Technical help requested

I'm following to the letter the instructions on Technorati for setting up a tag, or at least I think I am. I don't think my blog software supports categories, so I'm following the steps in the section entitled "If your blog software doesn't support categories or you're not sure." It requires one to include a "special link" in the post, and I've done precisely that, substituting my topic for the generic [tagname] they include in the model command line. Doubting whether Blogger will really ping Technorati, I've even manually pinged. All of this, and nothing's happening. Does anyone know why nothing's happening? Does anyone know if there is an easier way to do this in Blogger? Also, I've noticed that some blogs I really like have categorized their posts (examples are at Crossing the Rubicon, The Anchoress and American Future). Can anyone tell me how to do this (is it a part of tagging?), or if it can even be done in Blogger?