Is Your Design Link-Worthy?
So what if I told you your design skills could gain you hundreds, maybe thousands of free backlinks and visitors without having to design anymore designs? Yes, you heard correctly, this isn’t the standard ‘create free themes with your link in the footer’ advice.
Admittedly this post doesn’t really apply to anyone who doesn’t have a custom theme, but it will still be an interesting read, I guarantee it!
Have you ever been to http://w3csites.com? Chances are you probably haven’t, but if you designed your own theme you probably should have! On W3Csites.com you can become a member then submit your site, if its approved you will get a free backlink. As long as it conforms with the W3C standards you should be accepted, which is pretty easy. You can check that your site is valid here - http://validator.w3.org/
Your probably happy with your new found free backlink eh? What if I told you we could multiply that ten times over? Here’s how:
Below I have listed all the big CSS directories I could find, a lot with there corresponding PageRank. As you can see you simply submit your website, and if it gets approved you get a free backlink, but that’s not all, if your design is really good you could receive hundreds of visitors. Lastly some of these websites have really high PageRank, which gives you another incentive to try this.
URL PageRank
http://www.cssvault.com/ 8
http://www.stylegala.com/ 7
http://www.cssmania.com/ 7
http://www.cssbeauty.com/ 6
http://www.bestwebgallery.com/ 6
http://www.unmatchedstyle.com/ 6
http://www.screenfluent.com/ 6
http://www.cssimport.com/ 6
http://www.thebestdesigns.com/ 6
http://www.cssbased.com/ 6
http://www.edustyle.net/ 6
http://www.cssdrive.com/ 5
http://www.cssremix.com/ 5
http://www.screenalicious.com/ 5
http://www.designlinkdatabase.net/ 5
http://www.cssheaven.com/ 5
http://www.cssglobe.com/ 5
http://www.cssreboot.com/ 5
http://www.mostinspired.com/ 5
http://www.csstux.com/ 5
http://www.css-website.com/ 5
http://www.cssclip.com/ 5
http://www.css-design-yorkshire.com/ 5
http://www.css11.com/ 5
http://www.cssimpress.com/ 5
http://www.cssprincess.com/ 5
http://www.cssblast.ru/ 5
http://www.coolsitecollection.com/ 5
http://www.stylegrind.com/ 5
http://www.w3csites.com/ 4
http://www.designshack.co.uk/ 4
http://www.ceeses.com/ 4
http://anjo.dekiteharu.jp/ 4
http://www.csshazard.com/ 4
http://www.e-motionaldesign.com/ 4
http://www.creative-pakistan.com/ 4
http://www.netzfruehling.de/ 4
http://www.najdizajn.com/ 4
http://www.csssmoothoperator.com/ 4
http://www.cssgalaxy.com/ 4
http://www.per.fectio.net/ 4
http://www.cssflavor.com/ 4
http://www.onepixelarmy.com/ 4
http://www.piepmatzel.de/ 4
http://www.submitcss.com/ 4
http://inspirace.dobrestranky.com/ 4
http://www.cssgallery.ro/ 4
http://www.cssgreen.com/ 4
http://www.alvit.de/css-showcase/ 3
http://www.csselite.com/ 3
http://www.designsnack.com/ 3
http://www.cssbloom.com/ 3
http://www.csscollection.com/ 3
http://www.my3w.org/ 3
http://www.artnetz.de/ 3
http://www.cssgaleri.com/ 3
There is at least 50 links there, which means 50 potential backlink opportunities, if that’s not enough to tempt you into designing a custom theme then I don’t know what is?
Over To You
Have you had any experience submitting to these? Have you created a stunning design, or would you like to in the future, leave a comment and let us know!
Similar Posts:
- Cracking List of Dofollow Forums! (With PageRank)
- Top 20 Free Article Directories!
- Linkersblog Turbo Charged in 09′
- Building Links by Creating Wordpress Themes
- Danny, how many backlinks do I have?
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
StumbleUpon
Digg
FriendFeed
LinkedIn
Technorati
Twitter
Thats a really good tip there Danny. Then again, I don’t think a lot of blogs do have anything to do on such a list. Blogs are in general boring looking. (I know, there are some that are good looking)
VikingBloggers last blog post..AdToll.com Acquired by a US Company
I’ll have to disagree with you there VikingBlogger, admittedly there are some boring looking blogs, but there are tonnes of masterpieces out there, including free themes.
Hehe, I guess we just have different opinion what we call “masterpieces” then. Care to show a couple blogs that in your opinion have a slick design?
VikingBloggers last blog post..AdToll.com Acquired by a US Company
http://freelanceswitch.com/ is one that instantly springs to mind.
Yeah, the Freelance site and other sites in its network all have great design.
Sly from SlyVisions dot Coms last blog post..Where Is The Sly Guy?
There are so many blogs that have amazing designs. I think we just get stuck in our MMO niche, but especially outside our niche there are some fantastic creative designs!
Tom - StandOutBlogger.coms last blog post..5 Ways To Take Your Blog To A New Level!
Thanks for the tip! You are quickly becoming one of my favourite bloggers!
Sad that I don’t know how to design. I only know basic css and coding. Not an expert in designing from scratch.
Husseins last blog post..5 Tools I Use For Search Engine Optimization
You don’t always have to start from scratch you know. Even just a few tweaks here and there can make your design unique in a way.
Sly from SlyVisions dot Coms last blog post..Quick Links - October 11, 2008
Currently designing my own theme for my blog as we speak
- and it’s looking pretty good atm
- but I’m gonna stick it out 
I have good knowledge of html and basic knowledge of css, but can’t use these to make a wordpress theme
I never thought of css directories, but knew you could gain backlinks by having a unique design, such as in those lists that blogs such as SmashingMagazine and Noupe make
Otooos last blog post..Best Free WordPress Themes
Update: I have just headed over to Balkhis and noticed I won Pimp My Blog, so I’m going to be getting my own customized theme
Otooos last blog post..Best Free WordPress Themes
Well done pal! If I hadn’t have designed my blog I would of wanted to win the Pimp my Blog.
Nice one! Syed is a great designer!
Hey congrats for winning the contest!
Getting a new custom theme is always exciting and worth it.
Ben - frogstr.coms last blog post..Winning an iPod Touch for guessing the Dow
I wish I could design well enough to submit to these! Great list anyway. My specialiality is programming. We cant be good at everything I suppose!
Good tip Danny. Unfortunately I don’t know how to design my own themes. I can tweak them and play with the settings but starting from scratch is beyond me for now.
Mike Collinss last blog post..Free vs Paid Website Hosting
Great list you got there. I’ve submitted my site to one (just to try and see if they approve), and many more to go.
Sly from SlyVisions dot Coms last blog post..6 Essential Elements Every Blog Must Have
Great tip, I’m gong to submit all of my sites to those to get some nice backlinks from it.
I’d know a little bit but not enough to do a complete design. I just really hate looking at code personally.
I checked my site and it has an error so I guess I would be submiting until I get that fixed up
Bruno Augers last blog post..What Is Web 2.0?
lol sweet
thanks for all those links 
bookmarked
MMORPG Forums - Runescape Forumss last blog post..Cat gets shocked lol
Thanks for this list, I submitted my site to a couple of them, lets see if it gets approved
Danny,
I don’t think I saw http://www.webcreme.com in your list. It is a great place to get listed or look for inspiration. Plus how come you didn’t mention my blog when speaking of slick designs?
Adam - Creadiv.coms last blog post..Just Some Site Updates
It that a design site, or a porn site
Desk Coders last blog post..10 Reasons You’re Not Rich
I keep hearing about these directories and they are indeed awesome for links and traffic…unfortunately there’s no way for me
Dennis Edells last blog post..As Promised - More Link Love for Knowledge Link Love #1 Participants
Wow, Danny! You are really awesome. Every time I come here, you have something totally different that I have never learned before.
Please keep it coming!
Freddies last blog post..Goal Setting Sunday: Week 7
I do believe a custom theme, or at least, a theme in which a user has permission to edit and thus, has been edited to make it look different than the norm truly effects readership.
A unique blog design tends to stick into the minds of your reader, it’s eye-candy. Bring ‘em in with good eye candy and then get them to read your content and you’re getting there. At least, that’s what I think :p
As for designing my own, I don’t know if it will ever be possible. There’s just so much that I could easily mess up when it comes to PHP it’s not even funny. Though I have poked at some things, it’s generally pretty overwhelming for the completely clueless. (me :D)
Great post, Danny! Thanks!
M. Pences last blog post..Beached
Wow. I am going to bookmark this list.
I must get designing!
Joel Drappers last blog post..How to find dofollow blogs
Great post Danny, but I think that there is not much chance that you will get a high-quality backlink because these sites are basically link farms and they link to a lot of crappy designs and google treats their links as that.
Tushar Dhoots last blog post..5 Reasons to Subscribe to My RSS Feed
great tip. wish i knew how to make my own free theme. All i do is tweak whatever I can find… sigh.