Free directories let you submit a link for free. Often free directories will provide upgraded listing fees or require a reciprocal link to submit a link to their free directory. Free directories can be a great resource for promoting your own directory or Web site but it’s easy to waste your time submitting to dead directories or a free directory that is packed full of SPAM.

When you’re looking for free directories to add your link to, observe the number of links they already have and the quality of their listings. If the directory is unmanaged, unpromoted, and full of SPAM, it’s best to steer clear.

Bid directories let you contribute to a directory and help it grow and improve. Linking in a bid directory is as easy as submitting your link and bidding for the position you desire. Many bid directories have very targetted categories for your links and attract users that are interested in your Web site. A bid directory can also list links by letter, or choose to provide both listings in addition to a permanent detail page for your links.

Paid directories let you list a link, usually with a one-time submission fee for having your site reviewed. The clear benefit of a paid directory is quality. A paid directory receives much less SPAM, and can have a better budget for promoting and advertising.

A new MOD has been released for phpLinkBid over in the phpLinkBid MODs forum. The phpLinkBid Display Link Position MOD will let you display the position of each link in place of the current bid amount in your listings. This MOD works with letters mode and categories mode, and is not necessary if you run Advanced Link Stats since it is already included with the addon.

This post describes how to add a Latest Links page to your phpLinkBid directory. It is completely free to use and share, and takes just a minute to add to your bidding directory.

This MOD is tested with phpLinkBid v1.2 and is compatible with Advanced Link Stats.

View example of Latest Links and Latest Links with ALS.

1. Create a new file called latest.php and enter the code found below (click on the link view the full source). Upload to your phpLinkBid site in /content/latest.php.

/**
* latest.php - phpLinkBid latest links script
*
* Usage: Place this file in your /content/ folder and go to http://www.yoursite.com/latest.html
*
* Copyright (c) 2007, Intavant (www.intavant.com)
*
* THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR
* IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND
* FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR
* CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
* DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
* DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY,
* WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY
* WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
*
* @version 1.0
* @author Gabriel Harper
*
* 2007-07-17 v1.0
*
*/

$latest_max = 10; // # of latest links to display
$show_added = true; // Display the date added (true/false)
$date_format = ‘F j, Y’; // Date format (see: http://php.net/date)

$latest_msg = ‘These are the ‘ . $latest_max . ‘ most recently added links on ‘ . $cfg->getVar(’site_name’) . ‘.’;
$cfg->setVar(‘page_title’, ‘Latest Links on ‘ . $cfg->getVar(’site_name’));

$tpl->define(‘latest_top’, ‘

‘ . $latest_max . ‘ Latest Links

‘ . $latest_msg . ‘

‘, 1);
$tpl->parse(‘latest_top’);

$tpl->define(‘latest’, ‘links.tpl’);
$tpl->define_d(‘link_row’, ‘latest’);
$tpl->define_d(‘nolink_row’, ‘latest’);
$tpl->parse(‘latest’);

$sql = ‘SELECT ‘ . TBL_LINKS . ‘.*, ‘ . TBL_BIDS . ‘.bid_amount, SUM(‘ . TBL_BIDS . ‘.bid_amount) as bid_amount FROM ‘ . TBL_LINKS . ‘ LEFT JOIN ‘ .
TBL_BIDS . ‘ ON ‘ . TBL_BIDS . ‘.link_id = ‘ . TBL_LINKS . ‘.link_id WHERE bid_amount > 0 GROUP BY link_id ORDER BY datecreated DESC LIMIT ‘ . $latest_max;
if(($rs = $db->execute($sql)) && (!$rs->EOF))
{
$link_index = 0;
while(!$rs->EOF)
{
$link_index++;
$tpl->assign_d(‘link_row’, ‘link_index’, $link_index);

if($show_added === true)
{
$rs->fields['link_desc2'] .= ‘
Added ‘ . date($date_format, dbtime_to_unix($rs->fields['datecreated'])) . ‘‘;
}
$tpl->assign_array_d(‘link_row’, $rs->fields, 1);

$bid_url = str_replace(‘%link_id%’, $rs->fields['link_id'], $cfg->getVar(‘urlformat_link’));
$bid_url = DIR_BASE . $bid_url;
$tpl->assign_d(‘link_row’, ‘bid_url’, $bid_url);

$tpl->parse_d(‘link_row’);
$rs->MoveNext();
}
}

?>

2. You can now view the latest links page by visiting http://www.yoursite.com/latest.html.

3. To add a link to your Latest Links page in the menu you must edit /tpl/phplb/header.tpl and add a link to “{dir_base}latest.html”.

4. You can customize the script by changing $latest_max, $show_added, $date_format and $latest_msg. See comments in the MOD for details on these variables.

There are many, many ways to promote your directory and market your link directory services on the Web. This article will provide 10 fundamental steps for promoting your directory. If you haven’t followed these basic steps or have a good reason for not following any of them, it might be time to take a step back and cover your basics.

1. Clean up your directory. This will help your directory promote itself.  Go for a custom design, add unique content, in short: offer something of value!
2. Add your directory to your sig and profile on Webmaster forums and promote while you’re posting.
3. Link to your directory prominently from your other directories and relevant Web sites.
4. Offer your custom template as a free download if the user keeps a link to your directory in the sig.
5. Provide free services like SEO tools and blog or post about them online.
6. Trade links with other quality link directories.
7. Sponsor other people’s custom templates and themes
8. Write a free eBook or provide some other exciting free download for your audience and host it on your directory.
9. Use social bookmarking sites like Digg, StumbleUpon and furl to tag important announcements and new features.
10. And the most obvious: submit your site to other quality directories!

Link directories are Web sites that often organize links by category or topic. Link directories can be an effective way to promote your own Web site, and Webmasters can earn money by selling listings in a popular Web directory that they run.

Linking to websites is growing more and more important everyday as the vast amount of websites on the internet increases. Search engines “crawl” and recognize websites if they’re linked to by other websites. Link directories provide the perfect service and automated management to keep links under control and in order. Directories are becoming more popular as the Internet expands. Link directories provide a way to organize all of the growing resources on the Web and provide an easily accessible portal for Internet users.

Thank you for visiting LinkDirectorySoftware.com, a new site dedicated to helping directory owners, directory users and developers of directory software. Our mission is to provide clear, comprehensive and useful information and resources for building a directory, running and maintaining a directory and developing directory software and MODs.

Link Directory Software will be actively improving our resources for all types of directory sites. Topics include paid directory and free directory software and directory tools, bid for position and bidding directory script resources, reciprocal link directories, link clouds and much more.

Thank your for visiting LinkDirectorySoftware.com and we look forward to helping you with your directory projects and directory marketing efforts.