Three times a week is an reasonable goal for people serious about getting their site noticed.

This brings us to one of the key points in using a blog as a marketing tool: if you want your blog to work hard at promoting your site and business, you need to be update it regularly with content that readers find interesting and useful.

Make sure you use a traffic analysis tool like Google Analytics or Mint to see what posts generate the most readers and inbound links. Focus your posts on those topics that are most compelling to other bloggers and readers interested in your industry.

If you’re serious about making your business a success, you should have real expertise and advice to share. Don’t be stingy and think you ought to keep it for those who pay upfront: your knowledge is much more valuable in the open. Becoming a credible online authority will only boost your reputation and earnings.

So get blogging! Or if you don’t have the time to generate content for yourself, Sabertext can help you develop a strategy, set up a site, and write or edit the posts—this is just one of the services we offer. Contact us today by email with your inquiry or to request a callback.

Sabertext’s general manager, Benjamin Hourigan, has a new article out.

What kind of moral responsibility could you have for actions carried out in a game, which have no lasting consequences?

To find out, read The Moral Code of Grand Theft Auto IV, published in the latest issue of The IPA Review, judged the world’s best free market magazine by the Atlas Foundation in 2008. It’ll be on newsstands within the next week or so, but it’s online right now.

Benjamin Hourigan has written and lectured on videogames for several years. He is available to write and edit articles, marketing material, documentation and in-game text for the videogaming industry. Contact us today to discuss how Sabertext can help you.