Did you remember to PING?

This summer I took the plunge and joined the world of blogging and I have no regrets. I have really enjoyed it and have learned all sorts of new words and found a lot of cool tools in the process. One of the most important things I have learned is that when you blog, you must then ping.

A ping is basically a computer program that allows you to verify a particular web address and make sure it is working. Pinging, as it relates to blogs, is a way for you to noitify weblog directories and services of an update to your blog. Your blog software usually performs a ping automatically, but if you want to let other services like Technorati, NewsGator, FeedBurner and others all know at the same time it can be time consuming. The more relevant directories your blog is listed with, the better chance you have of getting your blog read by interested readers.

This is where services like Pingoat and Ping-o-matic come into play. They allow you to ping multiple services using their automated process. They are both free and certainly worth a look.

Do you have a favorite pinging service or Blog directory? Feel free to share with us by leaving a comment.