Since it takes so long before your site will show up on many
of the Net's directories, it is a good idea to start early.
Am I going to try to get listed at the top of the search
engines? Hell, no! Don't be fooled by all the hype over
search engine positioning. True, it could mean added
traffic being listed near the top, but I don't think it's
worth the effort. Getting listed at the top of a search
engine requires constant maintenance, and that alone can turn
into a full-time job. If you have the time and resources to
keep at it yourself, or to place a new employee into the
search engine war, then by all means go for it, but if
you're like most of us, read on and use these resources to
quickly get the job done.
My advice, list your site in the top used engines BY HAND
about once every month or two, then use a software
submission package to list your site with the hundreds of
other minor search engines and directories.
Spend the time you saved by trading links and listings with
sites related to yours. Would I be hurting if all the search
engines disappeared tomorrow? Sure, I would lose traffic, but
not enough to hurt my business. I spend little time marketing
using search engines. If you can set up a schedule to submit
your listing every month and stick to it, you will have much
more time to put into other forms of Internet marketing.
If you still feel you must be listed at the top of those
search engines, I have found a great tutorial that will help
you do just that. http://www.wwwhunter.com/reports ops.htm
Most Search Engines attempt to list and document a webpage by
reading the following: TITLE, META DISCRIPION, META KEYWORDS
and TEXT. Be sure to include keywords in your title and
throughout your website's content to increase your site's
positioning. If you need help with your META tags, I have an
automatic free system you can use at our web-site.
http://www.associatesearch.com/metatags/ Just fill out the
form and it will create your tags for you. If you would like
to take advantage of all the META TAGS available, check out
a great META TAG dictionary located at:
http://vancouver-webpages.com/META/ Virtually all tags are
covered here.
I suggest submitting your site by hand to the following
directories. It does not take long, and if you are consistent
and submit every month, you will increase traffic to
your site.
1. http://www.altavista.com
2. http://www.webcrawler.com
3. http://www.yahoo.com
4. http://www.infoseek.com
5. http://www.lycos.com
6. http://www.excite.com
7. http://www.hotbot.com
8. http://www.askjeeves.com/
9. http://www.aol.com/netfind/
10. http://www.directhit.com/
11. http://beta.go.com/
12. http://www.google.com/
13. http://www.inktomi.com/
14. http://www.looksmart.com/
15. http://www.netscape.com/
16. http://www.northernlight.com/
17. http://www.snap.com/
18. http://www.mckinley.com/magellan/
I also recommend using goto.com which is a pay site. You can
bid on keywords and pay for clicks to your site. I have used
it and it works well. You can control your account online
and change your bids, keywords, and linking any time. Full
stats are available to help you easily track the progress
of your goto marketing. http://www.goto.com
In a hurry? I highly recommend you use the great online
system at SelfPromotion, it will save you a great deal of
time and aggravation. http://www.selfpromotion.com/
If you still want to go gungho over search engine marketing,
then visit, and take advantage of, the information overload
available at: http://searchenginewatch.com
Be sure to set up a schedule and keep submitting your site.
Your listing will drop over time, and as more and more sites
are submitted, your listing could be dropped all together.
Once a month should be satisfactory for your search engine
marketing.
One important tip to keep in mind when submitting your site -
Do NOT submit your listing more than once a week! Some search
engines will ban your domain all together for life for
spamming their database.
About the Author
David Seitz
CEO and President Virtual Imagination Inc.
http://www.virtual-imagination.com/
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