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With all of the changes to the search engines
these days, you can drive yourself crazy trying to get your site
submitted. Unless you are willing to commit yourself to doing it full
time, or you are a search engine expert, you won't rank at the top of
the engines. However, this doesn't mean that you should neglect
this important means of getting traffic to your site. Unlike
most of the methods for promoting your business, which came from the
offline world, this method is different. It's unique, and it is
changing and growing at a rapid pace. By at least informing yourself
of the basics, you can make this a more effective method for driving
traffic to your site. Below are seven tips you can implement to
get started: 1. Understand the Relationships of the Various Search
Engines. Before you can know where to submit, you need to understand
how all of the various search engines are related so that you don't
duplicate your work, or worse, get banned from submission.
Now, mind you, I am no search engine expert. However, I have
been watching closely what is happening, and here is what I have
seen so far: Recently, Yahoo, a directory, acquired All the
Web, Altavista, Inktomi and Overture. Yahoo is no longer going to be
using search results from Google as its backend. Although it
remains to be seen what role All The Web and Altavista will play,
Inktomi will only provide limited offerings in Yahoo because Yahoo
announced that Inktomi's paid inclusions would not be included in its
results. Overture, the number one pay per click search engine,
provides paid results to 80 per cent of the major search engines and
will continue to do so. It will also be providing backend results to
Yahoo. Overture provides results to major sites like HotBot and
MSN. Yahoo is adding its own search engine and will continue
to offer its paid directory at $299 a year. Currently, MSN and
Yahoo, the number two and number one sites respectively on Alexa, are
battling for supremacy. Bill Gates is also working on a new model for
his search engine, but it remains to be seen what that will be.
Eventhough Google will no longer be providing backend results to
Yahoo, Google is still a major player. It is also the number one
search engine in the world. Google gets some of its results from
the Open Directory Project, a volunteer effort to create a
directory of the best sites on the Internet. Looksmart is
still out there, but it appears to have changed its model to a pay per
click. You can get started for free, but you'll have to pay for each
click. (NOTE: I found this site hard to navigate to answer the most
simple questions. Maybe that's why it's the least relevant of the
options available.) Finally, you have Alexa, which is in a class
all its own. You definitely want to get your site submitted here
because it's a great way to find out who is linking to you, where you
rank, and other statistics about your site. Back end results for Alexa
are provided by Google. The easiest way to track your site
using Alexa, is to download a copy of the toolbar. You can get it
here:
http://www.smallbusinesshowto.com/htmlfiles/alexa.html
2. Prepare Your Site for Submission. Now that you know where to
submit your site, you want to prepare your site so that it gets
accepted. The best tool to help you is Good Keywords: http://www.goodkeywords.com/
This free utility will let
you search for the best keywords to use on your site. Key
words, however, are only part of the equation. You will also want
to create a good title and description. Take your time when you create
these. You want each to be key word rich, and the right length.
Once you've written your title, keywords, and description, then
all you need to do is to create the metatags for your web site.
You'll find all the tools you need at Evrsoft - http://www.evrsoft.com/,
including a link popularity checker, submission to over 100 search
engines, search engine analyzer, and a metatag generator. Once
you have used the metatag generator to create your metatags, then all
you have to do is paste it into the header of your web page.
You will want to check your metatags first to make sure they
aren't too long and are search engine friendly. You'll find a
metatag analyzer here: http://www.scrubtheweb.com/abs/meta-check.html
This one is stricter than the one I use, but it works very well.
Let me emphasize here that this step is absolutely crucial to
getting your site accepted. You would be amazed at how many
professionally done web sites skip this step. 3. Submit Your
Site. Now that you have your site ready, you want to start submitting.
You will use your title, keywords, and description again here.
Here is your submission list: Free Alexa - http://pages.alexa.com/help/webmasters/index.html#crawl_site
Google - http://www.google.com/addurl.html Open Directory
Project - http://dmoz.org/add.html
Fast Submit - http://www.evrsoft.com/fastsubmit/ - Submission to 100 of
the top search engines. (Caution here: some of these sites may
ignore or ban you if you are a business site). Paid Google Ad
Words - http://services.google.com/marketing/links/ads_us/adwords/
- Pay Per Click Inktomi - http://www.inktomi.com/ - Yearly Fee Per Url
LookSmart - http://www.looksmart.com/ - Pay Per Click Overture -
http://www.overture.com/ - Pay Per Click 4. Check
to make sure you are listed. After about a month, you want to go back
and make sure that your site is listed in the appropriate search
engine. The way to do this is to go to the search engine and type in
your domain name. You don't have to include the http://www/ to do this. If you are not listed,
then go to the next step. 5. Resubmit if Necessary. If your site
is not in the search engine you have selected to search, then resubmit
your information for inclusion. It's important to remember that
unless you are using paid inclusions, it is up to the discretion
of the search engine whether or not your site is listed. Your
chances of success will increase if you include some quality content
on your site that is dense in your key words. You also want to have as
many quality links as possible. You can build your links by contacting
other webmasters who have sites that complement yours. 6.
Reevaluate. If your search engine strategy isn't working, it's time
for a change. However, you need to consider that submitting to the
search engines is a very long term strategy, and it isn't something
that will occur over night. Only if you are using pay per clicks can
you see an increase in traffic almost immediately. For your
free inclusions, you just want to make sure that you are included.
Quality content and quality links can help here in raising your
rankings. For paid inclusions, you want to make sure that you are
getting the click thrus you need. Unlike free inclusions, you should
see results immediately. If you aren't getting enough traffic,
consider changing your key words. Good Keywords will help you
here. 7. Stay Informed. If you want to continue to use
this strategy in your business, then you need to stay abreast of
industry happenings because things change so quickly. The best
place to get information on this constantly changing industry is here:
http://searchenginewatch.com/ They offer three
different newsletters to cover the industry. At a minimum you should
be reading the daily newsletter. Althought is is only one of the
many strategies I use to promote my business, it can be very effective
when done correctly. Take your time, be patient, and learn what you
need to do before you use this strategy. It will become an effective
tool in your marketing arsenal.
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Jinger Jarrett is a former newspaper reporter and military
journalist who currently spends her time writing, marketing, and
consulting. You can get her free ebook/ecourse, "How to REALLY
Start Your Business in 30 Days" free here:
http://www.smallbusinesshowto.com/
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