The main difference being that blas.st is based on ‘business cards’. Very simply you create a business card, 270X165 pixels, add your site details, upload it to the directory, and it gets displayed. You can add cards for free, and fair enough they are added to the last page, or you can pay for greater exposure on the front page. You can pay by the cent/day, and currently to get on the front page of the UK section would cost you $1.41/day. You set how many days you want the card up there for – from 1 day to 10 years and thats it.

You also choose which or all of the countries you wish to display your card to (out of a couple of dozen) allowing you to target your ad if you so desire. It’s so simple that a free ad is a must, and if you’re running any kind of commerce site it may be worth investing a few dollars to see what happens.

You have to create your own card, but this is easy enough: You could just use a screenshot of your blog, or get creative with a paint package like Paint.NET (Totally free!) and see what you can create. Have a browse of the existing cards, and get a feel for what stands out.

There are numerous categories, and you don’t just have to use it for site promotion: other suggested uses include job adverts, promoting your portfolio or band, an event or just anything you want to tell the world about. It’s a truly novel idea, well executed and free. It took me less than 10 minutes to register & put a card up, so what are you waiting for?

Thanks to Blund for putting me onto this one.