Do you have a blog?  If not, you really should.  There is not a better, more productive, wide reaching, and cost effective way to spread your message, build your brand, exclaim you rightful position as an expert in your field and start a meaningful conversation with your customers, prospects and raving fans than by writing a blog.

If you do have a blog, one of the very next steps, after writing some remarkable content and providing simple ways for readers to share and spread your message, is to “claim” your blog on Technorati.

Technorati is like Google for blogs.  A social media search directory. Hugely popular and extremely relevant.  How relevant?  Right now it tracks over 100 million blogs.

So the deal is, if you want to have your blog listed on Technorati, you first have to join (it’s free), and then you have to “claim” your blog.

Here’s how you do it:

1. Join Technorati by completing the sign up form and clicking Join. It only takes about a minute.
2. Your profile/account page will pop up next.   Take a few minutes and fill it out.  It’s only about 5 or 6 questions.
3. Upload a photo and also write a quick bio.
4. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and find where it say, “My Claimed Blogs.”
5. Enter your blog’s URL and click Begin Claim.
6. You’ll then get an automated email thanking you for submitting your blog claim.  The email will contain a claim token, something like:  DKPUSJD8283J.  There will also be a link for you to click on that contains more details on how to use the claim token.  The link just takes you to your account page.
7. The next step is to actually use the claim token by writing it in a blog post and publishing it.  This is their way of verifying you own the blog.
8. Once that’s done, go back to your account page and click the “Update Site Feed URL.”

That’s it, you should be good to go.  However, Technorati has recently updated it’s “claim” process so if you run into any problems (or if I’ve missed anything) please just let me know and I’ll be happy to help.

Now… go get your blog listed and tracked in Technorati, and you to can be one of the cool kids.