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[S204]Search Engine Site Submission

by Joyce Jackson, Joy

Submitting your site for the search engines to find and index is a necessary and big step for any webmaster and site owner. The question is, Are you going to submit it the right way or the wrong way?
To do it right, you need to know a few things about search engine optimization before you take it anywhere near a search engine.

How can you know if your site is ready to submit? First, make sure:
-Your keywords are in your title tag
-Your keywords are in your description
-Your keywords are in your content smoothly and naturally

Make sure you're site is tightly focused on only one or two keywords. You should also check for broken links, as these can cause big problems with search engines? spiders.

Once you've submitted your site, be patient. It may tke weeks before your site is indexed.

The following are "Rules of the Submission Road:"

1. Submit your site only once. Despite the hype, you should never resubmit your site unless it gets dropped entirely. This doesn't apply to new pages, however. If you have created a few hundred pages in
the last month or so and you don't think that they will be indexed quickly enough via links to them it is a good idea to submit them manually rather than waiting for your site to be indexed again. If you are using a Google Site map, simply adding them to this document will get them indexed pretty quickly.

2. Do the sumission right the first time. Be thorough, especially to directories. Take the time to
research and find the most appropriate category for your site. If your site would fit into multiple
categories find out what the policy is on multiple submissions. Some directories want you to submit to
every relevant category, others want no more than one submission or they reject all submissions. Some
want every page, others want your index page and nothing more.

3. Be brief in your site description. Get right to the point in two short sentences. Most directories
will actually restrict the number of characters that you can use. If they don't it is still a good idea
to try to wrap it up within twenty-five to thirty words. This is one of the largest differences between
directory listings and search engine listings. In the directory you only get a short line to attract
visitors; this is static for every visitor.

4. Be as accurate in your site description. Don't try to trick people into visiting your site, as it'll only backfire. Most directories are actually monitored by a team of editors. These editors will visit your link and red flag you if you are trying to deceive visitors or if you are trying to cheat in any other way. When it comes to directory listings, there are even less avenues for cheaters than there are in search engine listings as directories are checked out by hand.

5. Make sure that all your information is relevant. Make it appealing to humans as well as dense with keywords. Directories don't care about your key words very much. If your site isn't attractive to human beings it will be listed poorly. When human beings edit, human beings rank, and human beings get what they want.

6. Be patient. Let the search engines take their time.

7. Don't submit any more than your homepage. The crawlers are quite capable of following your links
and indexing your whole site from just your homepage's URL.

Finally, submit yoursite to the powerful DMOZ site Directory. It is a very large, powerful, all encompassing web directory. The key to being listed is to submit your site once and correctly. It can take up to a year to get DMOZ to list your site. USe the following guide for follow up with them.

1. Submit your site.

2. Write a follow-up email to the category's editor, explaining that you've been waiting and would like to know your site's status.

3. Email the next category editor up, in case there's a problem with your category's editor.

4. Seek assistance at the Open Directory Project's public forum.

5. Email DMOZ senior staff seeking help. This is pretty much the last resort.

Submissions can be time consuming at first, but you'll quickly get it down to a science. If you work
hard on your SEO before you submit your site you'll get to the top more quickly.

It's no secret on the web, content is king, and is still the number one reason in finding your site on the web. Whether you're selling services or products, you must meet the web surfer (i.e. your customer) needs by matching their search terms with your website's keywords. Many people have made millions by adhering to that one and only principal, and is true whether you use an adwords campaign or rely on your webpages? content, or a combination of both.

Finding web content ? it's the motor of your website

Setting up shop on the net would appear deceptively easy find a product or service and put up a website, and wait for the orders to roll in. Late night TV might convince you of this fact, but truth is far too many websites exist in cyberspace, just floating around, looking pretty and going nowhere. If you want to create a lasting business on the net, you must start with three basic parts:

*Research your product or service thoroughly. Know it inside out. Who are your competitors and why are they doing better than you are? Who uses your product or service? Copywriters call this starting point the user profile. You pinpoint exactly who your customers are with as much demographic information you can put together.

*Narrow down your product or service to a specific niche. What do you offer that is special? This is one of the hardest points to tackle, and it is usually an ongoing project for most web businesses--unless you start with a very unique product/service. This point is your Unique Selling Position, and will be the focus of your website's purpose.

*Find your specific keywords. These are actual search terms used by surfers looking for your products or services. Overture has the best keyword list, and it's free. (Google also has a keyword list, but you must be a business subscriber to access it). There are other free and fee based keyword compilers available, such as Wordtracker, which pulls search terms from several different search engines. With that list in hand, you're ready to begin creating content for your website.

Web content is spider food

Here is where you combine all the elements of your website: the topic research you've done for your web business, your Unique Selling Position, and your keywords list. This sounds far more difficult than it really is. If you've done your homework, the pieces will fall into place. Sometimes one or more parts of the puzzle becomes too difficult or too time consuming, then you will need to hire a web content copywriter to do the research and optimized web content for you. Whichever route you choose, it's crucial to your web business that you have usable, information rich content on your web pages that you update frequently. Google particularly favors websites that regularly update their copy content, and the results in your search rankings will prove that point.

Need a rewrite? A.J. Horne of Horne Communications and Avamas () is a 10 year veteran of online marketing, from the design concept to selling strategies. She is a certified e-Marketing professional (CeMA) and is also a certified research technician. Added to her skills is a degree in Business and 25 years experience writing ad copy, press releases, and technical manuals. She offers new clients a free consultation and quote on all projects, with a guarantee on all work.

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Joyce Jackson has sinced written about articles on various topics from Banking, Children and SEO Search Engine Optimization. Joyce Jackson is a webmaster and SEO consultant. For more inforamtions see .. Joyce Jackson's top article generates over 14800 views. to your Favourites.

Admin has sinced written about articles on various topics from Infidelity, Tax and Class Action. A.J. Horne. Admin's top article generates over 368000 views. to your Favourites.