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Thanks so much Ray. I am going to do that...! And I will certainly stop using 'web geek' ... I thought it was a cute term, did't mean to offend!

There is one designer on Themeforest that creates blog templates for EE. You can contact him here: http://themeforest.net/user/bjornbjorn?WT.ac=category_profile&WT.z_author=bjornbjorn

We use the All in One SEO plugin which allows us to add the Google Plus profile URL for each user. Then we go to the Google Plus user page and the blog as a place they contribute to. It seems to work pretty well for us.

Clicksjim is right, this can be a good strategy for lower hanging fruit (all locations in footer or at the end of the body content).  Start there, then think about creating unique pages for more difficult locations.

Hi Diane, First of all, to easily see followed/nofollowed links I suggest you download a tool like the MozBar. It's available for both Chrome and FF - http://www.seomoz.org/seo-toolbar. Only takes a second and it's very helpful! (There's other tools out there also). Secondly, this is a followed link Thirdly, the domain is of pretty high authority. However, buying links from directories is a less practised (and recommended) approach to SEO. If the directory is in your niche and is relevant to your site, go ahead (if the costs are within reason). If you're interested in purchasing directory links I'd only invest in the really top quality directories such as BOTW and business.com. For a full list of directories, SEOmoz has their own recommendations - http://www.seomoz.org/directories. Again, only list your site on there if it's relevant and adds worth. I suggest start with just a few niche directories. Thanks, Brad