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In the first article I broke my "Web Site Promotion Plan" down into four
categories. The first on the list was Announcing and Search Engines. It varies from site
to site depending on the type of content on your site but it's safe to say that in most
cases announcements and search engines are the most common way that users will find your
site.
To do this properly will consume much of the time you allowed for promotion in your
plan. You do have a "Web site Promotion Plan" don't you? The first step is
finding the resources to use. I have tried many resources for "Announcing" a
site and most are a complete waste of time! I am referring to the multi-submit types of
resources.
Overview of Search Engines Announcing and Submission
The best way to submit to search engines is one at a time by hand. I feel this way
because after using quite a few of these resources I got limited traffic from my
submissions and found that the major search engines quite often don't respond to
submissions done by multi-submits. Results may vary from site to site but overall this has
been my experience and others that I have seen post in the many lists and newsletters I
receive.
The biggest response I got was a huge increase in spam in my e-mail requiring a great
deal of time to filter and delete. This confirms a feeling I had from the outset which was
that the only real users of the sites multi-submit services list you with are the agents
submitting sites and spammers looking for e-mail addresses.
Seriously, if you're looking for info on anything would you go to "Joe's Favorite
Links Page" or one of the major search engines? Unfortunately, a large portion of the
sites that either the free or paid services submit to are of this type or classified ads
sites (an even bigger waste of time and producer of spam!).
I've outlined the best method for submission but where do you and how do you submit? I
could go on and on about the submission procedure and how to prepare yourself but that is
an article in and of itself. Of course this has been covered in detail in the
"WoD" in the Submission Tips
article.
Three quick tips would be:
- Don't submit while under construction
- Have your personal information, urls, keywords, descriptions (in three formats, 15 word,
25 word and 50 words) in a text file ready to insert into the fields on the submit page
- Only submit new and updated pages to search engines
I have listed the most important directories and search engines
here.
These are the ones I refer to as the must submit to class. After you have done these look
for another group of directories or search engines that are specific to your topic or
business.
You may want to consider the reciprocal links pages that many sites specific to a topic
use for listing or indexing resources. Try to arrange links on these sites. These are an
excellent source of traffic. Keep in mind that part of the criteria should be that they
aren't taking all requests but are reviewed links.
You can find plenty of indexes or directories by going to a search engine and doing a
search for directories and indexes in your category. Narrow your search as much as
possible by querying the engine looking for a specific type of index or directory.
For instance "Toronto real estate indexes or directories". If this doesn't
produce enough resources broaden your search like this "Ontario real estate indexes
or directories". Each time broaden your search by geography or category within a
topic until you reach the amount of links and listings you require to get the amount of
traffic you desire.
Also note the search query is contained within " ". This varies from engine
to engine but in most cases will mean that the results must have all the words grouped as
you specified. Check the engine you are querying for specific instructions for that search
engine.
Once you have made your submissions it is important to monitor your listings. First of
all, to be sure you are listed and where possible increase visibility or as we say in the
biz "achieve higher placement or position". I could write several articles on
this as well and have in the Search Engine Placement Index
Improve Search Engine Placements or Positions
The above resource lists all the free and paid listing management sites and software
with evaluations and comments. Once you have been listed monitor or check your listings at
least monthly but weekly is better.
Basically you can improve your placement 3 ways:
- Improve title by including several keywords
- Improve keywords in the meta tags (a few engines don't use them for relevancy namely
Lycos and Excite)
- Use keywords and phrases frequently in first paragraph
At the url above you will find several tutorials and sites that will assist you in this
endeavor. Just being listed is not enough. Work on your site until it is in at least the
top 20 for your keywords. Why? When was the last time you went much deeper in a list of
sites produced for a keyword query?
Email Resources for Announcing Web Sites
There is one other method I use to "Announce" the "WoD" and updates
made to it. E-mail will be discussed in detail at a later date but I will add to this
article, IMHO, the "Mother of All Announcement Newsletters". "Net
Announce!" is published by erspros.Com.
Update
Unfortunately this newsletter seems to have ceased to exist.
Many of the old resources like this one have either succumbed due to the
owner growing beyond the need for it (too busy) or the owner has closed
shop. I will be trying to find new ones but these types of newsletters seem
to be moving targets.
Submissions to this newsletter have resulted in a lot of traffic to the
"WoD". When I listed the newsletters several weeks ago I received several
subscribers immediately and still receive subs from the archived listings. This
demonstrates that the newsletter and archives are being used for finding high quality
resources. You'll also find a large list of topical indexes, directories and search
engines on the site where you submit to "Net Happenings".
I also use some of the Usenet groups and private lists but by far "Net
Announce!" produces the best results time after time. Be sure when you post to
newsgroups and lists that you are on topic and have a good sig file describing your site
and any free resources you provide.
Most important is that your sig not seem like an ad! This will burn your mailbox every
time, if you know what I mean. If you don't know what that means you aren't ready for this
type of promotion and should examine closely how to use this method of promotion before
trying it.
You'll find all of the resources I've tried and those I use on a regular basis on the Mega List Site.
Use them wisely keeping in mind what I discussed in regards to multi-submit sites.
May the Java Gods Smile on Each and Every One of You and the Demon Viruses be Few and
Very, Very Far Between!!!
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PtIII: Reciprocal Links
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