Search Engine Submissions
Working with the Search Engines
- Submit your home page URL to the search engines that are most relevant to your site. While there are hundreds of search engines, the most frequently used are Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL Search, and AskJeeves. Some of these feed search content to the other main search engines and portal sites.
Avoid registering with FFA (Free For All pages) and other link farms. They don't work well, bring you lots of spam e-mails, and can cause ranking penalties by the search engines. Once you've been indexed by a search engine, it is necessary to resubmit only when significant changes have been made. Search engine submission is not entirely necessary, since all sites are spidered eventually. It will help speed up the process. - Search engine positioning: Fine-tune your focused content pages, and perhaps your home page, by making minor adjustments to help them rank high. Check your current ranking and compare your web pages against your top keyword competitors. You can do this yourself with software like WebCEO or WebPosition Gold, but many small businesses outsource this because of the considerable time investment it requires.
- Linking Strategies: Links to your site from other sites bring additional traffic. But since Google and other major search engines consider the number of incoming links to your website as an important factor in ranking, more links will help you rank higher in the search engines, too. All links, however, are not created equal. Links from popular information hubs will help your site rank higher than those from low traffic sites.
- Submit Your Site to Key Directories: since a link from a directory will help your ranking -- and get you traffic.
- Open Directory Project (www.dmoz.com): free, overseen by human editors. This hierarchical directory provides content feeds to all the major search engines. Plus it provides a link to your site from an information hub that Google deems important.
- Yahoo! Directory: Real humans will read (and frequently pare down) your 200-character sentence, so follow their instructions (http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/).
- Other directories to consider: About.com and Business.com.
- Submit Your Site to Industry Sites and Specialized Directories: You may find some directories focused on particular industries, such as education or finance. Be sure to register with these. You probably belong to various trade associations that feature member sites. Ask for a link. Even if you have to pay something for a link, it may bring you the kind of targeted traffic from an info hub that you need. Beware of directories that solicit you for "upgraded listings." Unless a directory is widely used in your field, your premium ad won't help -- although the link itself will help boost your search engine ranking.
- Request Reciprocal Links: Find complementary websites and request a reciprocal link to your site. Develop a links page where you put links to other sites. Your best results will be from sites that get a similar amount of traffic to your site. High-traffic site webmasters are too busy to answer your requests for a link and don't have anything to gain. Look for smaller sites that may have linking pages.
Check out Ken Evoy's free SiteSell Value Exchange. It (1) registers your site as one that is willing to exchange links with other sites that have a similar theme/topic content and (2) searches for sites with similar topical content. - Automated link building software programs: Zeus and Arelis. These search for complementary sites, help you maintain a link directory, and manage reciprocal links. However, use these programs to identify the complementary sites, not to send impersonal automated e-mail spam to site owners. When you locate sites, send a personal e-mail to the administrative contact found in the Whois Directory. If e-mail doesn't get a response, try a phone call.
- Write Articles for Others to Use in their Newsletters: You can dramatically increase your visibility when you write articles in your area of expertise and distribute them to editors as free content for their e-mail newsletters or their websites. Just ask that a link to your website and a one-line description of what you offer be included with the article. This is an effective "viral" approach that can produce hundreds of links to your site over time.
- Issue News Releases: Find newsworthy events (such as launching your free service), and send news releases to print and Web periodicals in your industry. The links to your site in online news databases may remain for years and have some clout with link popularity.
- Begin a Business Blog: A blog is a log of conversation about a topic that is posted on the web (your website). Want links to your site? Begin a business blog on your website. Offer excellent content and regular industry comment, people are likely to link to it, increasing your site's PageRank.
- Define an appropriate mission
- Find an appropriate niche in the subject space
- Identify a focused target audience
- Identify an individual who has the knowledge, passion, personality, writing skills, time and commitment to be the blogger
- Get the support of a corporate champion
- Develop a Free Service. It's boring to invite people, "Come to our site and learn about our business." It's quite another to say "Use the free kitchen remodeling calculator available exclusively on our site." While expensive to develop free resources, it is very rewarding in increased traffic to your site. Make sure that your free service is closely related to what you are selling, so the visitors you attract will be good prospects for your business. Give visitors multiple opportunities and links to cross over to the sales part of your site.
- A clever tool called Poodle Predictor that you can see your site as the spiders see it!
Print Media:
- Include Your URL on Stationery, Cards, and Literature. This is a no-brainer that is sometimes overlooked. Make sure that all reprints of cards, stationery, brochures, and literature contain your company's URL. In print, leave off the http:// part and including only the www.domain.com portion of your URL.
- Promote using traditional media. Don't discontinue print advertising that you've found effective. But be sure to include your URL in any display or classified ads you purchase in trade journals, newspapers, yellow pages, etc. View your website as an information adjunct to your ad:
- Capture readers' attention with your ad.
- Refer them to a URL where they can obtain more information and perhaps place an order.
- Look carefully at small display or classified ads in the back of narrowly-targeted magazines or trade periodicals. Sometimes these ads are more targeted, more effective, and less expensive than online advertising.
- Consider other traditional media to drive people to your site, such as direct mail, classifieds, post cards, etc.
- TV can be used to promote websites, especially in a local market.
E-Mail Strategies
- Don't neglect e-mail as an important way to bring people to your website. Just don't spam. That is, don't send bulk unsolicited e-mails without permission to people with whom you have no relationship.
- Install a "Signature" in your E-Mail Program to help potential customers get in touch with you. Most e-mail programs such as AOL, Netscape, and Outlook allow you to designate a "signature" to appear at the end of each message you send. Limit it to 6 to 8 lines: Company name, address, phone number, URL, e-mail address, and a one-phrase description of your unique business offering. Look for examples on e-mail messages sent to you.
- Publish an E-Mail Newsletter: While a big commitment in time, publishing a monthly e-mail newsletter ("ezine") is one of the very best ways to keep in touch with your prospects, generate trust, develop brand awareness, and build future business. It also helps you collect e-mail addresses from those who visit your site but aren't yet ready to make a purchase. Ask for an e-mail address and first name so you can personalize the newsletter. You can distribute your newsletter using list servers such as:
CeJay Associates, LLC can direct and implement your graphics marketing strategies for promoting your business through the Web, display ads, presentations and video marketing. We know how to work with your sales and marketing director staff. We are committed to providing creative and cost-effective solutions.
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