Well I'm a bit different in that I'm not overtly trying to make any money, but I've finally come to the conclusion that blog directories don't really help much. I use myself as an example, I never and I mean never search for anything with them, I'll use yahoo or google (which will find you eventually no matter what you do) and while there is probably some difference with everyone in the general public, I don't think it's sizeable.
 

I'd have to agree in that I've almost never used a blog directory for searching.

I have used them in the past to find Canadian blogs though - when I was looking for specific humor/satire-related partners in Canada, but otherwise it's a fairly rare thing.

I have seen some that seem to get use out of them, but I don't really know how effective they are.
 

Hi Ben,
First allow me to thank you for the mention of our directory. We have received a lot of positive feedback from bloggers such as yourself. I never thought that this project would be so enjoyable to work on. Since its inception, I have literally have had the pleasure to meet other avid business bloggers from around the world. After a while, you really get a sense of why they call the Blogosphere a community:)

Secondly, allow me to comment on the above comments:) Search engines are no doubt important for traffic. However, directories have been around arguably as long has the Internet. Plus, you would like to think that they would all eventually die...but they haven’t. In fact, new ones spring up each day (cough cough, smile). Why?

Well, I trace it to a couple of reasons: 1. Search engines love links and until the day comes that they don’t, people rely on them to grab a quick links. 2. Some directories can direct enormous amounts of traffic and still be resourceful (I.E. iTunes) BTW- we do advertise to attract business blogging traffic...glad to see you’re getting some Ben!

However, going back to what Tommy said, I think the heart of the issue above is about "Utility" for the end consumer and not the webmaster:) And for that, I must agree...for the most part. After all, when was the last time you did a search on DMOZ to find something? Nevertheless, they do offer something valuable that search engines can't...human intervention. I don’t know about you, but im a little sick of all the Splogs out there:)

Anyways, to ease some of the tension, a directory is really not what we are shooting for long-term. However, iBlog Business will continue to use it as a quality control measure (human intervention) until we are able to fully develop our quality portal. We have many new features in the mix and don’t plan on being "just another directory." Our next phase of updates is all about resourcefullness and relevance to the end consumer. I would love to list all the new features here, but you know what they say, "You never know when your competitors are listening."

Thanks again Ben for the mention and stay tuned for the new updates.

Christian

P.S. Love to here feedback from more of you business bloggers!
 

Hello Christian - thanks for the response!

I think gaining links, as you say, is one of the main reasons people use directories, but few people use them to actually find things.

Then again, today I was reading a post in an email group that I'm a member of where the person was talking about how active they are using the directory BlogExplosion, so clearly people do use them.

Personally, I look forward to seeing the features you come out with...
 

Thanks for the thoughts, everyone. My post mentions a few (okay, 23) places that you should strongly consider submitting your blog to (or individual posts in some case) because they are the cream of the traffic-driving crop.

But, as others have agreed here, you typically don't get much traffic at all by doing this. You might get a small trickle over time, with a few deluges if your posts briefly make the front page of Digg, del.icio.us or other social bookmarking sites.

But it's so easy and fast to do this that you might as well do it.