As an added bonus to including your business’ website(s) in our WebProNews eBusiness Directory, you have the chance to include an image with your listing. The image can only be 50×50 pixels, and can be a very eye-catching, and visual representation of your business. The image will be placed on the right-hand side of your business’ description within our listings as shown in the example image below.

To submit an image with your listing, it can easily be done on our directory’s submit page. All that you have to do is specify the image, along with the other information needed (URL and e-mail) for your listing. After this information has been filled out and the “Submit” button has been clicked, your listing information (along with your image) will automatically be sent for human approval.

If you would like to submit an image with your site listing, but do not have either the access or tools to create the image, ask your business’ website’s administrator. If you have any questions regarding the current image on your listing or when you submit an image, please contact me and I will be glad to answer any inquiries that you may have.

With the seven-year anniversary of the attacks on September 11th today, it seems like as good a day as any to direct you to our site NYC-Tower.com, which features ongoing news stories and updates about the September 11th memorial that is being built and other 9/11-related items.

Everyone should take a moment today (even comment spammers) to think about how lucky they are to be alive and have people who love them in their lives.

Well, I didn’t get any feedback over the weekend suggesting what the next new category should be, so I guess I’ll have to reach that decision on my own. I do expect to add one this week. Probably in the next day or two.  I’m still open to suggestions if you have them.

I might as well take a moment to talk about that other project I’ve been working on (though not just me). It’s not really directory related, but some of you may still find it interesting.

A while back, iEntry bought a site called famousdeaddb.com. It is basically a site where you can go and learn about famous people who have died, how they died, and learn some other interesting facts about them that you may not have known.

When we bought it, there was a whole lot of work to be done on it, and believe me, there still is.

There was a very minimal number of listings on the site, but we are working on building it up to be as big as possible.

We’re trying to stay on top of all the latest deaths (such as the recent passing of both Isaac Hayes and Bernie Mac). There are many, many other famous people who have died in the past that still need to be added, and that will take some time to be completed.

The site is still very much a work in progress, but there is still a ton of interesting information on it, and the listings are growing every day, so check it out.

It may seem a little morbid at first, but it’s actually quite educational and for many of the people that are no longer with us, it is serving as kind of a tribute. Guestbooks are available on each listing where people can express what they feel about that person.

Well, I’m on practically no sleep. Our (almost three-weeks old already) baby girl couldn’t seem to get comfortable last night and didn’t want us to sleep either.

I feel like Jerry Seinfeld trying to sleep in Kramer’s apartment with the red light from the Kenny Rogers Roaster sign coming in through the window.

I’ve got no real news on the eBusiness Directory front today (though I’ve still got some submissions to go through).  I’m also working on a different project that is using up a good deal of time.

There’s a good chance that my wife and I will be having a baby this week, and that means I will be M.I.A. for a little while, so wanted to let everyone know before it goes down.

There should still be some posting here on the blog while I’m away, so don’t let my absence stop you from checking back.

I know it’s hard to wrap your mind around not being able to read my words for a little bit, but the human race has endured tougher times, so don’t fret. I’ll be back like John Matrix (yes, he said it too).

In the meantime, keep those submissions coming. Someone will be filling in for me on approval, so they won’t sit in limbo for too long.

First and foremost, this blog is meant to keep you informed of the latest updates to the WebProNews eBusiness Directory.

But an article today from Michael Brito got me thinking. Is this blog too boring? The plan was always to share insight, observations, and opinions on other things besides our directory as well, but the core focus to this point has been what we are doing with the directory.

To show you that this blog is not just an ongoing press release, I pledge to write about other things from time to time to try and keep the blog worth reading even when there isn’t a significant update to the directory in progress.

So let me start by telling you a little bit about myself. This may still be boring, but we’ve got to start somewhere.

I have been with iEntry for over 5 years. Much of that time I spent writing and managing content across a whole bunch of sites and email newsletters, coordinating with authors in marketing, business management, and tech categories. Between this and working for a company covering the eBusiness industry, I have learned a lot in this time and since the beginning of this year, I have been writing for our site SmallBusinessNewz, and occasionally for our flagship publication WebProNews.

I have also been managing the eBusiness Directory (obviously) as well as the Small Business Directory from SmallBusinessNewz.

I have been married for about two and a half years, and I have a baby girl due any day now (if I am suddenly absent for a while, that’s why).

I am an avid movie and novel fan (particularly the horror genre). I like a wide range of music genres from Converge and Led Zeppelin to EPMD and Madonna (with a whole lot in between).

I am a fan of sports in general, but football (American, not soccer) is the only one I consistently get really excited about. Ironically, I am a Detroit Lions and Notre Dame fan. Insert mocking laughs here. I am originally from the South Bend area, which explains my Notre Dame fanhood, and I have been a Lions fan since childhood and remain loyal to a team that despite it’s greatest efforts has not alienated me yet.

I love eating fried chicken and discussing trends in snacking, candy bars of the 80s that have since disappeared, etc, but my biggest interest now has become parenthood and raising a child in this crazy world.

That’s probably the most personal information about myself I’ve ever shared on the Internet. I am a human and this blog like the directory is produced by one, and not a robot.

I will continue to post all updates to the directory here, but that will not be the only thing I talk about. Directories in general will still be a focus much of the time. But don’t be surprised if I talk about something totally different sometimes.

Update: I’m aware of how cheesy the picture of me in this post looks, but it’s a getting-to-know-you session right?

We have created an icon for those of you who are proud to be listed in the WebProNews eBusiness Directory.

We are encouraging people who have been approved and are listed to display this on their site if they wish.  This is by no means a requirement, so don’t feel like you have to, or say, “heh, there’s no way I’m putting that on my site”.

If you don’t want to display it, we don’t want you to. It’s entirely up to you. It’s there if you want it.

If you do choose to display it, linking it back to the directory would be appreciated, but again, this is not required.

If you want to use it, you can simply right-click on the image and save it.

This is more advice than it is an update on our directory, but feel free to use it as a tip for submitting to ours.

When you decide to submit your site to a directory, any directory, you would do well to make sure your site is ready for prime time. As I’ve been going through submissions, some of them have been placeholder pages announcing that a site will be launching in the future. That’s all fine and good, but don’t expect to be approved in the directory before we can even see what the site has to offer. Submit it when it’s ready to go.

Some submissions will be a blog with one post on it, or one that hasn’t been updated in months (or even years…yes, I’ve had a few that hadn’t been updated since 2006 or better). We and other human-edited directories are not likely to approve something that hasn’t been updated in so long.

Some submissions turn up a “page not found”. Obviously these won’t make the cut. Try to make sure your site is up and running when you submit it to a directory.

One more thing for now. When submitting a site, try to single out the most narrow category your site can fit in. This will ultimately make the directory more useful for users.

For example if you are submitting a site that offers an eCommerce shopping cart software, it would be a better fit for the eCommerce Shopping Carts category than simply the eCommerce category which is more broad. It makes it easier for both the end-user to find what they are looking for, and the editor (me in this case ) to approve.