A funny thing happened the other day on my way to successfully list
my company on the major search engines. Not being a novice to the
search engine listing game, but never claiming to be an expert, I read
with interest an e-zine on obtaining search engine position. The
article was well written and basically very helpful. But what I did
next was very interesting.
Viewing Source Code
I went to the Author’s web site and viewed his source code to see if
he practiced what he preached. To see the source code of a web
page all you have to do is select the "View" button in Microsoft
Explorer and click on "Source". Here you can view the Title,
Description and Keyword Meta files that are so critical to high search
engine position.
Indeed, the author did exactly what he was recommending to his
clients. His meta files were text book.. The HTML code had the
word search engine listed in the meta title section once, in the meta
description once and in the meta keywords three times. The code
was very clean and should produce good results using keyword
"search engine"
So the next thing I did was go to three main search engines,
AltaVista, Northern Light and Lycos. I typed in the keyword "search
engine" and what do you think happened?
Well, none of the three search engines listed the Author’s Web site in
any of the first three pages of results. And everyone tells you that if
you are not on the first couple of search results pages, well…just
forget about being found.
Directory Listings
This brings us to the point of this article. Search engines are not the
only resource on which to list your site. Another option is purchasing
a listing with a directory. A directory is a Web site where users
search a limited number of web sites, not the entire web.
Web directories include http://www.GoTo.com, http://www.Stopsurfing.com, and
http://www.b2bnow.com to name a few. To find other directories you can
go to http://lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~matsuoka/search.html. This is a pretty
comprehensive listing, some sites are outdated, but it is a good place
to start.
Set a Budget for Directories
The next step you need to do is set a budget. Decide before hand
how much you want to spend on the directory. Yes, spend money!
Not everything on the Internet is free. Yes, you can register free
listings on the search engines but you can never guarantee that you
will get a high listing or even be listed.
So invest a little money with a directory so you don’t have to keep
registering with the search engines every month. Your time is
valuable, so spend a couple of hundred dollars on directories and just
relax. This way you know that you will have some guaranteed
visibility on the Web.
Keywords
Next, you need to select a keyword or keywords that you want your
website listed under. Select keywords that best describe the product
that you are selling. If you are selling camping equipment, you may
want to select the keywords "camping equipment" and "sleeping
bag".
Two Type of Directories
There are two types of pay-for-listing directories. The first like
GoTo.com, allows you to set a bid price per click through. You are
ranked by bid, the higher you bid, the higher you appear on the
search results.
The other type like, Stopsurfing.com, charges a flat price for a year.
You pay one set fee no matter how many hits you get.
Just Click It
Whatever you decide to do about directory listings, Just Click It and
move on to taking care of your current customers. The Internet
moves at warp speed. You need to get visibility now. Don’t delay,
get some directory listings in place while you are waiting for your
"Free" search engine listings to get your Web traffic.
About the Author
James M. Duerr. He is the president, of http://www.stopsurfing.com a
Family Safe e-Shopping directory. He credits his web marketing
knowledge with on-the-job training, having developed and operated a
successful e-commerce site http://www.buy-okidata.com. He resides in
beautiful Corpus Christi, Texas with his wife and two kids.