So you want exposure on the Internet Of course you do. You want to drive people to your site, because thats the only way your online business can succeed. And the more eyes you can get to your page, the better off you are. Its common sense.
Youve probably already thought of Google, and rightfully so. Its the top search engine, so you want to make sure youre a part of it. You may have also done some search engine optimization, and tweaked your site in certain ways so that Google will index you better. Thats a good start, but its also where many people go wrong.
The search engine marketing community often discusses this faux pas: people become obsessed with ranking on Google, and forget that theres so much more to the Internet, so many more places where you can be found. Its back to common sense again: dont put all your eggs in one basket. Here are some reasons why:
- People use multiple search engines.
According to Nielsen//NetRatings, 58% of the people who search on Google also use another search engine. The same is true for 70% of MSN searchers, and 71% of Yahoo searchers. If consumers are looking for information in several places, it only makes sense for you to be in as many of those places as you can.
- Google indexes your web directory listings.
Ironically, when you work to broaden your horizons beyond the Google universe, youre also working to improve your chances of showing up on Google. Thats because when a major search engine indexes the Internet, it also indexes the content of other directories.
Heres the best part: if you can get listed in a web directory that provides search-engine-friendly one-way-links (that is, links that connect directly to your URL), you are essentially acquiring a vote to your site, and therefore improving your sites authority in the eyes of Google, Yahoo and other major engines.
There are thousands upon thousands of Internet directories where you can list your site. Some will charge for submission, and the price will vary, from as little a few dollars, to as much as hundreds. Some will accept your site right away, and others will need to review it, to ensure the integrity of their database.
Common sense applies again here: the goal is to get listed in as many directories as you can, so you get maximum exposure. But web directory submission can be very time consuming, so you have to be selective to maximize your productivity. Here are a few things youll want to keep in mind:
- If the price seems too high, its probably not worth it. If you have a little money to invest, its a good idea to get into some of the paid inclusion directories. Pick and choose from some of the mid-level ones, and try to diversify your presence by picking some foreign directories, as well as some local ones. Some directories also offer special inclusion, where you pay a premium to get listed quicker. Its definitely worth it if youre looking to improve your traffic as quickly as possible.
- Before submitting to any web directory, check to make sure the directory is not banned by Google. Heres a handy site, where you can type in the URL of the web directory and find out if its banned right away: http://123promotion.co.uk/tools/googlebanned.php
- Be prepared before you start submitting. Write a few descriptions for your website in different lengths (50 words, 100 words, 200 words), so you can just copy and paste when youre submitting. This is guaranteed to save you a lot of time.
- If you dont want to spend a lot of time searching for, picking and choosing directories, start at this page, which provides a great list of the top search-engine-friendly directories on the web: http://www.eliteweb.cc/directory/internet/web_directories
- If you dont have a lot of time to devote to this, dont worry about doing it all in one shot. Bookmark the link above, and take a few minutes every day to do one or two directory submissions, until you make it through the list.
Good luck, and happy submitting.
Robert Burko is president and founder of , an internet portal featuring a best-of-the-web search engine and a comprehensive search-engine-friendly web directory.
Now that youve got a website its time to start thinking about promoting it. Search engine listings are the number one way to generate traffic to your website. The following information will help you effectively promote your website through search engines.
Search Engine Selection
When submitting your site to search engines consider the search engines that will generate the most traffic to your site! There are a core group of search engines that will generate the most traffic to your site. These major search engines below are all excellent choices to have your website listed with:
Google
Yahoo
AllTheWeb.com
MSN Search
Lycos
Ask Jeeves
AOL
Looksmart
Netscape
Excite
HotBot
AltaVista
Search Engine Rankings
To be effective, your site needs to rank in the top 10 listings, and ideally the top 3. Here are some ways to ensure that your site stays on top.
Keywords
Choosing the correct keywords for your website is a critical part for obtaining desirable search engine rankings. Your goal is to increase the targeted traffic to your site. For demonstration purposes lets say your website is promoting a computer show in new york. When choosing keywords related to computer show, you have the opportunity to target a general market (such as the keyword computer show or a geographical market (such as computer show in new york). The keyword computer show may attract a wide range of computer show related searches, but the keyword computer show in new york is more targeted if you are targeting the state of New York and are looking to attract visitors in New York.
Its important to know how many times people searched for your keywords and their variations last month in the major search engines. This will help you to choose keywords that people are actually using, as there is no point in choosing a keyword that nobody is searching for.
For example, if one of your keywords is computer show in new jersey, its important to know that computer show new york attracts more visitors:
Searches done in Dec 2005
Count Search Term
144 computer show new york
77 computer show in new york
56 computer fair new york
You can learn from it that computer show in new york has been searched only 77 times during the last month in the search engines, yet the keyword computer show new york has been used 144 times. Thats 2 times more!
Meta Tags
Meta tags for your web site are an important part of your search engine submission strategy. The Meta tags should be inserted between the and tags of your document. This is an example format for a web page source, which includes the proper Meta Tags in it.
Search Engine Optimization
There are other factors to consider when submitting your site to search engines. Meta Tags and Keywords are a great start, but often they wont help you generate the type of traffic your looking for if your site is in a competitive market competing for the same keywords. When this is the case, youre next step should be optimizing your web pages. Elements that involve search engine optimization include the location of your keywords through out your meta tags and page content. Also keeping your listing current is important.
Shaun Cronrath is the President & CEO of DomainPurpose.com, a domain name registration company offering all the major domain extensions --.com, .net, .org, .info, .biz, .name, .ca, .us, .cn, .eu, .de, .pro and more.