Free Internet Web Directories are not a new thing; they have for a long time constituted a simple way for webmasters to increase their site’s search engine rankings.

Certain directories, however, are to be avoided; particularly the ones who ask for reciprocal links …

A number of Zlionauts, wanting to improve their ranking, have linked their Zlio Shops to Web Directories that demand reciprocal links in exchange. When getting out of hand, however, it can turn your Zlio Shop into something like that:

This, of course, strongly disturbs your Zlio Shop’s performance and tends to make your visitors flee the site. Furthermore, the practice of placing advertisement links on your Zlio Shop is forbidden, as mentioned in Zlio’s terms of use.

In order to avoid such situations, Zlio has decided to limit the creation of external links to five per Zlio Shop. Therefore it will from now on be possible to add external links only to your Shop’s footer, and only with a limit of five.

Every Zlio Shop not respecting these terms will be deleted without prior notice.

Nevertheless, to link one’s Shop to free Web Directories is always possible, and actually recommended. There are many quality Directories out there, although some of them may be hard to find.

Here is some advice on how to link your Shop to Web Directories:

1. In a text file, prepare all the important information relating to your Shop (title , description, keywords) in a way that will allow you to easily cut and paste this information into the required fields within the directories.

2. We suggest you avoid directories demanding a reciprocal link to your Shop. This type of partnership will not aid your shop in any way, and will simply jam your pages with unuseful logos and banners. The creation of direct links to such directories is in any case limited to five links.

3. Before submitting a store to a web directory, you should verify that it points directly to your Shop’s URL, and not to a redirection site, such as www.directory.net/redirect.php?site=shop.zlio.net. Only links pointing directly to your site will be picked up by the Search Engines.

4. Using a “directory of directories” allows you to compile an impressive list of quality directories which you can link your Zlio Shop to. An example for such a site is http://www.web-directories.ws

5. Look for directories that specialize in the topic of your Zlio Shop. For example, if your Shop specializes in home decor, type “home decor directory” into your Search Engine in order to find directories specializing in this topic.

6. Always keep an updated list of your web directory submissions, in order to avoid signing up twice with the same directory.

Zlio Shop “For Whom The Bells Toll” (http://anniversary.zlio.net) has been announced the official winner of this year’s Wedding Season Contest, which took place from June 3rd to June 18th, 2008 !

With 140 total votes, Zlionaut Zizzi Le Corre is the lucky winner of a

6 Megapixel HP Photosmart Digital Camera and Printer.

Zlio’s annual Wedding Season Contest called upon Zlio Shop owners to create Shops around a “Wedding Theme”. Zlionauts could have either sold Bridal- and Wedding related products in their Shops, or they could have used their Shop as a Bridal Registry.

Contestants were asked to let their imagination roam and to design beautiful, interesting and attractive Shops.

What did we like about Zizzi Le Corre’s Shop “For Whom The Bell Tolls” ?

• The idea of the Shop is superb! We just loved that she created a store for “the first ten years of marriage” … why just concentrate on the Wedding, when you can celebrate ten whole years of togetherness?
• The Shop Design really spoke to us: we loved the cursive font used in the caption and we adored the interplay of the mellow colors used.
• Zizzi really got into things when she added products to her Shop. Every single category is filled to the brim with products that fit perfectly into the contest’s theme.

Congratulations to the winner … we are sure she will really enjoy her prize!

In honor of Carrie Bradshaw and the opening of the much anticipated Sex and the City movie (which is tonight by the way!), we thought we’d take a look at some of our hottest shoe shops. Loved by women, men, and shoe fetishists alike, everybody’s favorite foot accessory deserves to stand front and center.

Take a look at some of the shoe shops popping up on Zlio right now and see if you can do better:

Norman’s Skate Shoes

Twinkle Toes

Shoe Dolly

In Need of Shoes

Fashion Shoes For Business

Shoe Shimmer

Prom Shoes

Diva Shoes

The Perfect Feet

The Espadrilles & Sandals Store

Notice a Zlioshop or a trend that you think we should feature on the blog? Let us know in a comment!

It’s time for the interview of the month with a super successful Zlionaut.  Hanane’s unique and original idea coincides perfectly with current events: USA President 2008 Store. 

Read below to get to know Hanane, her 30+ shops, and her advice for other Zlionauts:      

Tell us about yourself: 

My name is Hanane JO. I am 27 years old, I am French and I’m a radio journalist.      

What made you want to launch a shop, selling clothing and accessories by presidential candidate? 

I had the idea last year when Zlio started allowing us to create American shops, just after the French President Elections. I wanted to launch a unique and original shop. I thought what was happening in the United States and then, Bingo! I thought of doing something about the American elections – I sell all the products of the candidates from Hillary Clinton to John McCain and all the items useful to make this campaign unforgettable.       

How are you planning to promote it?  

I mainly promote the shop via web directories       

Do you have other shops?

Oh yes! I have 30 other shops. I sell everything really : clothes, holidays, cars, make up, food, books even weapons. That is the main strength of zlio’s concept. You can sell everything with no limits without being worried about shipping orders or answering clients. Zlio does that for you.      

What made you think of the concept that you have for your shop?

Everybody in the world is waiting for the USA president elections, that is one of the most important event in the year so I think that is more than important to do a shop that can mark this event.     

Do you get feedback from your customers based on the products you sell?

Yes, sometimes people write to me to ask me if I sell this product or that product.      

Do you have any advice for other Zlionauts?

I think all the zlio shopkeepers have to work on their shops every day. They don’t have to create a shop and then abandon it. They should update it, add products, register it on web directories etc every day…It is a kind of part time job really. It needs patience and creativity.     

What did you think of the Zlio service?

The Zlio team is great! They are fast and efficient, and answer your questions right away.      

What new features would you like to see added on Zlio?

I would like to see more competitions like the one you did with Yoox. The Zlioshop keepers had to create the most beautiful and designed shop. But I think that the judges should  be the ones that organize the competition and not the Zlio users because sometimes people vote without objectivity.      

How do you foresee the future of your ZlioShop?

I think my shop mission will stop after November 2008 when the new president is elected. I am looking forward knowing who will be the new president. Obviously I have my favorite candidate!      

It’s time to take a look at another one of our fun, creative, and popular ZlioShops from across the Atlantic, and today’s feature is French member: ZlioShop cravate.zliostore.com

Cravate means “neck tie” in French, and trust us when we say that this ZlioShop hasn’t forgotten anything – solids, strips, patterns, polka dots… there’s even an instructional video on how to tie the perfect knot!

What We Like:

• The Colors: Simple and modern, this shop stays bright and fun with a masculine feel.

• The Information: Between the instructional video and choice of books, you can learn the entire history of the neck tie while making the perfect Double Windsor.

• The Products: Besides having every style of necktie known to man, ZlioShop Cravate even offer accessories, so chances are if it’s made for a tie you’ll find it here!

We think neck ties are a great idea for a unique ZlioShop and we love orange too, but we have to admit that orange on orange makes it a little difficult to read.

If you would like to be featured on the blog, send us an email at zlioshopalaune@zlio.com and you could find yourself here!

Fashion Week puts us in the mood for clothes! With brights and neutrals gracing this season’s catwalks, just about anyone can try out some fun new color combinations. We all know that color can have a serious effect on mood and personality… which is why we love the idea behind today’s featured ZlioShop: Shades of… 

What We Like:

• The Concept: This ZlioShop is based on the notion that colors therapy relates to fashion. Most of us unconsciously wear clothes of a certain color palette, unaware that this could be potentially effecting our moods. Plus, the color-organized sections of the site allow us to find some of those more unusual, difficult-to-find items. 

• The Navigation: Need a white hat? Orange socks? The menu’s layout allows you to search first by color, then by article – making it a snap if you wanted to find blue pants, a purple shirt, or even green shoes! A bright funky piece is the key to this season’s “punch of color” trend.

• The Attitude: We like the fun and inspired idea behind this ZlioShop, especially if changing clothes can change our moods.

Why not create your own unique ZlioShop Fashion Boutique? Zen, Minimal, Urban, Outdoor, Trendy… it’s up to you!

The 80th Annual Academy Awards were last night and the winners were big! Viewers all over the country tuned in again this year to see who walked away with that coveted gold statue.

While No Country For Old Men took home Best Motion Picture, the Lead Actor and Actress awards went to Daniel Day Louis (for There Will Be Blood) and French actress Marion Cotillard (for La Vie en Rose). Children’s adventure The Golden Compass walked away with Best Visual Effects, and Best Art Direction went to (no surprise) Sweeny Todd.

Why not take advantage of our love for movies, film culture, and Hollywood and turn it into a super hot ZlioShop?

Focus on this year’s winners, or nominees… or perhaps your favorite Oscar winning movies of all time.

Some Zlionauts are already ahead of the game – take for example DVD Central, which offers everything from HD DVD to TV Box sets:

What We Like:

- The Idea: Why not join everyone else on the internet and help bring movies to the masses – legally!

- The Navigation: We love when it’s super easy to find exactly what you want, and DVD central makes it a snap. We especially like their list of “Favorite Products” for when we don’t know what we’re looking for!

Like the idea? Vote for DVD Central! Think you could do better? Create your own!

As we’ve mention before, Zlio has gone international, now with online shops in France, Germany, the UK, and the United States, with more to come! We’ve been introducing some of our most popular international featured shops.
Feel like treating yourself or maybe someone special in your life? It’s the French Zlioshop beauty special and today we’re taking a look at esthetique.blogoshop.com:

What we like:

• The Intro: “It’s time to benefit from professional esthetic advice, which can help you learn how to choose and use the best products to bring out your beauty!”, now there’s an intro that puts us in the mood for products.

• The Categories: How do you figure out what you’re looking for and where to go? With uber-precise categories designed to help you navigate the product world with ease. “Covering Imperfections,” “Tattoos and Body Jewelry,” and “How To Use Make-Up” all give us a better chance of finding what we’re looking for – or what we didn’t even know we needed.

• The Esthetic… of course : A personal beauty shop should be beautiful! Clean lines with a classy feminine touch remind us of spa shopping and how could you not like a shop that offers you a personalized esthetician to help you choose!

Zlio has gone international, now with online shops in France, Germany, the UK, and the United States, with more to come! Get to know some of our most popular international featured shops, starting with funky and fun Kawaii Ijou:

What we like:

• The Intro : “Hate being like everybody else? This site is for you – Hello Kitty, Pucca, Doc Martins, Kanabeach… it’s all here! If you love fashion from all over the world or creating your own designs, you’re sure to find something that’s guaranteed to inspire. Looking for something in particular? Use the keyword search on the top right section of the page to find it!”
• Trendy and Unusual Items : “Emily the Strange” post cards, “Hello Kitty” guitar cases, and “The Nightmare Before Christmas” accessories galore…
• The Illustrations The bright, colorful designs and girly graphics almost make us feel as if we were shopping in Tokyo…

Could you introduce yourself? I am Tia, and I used to work as an English teacher in Morocco. I am so interested in e-commerce that I decided to quit teaching and spend more time on the net. What made you want to launch a shop, selling diamonds and watches? First, I wanted to start a shop of my own and sell Moroccan silver jewelry. But when I got a mail from a Zlio friend I decided to join Zlio. How are you planning to promote it? I started the promotion by putting the shop on the Google directory. Then I added my shop link to my e-mail signature. I then sent e-mails to all my friends, relatives and acquaintances. I am in the process of promoting the shop in boo-list, specialist and easy safe-list. I am also planning to create a blog and a Face book account. I would like to ask Zlio friends to give me ideas on how to promote the shop on Skype and E-bay. Do you have other shops? I’ve got another shop which offers a variety of products for women’s needs. It’s at http://ladyboutique.zliostore.com, but I have a problem upgrading this shop to version 3. Your help is most welcome. I am also planning to start other shops once I get used to the system. What did you think of the Zlio service? The Zlio service is a great idea and I know it works very well in Europe. I am still learning though and still have a lot of questions. But I must confess, I get help whenever I need it. What new features would you like to see added on Zlio? I have a lot of friends in Morocco and in the Middle East, who would love to buy Zlio products. I think Zlio should do something about this part of the world. How do you foresee the future of your ZlioShop? I hope to gain people’s trust and have clients advertising my shop.