Promoting
your own website
A
common mistake made by first time web developers is the assumption that once
your website has been uploaded, people will find it. There are over 800 Billion
web pages currently listed in the Google search engine alone. That makes the chances
of being found by chance is fairly remote.
You
will need to actively promote your own website.
The
first step is to "submit" your URL (website address) to a few of the
major search engines. There are hundreds of search engines and directories (WHAT'S
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A SEARCH ENGINE AND A DIRECTORY?) on the Internet today.
Although it is free to add your URL to some search engines and directories, the
registration effort does take time. Many of the major search engines and
directories now charge a fee for submission. Yahoo is a prime example. Our experience
is that it is very possible to achieve high ranking results in Yahoo without ever
submitting your site to them, and more importantly without paying them any money.
(So don't bother)
Some directories are specific to
particular subjects. You should search Google, or Lycos for search engines that
are relevant to your sites theme. Submitting to these directories is worth
doing.
Here are a couple of good places to start.
Directory
of Directories
Add
URL to Google
When
a search engine becomes aware of the existence of your page, a "robot"
or "spider" will visit your site and create a set of database indexes
based on words or phrases that it finds. Meta tags are useful ways to tell a search
engine what your site is about. You should have a useful and descriptive TITLE
tag, DESCRIPTION tag and a KEYWORD tag. However meta tags are becoming less and
less important. By far the most important aspect of your website is the text in
your content.
The other important aspect of promoting
your website is link popularity. The buzz word is "Backlinking".
This is where another website creates a link to your website. The more backlinks
you have, the higher your websites credibility will be.
There
are two ways to acquire backlinks.
1. Listings in directories,
free or paid. Click here for a list of over 150 free directories. Try this: Directory
of Directories
2. Trading links with other sites. This
is usually done by sending an e-mail to a related website (similar topics or content),
and asking if they want to swap links.
For more information
on search
engines, try this link.
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