While everyone else is boozing it up..err.. I mean getting ready to network and do some business at the SES conference, it is with great pride that I steal a bit of their thunder and give you a brief intro to some new features on the BOTW Blog Directory. And why shouldn’t I steal some thunder; I’m the one that put in the countless sleepless nights toiling away on it. Yes, dear friends, while everyone else is away at the Ball, I get to stay home and mind the shop/sweep the floor/do the dishes/make sure the sites are running and nothing is crashing etc.

In any case, if you load up the blog directory at http://blogs.botw.org you’ll notice that you’re now able to see and search through the majority of posts from the blogs listed in the directory. Not only that, but you can search for posts by “tag” (ie how the author chose to categorize their post) and you can also search by blog title. We also threw in the latest searches being done on the site and all of the hottest tags (ie what the majority of authors are tagging their posts as).

All this of course is beta and your mileage may vary, especially since we will be dedicating some equipment to the cause to boost performance instead of sharing it with other applications as is being done now. So there will be some growing pains in the near future, but I think it gives you a taste of what we’re doing and where we’re going. Yahmon!

We ran a member promotion at the beginning of the month that went off fabulously. It would appear that people like to save money

We always enjoy running promotions. It is a nice way to thank supporters of the directory with special pricing on our services, and it typically helps us to grow our overall reach. Though we try to mix up of promotions, people tend to react best to the discounted pricing. The same held true this month.

As we approach the end of the month, we take this opportunity to notify non-members of the special promotion.

From now until March 1, use the following promotional code to receive 25% off all submission reviews:

G4TNRD

Simply enter the promotion code on Step 2 of the submission process, and you will receive 25% off. Booya.

BOTW Submit Site
BOTW Non Commercial Submit

After the success we had at PubCon Vegas, we have decided to exhibit at PubCon Boston, April 18-20. In addition to the exposure that we will receive by exhibiting at the booth, it will provide us the opportunity to get together with the BOTW Boston team. With offices scattered throughout the US, it proves difficult to get face time with any regularity, so we try to take advantage of any opportunity to get together.

We took advantage of grabbing our booth early – procuring nice real estate near MonsterCommerce, and TrueLocal. Our booth (#413) will be next to the afternoon cocktail bar, so we should see some nice traffic.

As exhibitors, we have been given discount passes for general attendees. To receive 10% off the price of general admission use the following promotional code: bw-25010

If you do attend, please make sure to visit us at the booth. We are planning on putting together something special for this event – we will provide details as the situation warrants.

Building a human edited directory has advantages and disadvantages. The main disadvantage is that it takes time to hand pick sites and add them one by one. Since this also leads to better quality and less junk for our users to sort through, the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.

The Regional branch of the directory is becoming more and more imperative. Although businesses and individuals can deal globally on the Internet, local exposure is still vital. When a business or individual makes the decision to place their site in the Regional area of BOTW, they are definitely increasing their prospects for traffic from local and global sources.

As editors, we enjoy the sense of accomplishment achieved when we go to an area of the directory with ZEROES and fill those in with quality sites. We also take pleasure in adding sites for customers who will benefit from the increased traffic this opportunity provides.

Recently, we have been @linking all localities in each state, primarily in Business & Economy. We hope to fill in all of these localities with even more quality sites. Development is taking place at a rapid pace.

This is a challenge for all BOTW editors to look for the ZEROES and become a ZERO Buster! Then realize the cooperative satisfaction that comes from quality work and a job well done.

If you are a sponsor or potential sponsor, consider placing your sponsorship in Regional as you will appreciate the traffic you receive as a result.

If you are a user, utilize this section of our directory to find quality businesses and points of interest in your state or locality.

Editor, sponsor, user… Everyone benefits from ZERO busting!

Many webmasters and internet marketing professionals scoff at the Alexa ranking system. “Too easy to manipulate”, they say. “Not truly representative of traffic”, others note. And while I agree with them, I take a different stance when it comes to Alexa’s usefulness.

I find Alexa to be a pretty good resource, especially when it comes to identifyng trends. You can take a look at the 2 year chart (if applicable) and get a nice idea of the direction of a company’s traffic. Is site penetration growing, shirnking, or beginning to plateau? Are there wild fluctuations in traffic? Is traffic seasonal?

Due to increased visibility, a member’s only promotion, and some recent expanded marketing efforts, we saw a nice jump in traffic this week, followed by an in-kind leap in Alexa traffic rank. We have recently poked around the 4,000 level a few times, but last night I was pleasantly surpirsed to see a BOTW daily traffic rank of 2,211.

Next stop <1000 !!