Most SEO professionals agree that the SEO tasks you complete before launching your site are very important. These include things like meta tags and keyword research. While these are important, very few SEO professionals talk about what a great advantage it is to have your site indexed before you launch it. It doesn't take long, and it's not very involved, so why not have MSN, Yahoo, and Google index your site before it even goes live?

The way to go about getting your site indexed before launch is to have sites that are already indexed point to your site. When the already-indexed sites are crawled by the search engines, those search engines will find the links to your site. Voila! Your site is indexed by the search engines! Starting roughly one month before you launch, follow these 5 steps.

1. Choose a Domain Name. Then register it. This is not a task to be left until the last minute. The sooner you register, the sooner quality links will be pointing to it and ensuring that it is indexed.

2. Create a Home Page. This should consist of your company logo, some information about your company, and the announcement that your page will be “coming soon.” Another good addition to the page is a form where visitors can sign up to receive updates via e-mail. That way, your email list is starting to take shape even before your site is launched.

3. Blog. Use whatever platform appeals to you most and start a blog at the address http://www.yoursite.com/blog. Post a little bit about your site and include some of the things your visitors can expect when the launch finally occurs. After you've published your first post, get a Feedburner account. Sign up for “Ping Shot,” which will tell blog directories that you're posting. This should get a few links pointing to your site.

4. Submit to Directories. You are an expert in your market niche, so start writing some articles related to your area of expertise. Once your articles are proofread, submit them to directories such as iSnare and Ezine Articles. Make sure that you provide a description of your business and link to your website in the resource box. Like the “Ping Shot,” this should get a few links pointing back to your website.

5. Get Links. Since Feedburner and the article directories to which you submit your articles are indexed sites, completing the previous two steps will get you well on your way to getting links from sites that are already indexed by search engines. But you can always do yourself a favor by getting even more links from indexed sites. Find someone you know who has a blog or a business website within your market niche to link to your website. Or you could even link to it from your personal blog if you have one and if it's already been indexed. If no one is willing to link to your site, offer them the opportunity to advertise on your site for free when your site is finally launched.

There's no excuse for not getting your site indexed before it's launched. It takes a little bit of extra time and effort on your part, and it may involve asking for a few favors from people within your niche, but the effort required is minimal compared to the payoff that comes from being indexed before your big launch. If you need other ideas for getting your site indexed, or for getting ahead of the game when it comes to SEO for your website, don't hesitate to call on the expertise of an SEO or internet marketing professional. These professionals can help you determine how to get ahead of the game when it comes to preparing for your big site launch.