Sorry to tell you, but directory submissions don’t provide a ton of traffic. Don’t expect to see visitors coming from any directory that you submit your site.  But what can you expect?

You can expect that the links from these directories should count as backlinks to your site if the directory page where your link resides after being approved is cached in Google.  Content may be king, but backlinks are still important.

Niche directories rather than general directories are a much better quality link, so I suggest seeking them out for your niche. Below is a list of travel directories that I have compiled.

Warning: Don’t just submit to Niche directories, but use niche directories as an arrow in your SEO Quiver. Create great content, and remember to use a variety of types of links.

Travel Directories

• All-travel-sites.com premium, but has a lot of free methods..comment on the blog or do a guest post. (my site)
• Travel-Directory.org
• Traveldirectory.org
• TravelandTourismdirectory
• A travel directory for websites that use the .Travel
• Travelandtourism.net directory
• TouristClick.com has a variety of submissions free to $85.
• TravelAxis  free but has a $60 rush submission feature. Has a list of travel directories at the bottom of the page, but has not been updated since 2009.
• World Web Travel Directory

Lists of travel Directories

Rather than go through endless lists and compile my own list of directories, how about a list of other travel directory lists?

• One of my favorites is the list of travel sites on Directory Critic with over 170 travel directories listed.
• TravelAxis.orgs list of travel directories updated in 2009
• WebDirectory.ws has a list of Travel directories that looks like it is updated regularly.
• A pretty old directory list with 39 travel directories.
• InfoVileSilencer.com’s list of free travel directories I have used their lists before..most are good, but some bad ones slip through.. but you just never know.
• I like this list of travel Directories with Stats..some nice stats for each directory that is listed.
• ShortBreaks Travel Travel Directory List

Well, that’s my list of travel directories and list of lists of travel directories that I can recommend. I know there are a ton of directories out there with lists of travel directories or lists of general directories with travel categories. I would recommend using the former, but chose wisely when using general directories with travel categories.

With all the changes Google has made and continues to make, I believe its best to use these sparingly.Variety is not only the spice of life, but is the spice of your SEO.

Be sure to read our other posts on Link Building so you will be sure to do your link building right.

We have been back from our Guatemala Mission Trip for several weeks now, so I better do a brief synopsis of our trip. (not as brief as I intended) I am doing a more detailed series on the trip on All-travel-sites.com.  You can click on each picture below to see the full online version. Additionally, you can go down to the bottom of the page and visit the Fromhousestohomes.org Facebook Fan page to see all of my Guatemala Mission trip pics.

Volcan Agua seen from the Antigua Market

Overall, it was a great trip…I am blessed to have gone.  Guatemala, from what I saw is a very beautiful, but poor country. Antigua, is an old city, with cobble stoned streets and lots of ruins for tourists to tour threw. We actually went through the ruins of  one old church on our first full day.

We arrived in Guatemala on Thursday the 28th of July in the early afternoon. Our work week with Fromhousestohomes.org (FHTH)began on the following Monday.  On Friday, we climbed Volcan Pacaya, one of Guatemala’s active volcanoes….well worth the trip. The next day we went to Lake Atitlan, which is the largest and deepest lake in Guatemala, and is also a must see for any one touring Guatemala. Sunday we went to a bi-lingual church for our Sunday service. Other than buying occasional hand crafted goods from the locals, this was the extent of our vacationing.

FromHousestoHomes.org Mission Trip

• Guatemala Mission Trip day 1 -August 1, 2011we arrived at the office at 830am every day and worked until 430pm with frequent breaks to play with the family kids and neighborhood kids through out the day. We also ate lunch at noon, and depending upon the afternoon rains, might have a lengthy lunch or just a half hour lunch.  Today, our goal was to establish the boundaries of the house,  dig a trench for the footer, poor the footer, and then the first layer of block for the walls.  Additionally metal mesh wire and rebar were installed before putting in the footer.  Oh, the cement for the footer, was mixed by hand, and then the bucket brigade of us volunteers poured the footer.
  

  1st Day Progress

• Guatemala Mission Trip day 2 – August 2, 2011Today we did about 8 courses on the walls of the house. Much of the labor involved mixing mortar by hand, keeping the two skilled masons supplied with buckets of mortar and block, and filling in cracks with mortar. There was lots of time for taking breaks and playing with the neighborhood kids today as well.
  

  Day 2 Mission Trip Progress

   

   

   

   

• Guatemala Mission Trip day3 -August 3, 2011Today we started out setting up scaffolding inside the walls of the house. Then the work involved again supplying the masons and with mortar and block. Also 4 volunteers were employed to fill in cracks with mortar. In the US, and else were masons typically do this at the same time they lay the blocks. They might have purposely not put mortar on the sides of block so the volunteers would have something to do today.
  

  Volcan Agua

  At about the 10 course, or about the middle of the wall, the blocks that were used had the middles hollowed out, so a trench was formed. The trench was then filled with cement and rebar. This layer of cement served to tighten up the house.  The same process was then repeated at the end of the day for the final row of wall blocks. The back wall of the house was one layer higher than the front, so that the flat roof would have a slope for rain to drain off.

   

  

  Day 3 Guatemala Mission Trip Progress

   

• Guatemala Mission Tripday 4 -August 4, 2011 Today was actually a very short work day. We started out the day by going to Escuela Kemna’oj de Santa Maria de Jesus,  the Montessori elementary school in the town of  Santa Maria De Jesus that is supported by FHTH and will be run by FHTH starting in November of 2011.  This school serves to provide an education to many of the children in the poor town of Santa Maria De Jesus, which was the town were we built our house. FHTH has built over 150 homes in this small town alone.
  

  Inside Escuela-Kemna’oj de Santa Maria de Jesus

  Then after touring the school, our primary task today was to get the cement floor poured. So all the concrete had to be mixed by hand, and then bucket brigaded the cement into the house, where a mason poured it and floated a nice flat surface. All this was done before lunch. After lunch, we took the kids of the neighborhood out for ice cream at a local hacienda(store). After ice cream, the staff and volunteers were driven up to the top of the town to a field for a football(soccer) match. This was great fun. My team however did loose, but did manage to score two goals.  A great day, with no injuries.

   

  

  Day 4 Guatemala Mission Trip Progress

   

• Guatemala Mission Trip day 5-August 5, 2011 Sadly, today was the last day of our official Guatemala Mission Trip. This days tasks consisted of painting the inside and outside of the house. Each family chooses the colors of their house, so each house is unique to each family. Our family’s house has a blue interior and an orange exterior. While the volunteers were painting the house, the masons were busy putting on the metal roof. For safety reasons, volunteers are not allowed to help with the roof.  The family’s dad stayed home from the fields today to help with the final touches and to be available for the dedication ceremony which was when the volunteers gave the family the keys to the house and a plaque which is affixed to the house.The closing ceremony was marked with a lot of tears from both family and volunteers. To show their thanks to us the the family mother made us lunch which consisted of the most delicious Pollo Guisado (stewed chicken), cervesa(beer) and rum and cokes.  Additionally, we also each given a hand made shoulder bag.
  

  Inside the house,volunteers,crew and family

While we were in Guatemala, history was made. For the first time ever, Guatemala had a team in the World Cup and on Saturday night, they scored the first goal ever by a Guatemalan team, and beat Croatia 1:0. That night, there were fireworks all across Guatemala.

Tips for Traveling to Guatemala

• Take a bottle of Lysterine- gargle in shower to be sure you don’t drink any of the water.
• Ask for Agua Pure at meals..bottled water is the only safe water.
• Never eat roadside fruits..period..unless you want to be seriously ill.
• Only eat fruits that need to be pealed, like oranges, melons. If you eat apples or strawberry’s ask if they have been washed with pure water.
• Keep a record of all atm transactions, and check to make sure you have not been double billed. Be careful which atm machines you use.  You may want to consider canceling your bank card upon return home.
• As with many countries, never exchange currency at the airport, unless you want to pay a poor exchange rate.
• Don’t just give money to beggars, but give them food. We always saved our left overs and gave them to homeless people.
• Be prepared to be swamped with goods to be bought by the locals. If you don’t want to buy anything be prepared to say ” No Gracias” frequently when out. Don’t get angry with locals if they are very persistent in trying to sell you their goods.
• Don’t flush Toilet Paper(eww), but put used TP in the bucket beside the toilet. Its gross to us int he US, but its what they do.
• Grilled food from roadside vendors  is delicious.
• Spanish schools are really cheap, and immersion is  a great way to learn a language.
• Visit by volunteering on a mission trip. Its a great way to get to know some locals, you are not just seen as a tourist, but as someone who wants to help.
• Don’t be afraid to barter with the locals for their goods, but don’t beat them up. Remember they need to make a living.
• At the time of my trip the rate of exchange was roughly 7.5 Quetzales(Q) to the dollar.  I read on the FHTH site that teachers earn 1-10 Q per day..wow..for me, that would be really hard to live on.
• Don’t climb any volcanoes by yourself unless you want to get robbed.
• Ask around for a reputable tour guide, some are not to be trusted.
• Take a ride in a Tuk-Tuk (three wheeled taxi) its really fun.
• Be careful when crossing the roads, motorcycles are everywhere. Jokingly, I heard someone say, there are rules for driving in Guatemala, but no one follows them. But they do come to a crawl before speed bumps.

Additonal blog posts about my Guatemala Mission Trip can be read on all travel sites. The first post I did about my trip was Pre-Mission Trip Activities

You can see all my photos from the trip on the FHTH Facebook page.

Antigua View from the Cross

Final thoughts about Guatemala

Guatemala is a beautiful but poor country that really should not be missed in your travels.  As I have seen on other web sites, it is known as the land of eternal spring. Not once did it get so hot that I thought I would die. Even during our hardest labor, the temp was not much higher than 85 degrees Fahrenheit.  Its a country that has a lot to do, a lot to explore.

Things I would like to do on my next trip to Guatemala

• Do a mountain bike tour with oxexpeditions.com. I stopped in and talked with them, and it sounds like they have a cool ride around 5 towns which is geared to all riding levels.
• Take a zip line through the rain forest. I believe there are quite a few companies that do this.
• Spend a night or two touring the towns around Lake Atitlan.
• Go to the beach, next time we are definitely going to check out the beach.
• Rent a house instead of staying in a hotel..HomeAway has tons of homes for rental, and I believe I would save money doing..
• Visit some Inca Ruins.
• Take Spanish lessons.

Every Thursday at 3:20pm I get a Google Alert that at 330pm EST, I  will be participating in an online Tweetup called Travelers Night In (#TNI Twitter hashtag).  I first found out about the Tweetup when I noticed #TNI appearing in the Alltravelsites Twitter stream. I then asked one of the people what the Hashtag #TNI stands for, and I was sent to the Travelers Night In page and told to follow it on Tweetgrid.com, which is a cool site that allows you to follow numerous Twitter streams and post to your own stream to connect to the Twitter conversation.

TNI is from 330pm to 5pm and it consists of 10 questions about some area of travel, this upcoming week for example is on the topic of  “Festivals”.

Healthy Travel from ChooseCherries

Several weeks ago,  when I participated in the Healthy Travel TNI, which was sponsored by Choosecherries, I actually  won a Choosecherries travel pack. One lucky TNI participant won the grand prize which included a cherry iPod.  Good thing I didn’t win that, or it would have made three iPods I have won and don’t use. But anyway, I  would like to thank ChooseCherries for the cherry travel pack..I loved eating the dried cherries on my oatmeal in the morning..yum..

ChooseCherries.com does not sell or represent any one cherry company, so I guess you could call them a Cherry Coalition. Their site has lots of great info about cherries, including many cherry recipes and cherry health and nutrition information. You can also follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

If you did not know, I am a big fan of the cherry as a fruit. I also love lots of different cherry candy..see the Cherry Mash Needs SEO blog post..Thinking about cherries reminds me of one of my favorite dishes at a local restaurant, the Landis Store Hotel, Duck with Cherry Sauce…oh, I need to stop thinking about food.

Who Should participate in #TNI?

Back to TNI, now who should participate in TNI?  If you have a travel interest that is personal or professional, you may want to consider following and participating in TNI. Who already participates in TNI?

• Travel bloggers
• Travel agents
• Travel enthusiasts
• Travel photographers

So if you find yourself being o of these four types of travelers, or if you find yourself being a person that would like to network with these types of  travelers, why not tune in on Thursday and give TNI a try?

If you are interested in Sponsoring TNI like ChooseCherries.com did, you can visit ZipSetgo below for more info.

Examine TNI

TNI and other similar Twitter Chats have the potential to be awesome marketing events.  Thinking about your own little niche, be it automotive, financial, home improvement or what have you. Do you think you could use a Tweetup like this to drive business to your site or your physical location?

TNI Resources

• ZipSetGo TNI Post -These wonderful ladies are responsible for starting and maintaining TNI. I am sure if you have questions about starting a Tweetup or questions about sponsoring TNI, this is the place to go.
• AdventurousKate does a review of TNI including the Healthy Travel week post.
• TweetGrid.com to follow the TNI action and any other Twitter hashtag events you may choose.

You can now Embed Tweets easily..I started writing this post a week or so ago, but finally decided to publish it.

You can check out this TechCrunch article which gives several methods for embedding links. If you decide to use Blackbird Pie, be sure not to use the https version of your tweet links. Also, you must click on the time link below the Tweet which says something like “about 1hr ago” and copy and paste that link into the Blackbird tool to get an embedded tweet like the one on this post.

Other Twitter Stuff

You do know that many of the search engines are using Twitter results for part of their real time search results right? Well tweets do often show up in the SERPs.

Something that makes me go hmm

As you may or may not know,  as part of the Baldydog.com company, we not only do SEO, but I as the Social Media Director, do manage several other blogs.

In addition to all the blogs, as part of the Baldydog network, we have multiple sites to include directories such as Pixelheadonline, Online Legal Directory, Home Improvement Directory, and of course Alltravelsites.com to name just a few. If you want a complete list of our directories, leave a comment, and I will send you an email with the complete list of our directories.

Anyway, while reviewing and publishing travel site submissions on the travel directory, as part of the submission process, I usually send out several tweets about the newly added travel resource. I usually say something like the tweet below.

I also send out a tweet with the individual page for the listing and may include a direct link to the url of the listing if it is a short url.

Link Building Tip

What I have noticed is that links that I tweet, such as individual listing pages, will then be cached in Google. If I don’t Tweet them, they won’t get cached, and as you know, an un-cached page is as good as invisible to Google because it doesn’t know about the web page.
Does this mean you should go and send thousands of spam links to Twitter so they get cached?  I wouldn’t recommend it. I think it is ok occasionally. What I try to do when I do these types of “resource addition” tweets, is to sandwich them between tweets that seek to share, communicate, rt, or be genuinely helpful.

Even these types of tweets, I feel are helpful and not spammy, as I am only tweeting about travel related resources, and most of the 2000+ followers have some sort of travel interest.

So How Can You Use Twitter for Link Buiding

Twitter links as you know are nofollow type links, so they really don’t count for much Google Juice, but they do serve to notify the search engines of your resource, which may otherwise have been uncached.

If you do link building as we do, when you get accepted into a directory, send out a Tweet for the actual listing page of your resource or the category page that your listing appears if it is not too heavily populated with other similar resources.

Try to get as many cached links pointing to your site as possible. Cached with PR is better, but cached at the very least.

So have you noticed similar results using Twitter, or do you think I am erroneous?

**note – to get the box around my tweets, I put the tweets into a table. <table border=”2″><tr><td>Tweet code</table></tr></td>

***For more info on Link Building check out On-Page Optimization Training.

The following is a press release about a cool opportunity for two Social Media Travelers. I was contacted by Ben, who asked me if I would share their story with the readers of this and my other travel blog. Please consider adding them on their various other networks and helping them with their cause.

Orlando, Florida – 19 November 2009 – Orlando Residents Ben Reed and Brian Sommer have been selected as finalists by The Tourism Authority of Thailand in their social media competition: Ultimate Thailand Explorers. Beginning December 10^th, Reed and Sommer will embark on a 6-Day assignment to Pattaya, Thailand where the couple will use social media websites such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to promote the Country of Thailand as a vacation destination.   To be selected as finalists, Reed and Sommer underwent a grueling vetting process including submitting a 1-minute YouTube video explaining why they want to go to Thailand and how they would promote their chosen destination. Selected as 1 of 25 teams from over 200 applicants from dozens of countries, the pair next had to solicit the most votes from Internet users from around the world.   On achieving this milestone Reed said, “We are thankful to the hundreds of fans and followers that voted for us each day.” He continued by adding, “we started with a blank website and in just a few short weeks, grew a twitter following that reached out to tens of thousands of individuals and built an integrated Facebook campaign asking people to vote for us.” Both Reed and Sommer are connected on traditional social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, but have also established a presence on Flickr, WAYN and have reached our to prominent travel bloggers too.

Reed and Sommer may be followed today on twitter at www.twitter.com/benandbrianthai as well as on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ultimate-Thailand-Explorers-Ben-Brian/128431649795. “Managing our social media sites is a full-time job,” Reed said. Their official blog address is www.ultimatethailandexplorers.com/blog/pattaya.   The couple will compete against four additional teams in the Cities of: Bangkok, Phuket, Chang Mai and Koh Samui for the Grand Prize of $10,000 and the title of Ultimate Thailand Explorer. Prizes are also awarded to individuals who participate in voting in the Ultimate Thailand Explorers Competition. Voting will take place from 1 December 2009 – 8 January 2010 at the official competition site, www.ultimatethailandexplorers.com.   “Neither of us have been to Thailand before, so we are looking forward to learning about the culture, sampling the local cuisine and of course discovering the many attractions and beaches that Pattaya has”, said Sommer. “We are excited to share our adventures with our followers and fans and have plans to encourage them to connect with us while we are in the city”, he concluded.   The Ultimate Thailand Explorers Competition follows similar efforts by tourism bureaus from around the globe. Locally in Orlando, the Orange County Convention and Visitors Bureaus selected 1 couple to capture their experiences at Orlando’s world-renowned attractions. And in Australia, Tourism Queensland selected 1 individual for the “Best Job in the World”.   Inspired by family vacations as a child, Ben is a travel blogger at adventureswithben.com. Through engaging, humorous and candid experiences from his travels to Africa, Europe, South America, North America and Asia, Reed shares his passion for travel. His full-time job is with a training and development organization in Orlando.   A physical therapist in Kissimmee, Brian is an avid traveler. His most memorable experiences include shark cage diving with Great White Sharks in Cape Town, South Africa and backpacking through Europe. Together they share a home in Orlando.