Cheap domain name registrar - Register domain name from $5.95/yr only. Register domain  with DNS services.

Promoting Your Web Site

Part 2

Using Keywords to Maximize Search Engine Positioning
Search engines use the number and relative importance of keywords to determine how a page will rank in a particular search. For example, if someone searches on "butterbeans," then a page which is titled "The Butterbean Bazaar" and has the word "butterbeans" on it in a dozen places is likely to rank near the top of the list. A site that has the word "butterbeans" on it once or twice will rank somewhat lower. A site that has the word "beans" on it will rank near the bottom, and beanless sites will not make it into the search results at all. Every search engine has its own formula for ranking search results, and they're as jealously guarded as secret barbecue sauce formulas. The basic idea, however, is that the more instances of a certain keyword a page has, the higher it will rank in the results of a search for that keyword. Also, greater weight is given to keywords that appear in things like page titles, section headings, and so on. 

This well-known fact has led many smart-alecky souls to load their pages down with endless repetitions of words like "sex," "free," and whatever else they think people search for. Every sneaky trick in the book, like invisible text, keywords hidden within HTML tags, etc. has been employed in the mad rush for higher rankings. Such ploys are counter-productive, however. If everyone chose to use excessive and/or inappropriate keywords, then search engines would quickly become useless. Sooner or later, no matter what you searched for, all you would get would be MLM and porno sites. Therefore, the search engines wage an ongoing battle against "keyword stuffers" and "spamdexers." If they suspect you're trying to abuse the system, they can and will bar your site. As just one example, many search engines will disqualify any site that uses invisible text. 

The point of all this is twofold - in order to maximize your rankings at the search engines, it's important to be sure that your pages include plenty of appropriate keywords. However, it's also important not to overdo things, and do harm to yourself in your zeal. This is why submitting to search engines is not really the first step in site promotion. The first step is designing your pages to be "search-engine friendly." This means not only using keywords appropriately, but also avoiding certain design techniques that can confuse search engines, such as frames and certain types of dynamic page delivery. 

The proper use of keywords can be an arcane subject, and we won't get into the fine points here. Basically, what you need to do is to think of all the words that someone might type into a search engine if they were looking for a site like yours. Visitors who aren't looking for butterbeans (or whatever it is you have) do you no good, so pick only keywords that relate to what your site is about. Normally, most or all of these keywords will be found in the text of your site. Once you have a list of keywords, you want to craft a site description that uses some of the keywords. This should be a brief (many search engines have a limit of 25 words), readable sentence that sums up what your site has to offer. For example, if you're selling butterbeans, and you've come up with the following list of keywords: 

Butterbeans 
Beans 
Lima beans 
Biscuits 
Southern cooking 
Then a good description might look like this: 

"We sell butterbeans and lima beans, which taste great with biscuits and other Southern cooking. Free butterbean recipes and a butterbean discussion forum." 

Notice how we worked in all the most important keywords (in reality, your list of keywords should probably be longer, perhaps 10 to 20 words or phrases), and we even managed to mention the most important one, "butterbeans," 3 times. However, the description reads like a normal sentence, not just a list of keywords. Notice also that we mentioned a couple of site features that might entice people to visit. 

Craft your site description carefully, because it will be used in several places. This description will come up when someone finds your site in a search, so make sure that it will make people want to visit (but never use marketing copy like "The leading company…" or "The most useful site…"). This description, or a variation, should also be used in your TITLE tag. 

The TITLE tag appears in the HEAD section of your HTML page. When a surfer views a Web page, it is the TITLE that appears in the top bar of the browser. If someone selects your site to be a "bookmark" (Netscape) or "favorite" (MS Explorer) in their browser, the TITLE will appear as the name of the "bookmark" or "favorite." Also, some search engines assign greater weight to keywords that appear in the TITLE tag. Your TITLE tag should begin with the official name of your Web site. It should also include a very brief description of the site. For example: <TITLE>The Butterbean Bazaar - We sell butterbeans and lima beans, and offer free butterbean recipes and a butterbean discussion forum.</TITLE> 

Resist the temptation to make your TITLE a mindless list of keywords - it will hurt more than it will help. And never include useless verbiage like "Welcome to the Web Site of…" in a TITLE tag. It's a waste of important virtual real estate. 

There are two other tags that appear in the HEAD section which are important to site promotion: the META DESCRIPTION and META KEYWORDS tags. Some, but not all, search engines use these tags to determine your ranking. The rules for the META DESCRIPTION tag are basically the same as those for the TITLE tag, although it's fine for the two to be slightly different. The META KEYWORDS tag is basically a list of keywords. There's nothing to be gained by packing this tag with an endless list of words - most experts believe that the search engines don't index more than a certain number. Pick the ones that you really think people are going to use to search for sites like yours. Most of the gurus agree that these keywords should be all in lowercase, separated by commas or spaces. 

The most important place to include keywords is in the body text of your pages. Again, don't go wild - write in a normal, readable style. But be sure that your most important keywords are mentioned at least once or twice, and consider using some of them in page headings and subheadings. 

Ready to submit?
Well, we've mixed up the order of things a bit, but it's necessary to understand how search engines work in order to realize why keywords are so important. Once you've got your pages nice and optimized, make a final system check before you start submitting. Never submit your site to the search engines until it's 100% ready for the public. 

As mentioned earlier, there are actually two different kinds of search site, which are often lumped together under the term "search engine." A search engine proper uses an automatic software agent called a "spider" to search (or "crawl") the Web for sites to index for its database. Theoretically, it's not necessary to submit your site to spider-based search engines, because the spider will sooner or later find your site on its own. Of course, no wise Web owner would leave such a critical matter to chance, so you can and should submit your site to all the major search engines. It's only necessary to submit your home page, however - the spider will automatically find and index all the other pages by following links. Although the search engines hate (and punish) overzealous souls who try to use tricks to get more listings. 

Here is a fact that may save you a lot of wasted time. There are not, repeat not, a thousand, or even a hundred, search engines that are worth submitting to. Yes, there are thousands of sites claiming to be, or wishing to be, search engines, but most of them are simply attempts to get your money, or to get your email address so that they can send you spam. Almost all search engine traffic goes to the top ten to twenty search engines. Submitting to all the piddly little ones is a complete waste of time, and will net you only spam. The exception is specialty search engines, which focus on a particular topic or geographic area. They are well worthwhile, and will be discussed in more detail later. 

The most important "search engine" of all is more accurately described as a "directory." This is Yahoo, by far the most popular search site on the Web. A directory does not use an automated spider to find sites to index. Instead, real human beings comb through the trillions of sites submitted to choose which ones are worthy of being listed. For the searcher, this is good, as it means that Yahoo includes far less flotsam and jetsam than search engines do. For the Web site owner, it's not so promising, because Yahoo is very hard to get into. If you do get in, you'll see your traffic climb immediately, so it's well worth putting some time in to try to get listed. 

Resist the temptation to submit over and over - it won't work. Submissions are reviewed by real editors, so follow their instructions to the letter, and really try to convince them that your site is a useful resource. Some good tips are to be found on the rather obscure page called "How to Suggest Your Site". 

Another directory that's very important is the Open Directory (http://dmoz.org). Unlike Yahoo, it's possible to get listed in multiple categories, or to have several pages from your site listed (assuming that they really have different types of content). You shouldn't use an autosubmitter to submit to Yahoo and Open Directory. Take your time and craft your submissions carefully to these two important sites. 

After You Submit
Submitting to search engines is a bit like washing windows - some panes just don't come clean without some extra scrubbing, and they all get dirty again. Getting listed can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. Sometimes a search engine just won't list your site at all, for reasons which elude even the most expert Web promotion gurus. For this reason, it's absolutely essential that you check all the search engines a month or so after you submit. If you're not in there, submit again. Don't forget the warnings against spamming the engines, but resubmitting every month or two is not likely to anger them. 

Some search engines may drop your site from their database for reasons unknown, and some place older listings lower in their rankings. Also, if anything changes on your site, then the search engines should be instructed to reindex your site. For these reasons, it's a good idea to re-submit to the major search engines at least every six months or so, or any time you make a major site revision. Sound like a lot of work? Not really, especially if you use an autosubmitter. Some of them can also automate the process of checking to see if you are listed. 

Submitting to search engines is an essential first step, but there are lots of other things you can do to promote your site. The name of the game is to get as much traffic as you can, so you want to get as many links pointing to your site as you can. The Web is so large and complex that there's practically no limit to the amount of time you can spend trying to stir up traffic. 

Specialty search engines and directories are well worth investigating. There are lots of sites that feature links to sites about a particular topic, such as travel, investing, food, etc. Some are small search engines, which allow users to search for sites, while others are "links pages," which simply have static lists of links that users can browse. These can be very worthwhile if your site happens to fit into a topic that they cover. Don't forget the caveat about all the marginal sites out there. If a page looks amateurishly done, or appears not to have been updated in a long time, it probably gets little or no traffic. 

Link exchanges are very valuable for new and/or smaller sites. These outfits let you submit a banner ad to them in return for placing their ad on your site. Every time someone sees the banner on your site, you earn credit towards displays of your banner on other member sites.

A time-honored and effective way to build traffic is to exchange links with related sites. Your competitors probably won't want to put up a link to your site (then again, they may), but your suppliers, customers and other companies that you work with may do so. Content sites that cover topics related to your site, and sites of companies that make related products, are good candidates for reciprocal links. Most folks will expect you to respond in kind by adding a link to their site. If you like, you can put all these links on a special "links page" so they don't clutter up your home page. If you have lots of useful links, your links page may even become a valuable resource in its own right, building even more traffic for your site. 

Email newsletters are terrific traffic-builders. An announcement newsletter, which allows you to send email to visitors who sign up for the list, can be used to notify customers and potential customers of new features on your site, special offers, etc. A discussion list, which allows any list members to post messages, can be a valuable resource for members, and can be used to plug your site.

Don't confuse mailing lists with spam. A mailing list consists of people who signed up to receive messages, and who can unsubscribe from the list at any time. Spam is mass email sent to people who never asked to receive it. Don't believe the promises of the scamsters who offer to set you up with spam lists. Spamming will cripple your traffic, and quite possibly put your Web site out of business, as all hosting services have strict anti-spam policies, and will cancel the account of a spammer in a heartbeat. 

Whether you have your own mailing list or not, participating in appropriate discussion lists and online forums can be a good way to increase awareness of your site, and build traffic. Be careful to use proper netiquette, and obey all the guidelines of any group that you participate in. Most lists won't tolerate blatant advertising, but see nothing wrong in sneaking in a plug for your site here and there, in the course of contributing meaningfully to the discussion. 

What about paid advertising? These days, buying banner advertising is seldom cost-effective for a small business. To get results from banner ads, you need to spend some serious money, and you need to be prepared to refine both the banners and their placement on an ongoing basis. Mailing list ads, however, are generally far cheaper, and often reach much more finely-targeted audiences, than banner ads. If you can find a mailing list or two that target the type of people you're trying to reach, it might be well worthwhile to try a few ads. 

Promoting your Web site is an endless task. You could sit at your computer for twelve hours a day for weeks, and still not exhaust all the potential ways to stir up traffic. But don't despair. As with all things, there's a point of diminishing returns - submitting your site to the major search engines carefully and thoroughly, and taking a few of the other steps listed above, should be quite enough to get some traffic rolling your way. After that, the most important thing for Internet success is the same as in any business - sell a quality product or service at a competitive price. If you don't do that, then all the promotion and marketing in the world will be a waste of time.