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The exposure of your Web site through the Web search engines can be enhanced with a
few simple steps to take
advantage of the way the major search engines operate. The site should then be submitted to the search engines for registration. That
is the entire key to successful search engine advertising. No sense having your site listed in
any search engine if it is so far down the list that no one
ever finds it! We describe here the few basic steps needed to enhance your visibility.
There are dozens of search engines in use, but about 10 search engines are used by 90% of all Net surfers when they are looking for something on the Web: Alta Vista, Excite, HotBot, InfoSeek, Lycos, Magellan, New Rider's WWW Yellow Pages, Open Text Index, Web Crawler, and Yahoo! Obviously, you want your site listed as prominently as possible on these 10 in order to attract the most visitors. If you want to read more and stay abreast of current issues in Web Site marketing, read The Traffic Builder newsletter. It should go without saying that before telling the world about your web site, you make sure your "house" is in order! Web Site Garage gives an excellent (free) evaluation of your site, including a "Popularity Index" worth the visit alone. If it's time to check your site into the garage, there are many excellent "How To Improve Your Web Site" out there. Our favorites include:
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Give your Web site a "Title" including keywords
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Be sure to give your site a "Title" -- at the top of the HTML page, include:
<HEAD> Include 2-3 of the main keywords for your site in the <TITLE> section of your HTML codes. This will help on a couple of the top 10 search engines, because they give more "weight" to sites that have one or more of the search terms within the title. For example, change your site's title from "Acme Computer Products" to "Acme Computer Products - Software, Hardware, Peripherals." Now, whenever someone searches for a computer site using "computer", "software","hardware", or "peripherals," as a search term, your site will appear much higher up the list than when your site only had "computer" as a search term in the title. WARNING: Give some long and serious thought to which keywords you use in the title. You don't want to use terms that are not widely known. Stick with general language that many people are likely to search for your site with. |
Use the keywords in the text of your site
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Some search engines return lists ranked by how many of the
searchers' search terms appear in the homepage text. So it's a good idea
to use the main keywords several times in your homepage text. However,
do NOT simply string them together: web web web web web web. Most
engines will ignore this tactic. The idea is to find a creative way to naturally
incorporate the keywords in your text. For example, using "web:"
"Welcome to our "web" site! We specialize in marketing "web" pages. Several of our former clients have seen tremendous growth in the traffic to their "web" sites after hiring us to promote them. The "web" is an ever-changing, constantly growing entity, and proper "web" site promotion is absolutely crucial to success." The keyword "web" was just used 5 times in one paragraph, without sounding too redundant. This will improve the position of the site on any search conducted on a few big search engines, when the searcher uses the term "web" to search. If your site is graphical, and does not use text, it is HIGHLY recommend to incorporate some text along with this tactic to improve its position in the top 10 search engines. |
Use "Meta" tags
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Use META tags within the <HEAD> section of your homepage
HTML. This technique is ignored by far too many web pages,
especially when the page is prepared using a Web Authoring program such as PageMill,
where the actually HTML code is not being worked with directly.
To add META Tags, you need to view the HTML file using an ascii editor,
such as (on a Mac) SimpleText or the Web Developers fabulous favorite,
BBEdit,
and insert the META Tags at the top.
Basically, META tags use coded language that direct "robots" and "spiders" (automatic programs used by several of the top 10 engines to index your site) to use what you put in the META tag as your site's description and keywords. This gives you control over what searchers will see when your site is returned on their search list. META tags are very easy to include, and the basic syntax is as follows:
<META name="description" content="Write your description here">
WARNING: You must put the META tags within the <HEAD> section of the HTML codes in your homepage, EXACTLY like this (quotes included):
<HEAD> Note that there are several other META tags shown here, that serve purposes beyond simply advertising. It is a good idea to adopt a standard, comprehensive format for the META tags and then use copy-and-paste to duplicate your META Tags format on all the web pages you post. Other important aspects of META tags include using a description that is approximately 200-250 characters long, or about 25-35 words, and listing the keywords from most important to least important. In other words, put a lot of careful analysis and thought into your use of the META tags, and you will be much happier with the results! THEME: the simpler the better when it comes to keywords! Put yourself in the shoes of the average person searching for your type of site.
Here are some general Reference Sites on META tags and their uses: |
Submit your Web site to the search engines
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After you have implemented these simple
changes/additions/deletions to your Web site, either submit or resubmit its URL to
the top 10 search engines. You should soon see some higher
traffic counts. Of course, what your site offers has the
most impact on traffic, but a higher position in the
major search engines certainly won't hurt!
Check out your site's popularity with
Altavista, Infoseek and HotBot.
There are commercial services on the net which will do the submissions for you, and often offer additional services to ensure that your site receives maximal exposure. Here are two popular marketing services:
which will submit your site URL and key information to 10 top sites for free, and many others for a fee of around $30 a site. The following sites lists all of the submission services, as well as direct links to the submission forms for the search engines - an excellent time-saver! |
Some of the Search Engines
(These sites change frequently, so the list is not inclusive.)
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Abaweb!, Alta Vista, Been There, BizWeb, Central Source Yellow Pages, Enterpreneurs on the Web, Excite, Four11, Galaxy, I-Network I-Systems Spiral Business Directory, I-World Web Pointer, Infoseek, Inktomi, Innovator's Network Yellow Pages, Internet Mall, Jayde Online Directory, Jumpcity, Jumper Hot Links, Linkmaster, Lycos, Magellan, Mega Mall, Net-Happenings, Net Navigator, Net Mall, NTG's List, NYNEX Big Yellow, One World Plaza, OnLine's WWWeb Index, Rex, Starting Point, Truenorth, URL Tree, Virtual Lynx, Web Point, WebCentral, Web Venture Hotlist, Webcrawler, Websurf, Win Mag/NetGuide Hotspots, WhatUSeek, Worldwide Announce Archive, WWW Business Yellow Pages, World Wide Yellow Pages, WWW Worm, YelloWWWeb. |
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May Fame and Fortune Come your WebWay. |
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URL for this page: http://www.oprf.com/commerce/exposure.html Comments to opt@oprf.com. -- Updated April 3, 1999 Copyright © 1996-1999 Steven Hurder, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED |