Search Engine Hype, Don't You Believe It!
By David Seitz
Posted Friday, October 22, 2004
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/tops.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/) "Subscribe to the FREE Award Winning Helping Hand Internet Marketing Newsletter Today For More Great Articles and Tips Just Like This!" mailto:subscribe@associatesearch.com (http://www.helpinghand-newsletter.com/)
