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You've spent days, maybe weeks, creating a terrific website. Unfortunately, no one has seen it. Now what?
Website promotion is a many-layered, many-varied process. If you ask five people what they think are the best ways to promote their websites, you will probably get five different answers, with a few common denominators.
Promoting your site takes a significant amount of time and should not be hurried. Results will probably not be seen for a number of weeks, or even several months. Many people give up after not seeing results right away. The keys to successful website promotion are perseverance, patience, and diligence.
To begin a successful promotion campaign, you must complete two steps. Those two steps are submitting your website to the major online directories and to the top search engines.
DIRECTORIES:
You should begin your marketing campaign by listing your website in the most popular online directories. These directories can affect your search engine ranking so it is a wise move to list your website with them before you submit to the search engines.
Directories can also send significant traffic to your website. Make sure you are listed in all of the major directories before you try any other promotional methods. In this way, you will have laid the groundwork for a successful marketing campaign.
Submitting your website to the directories is an easy process, requiring very little effort. However, making certain that the website will be accepted is the difficult part.
Directories are far more selective than search engines and require much more preparation. You must become familiar with their policies before you submit your website. If you do not follow their instructions carefully, your website will be rejected.
If you are unsure about the appropriateness or quality of your website, research web page design articles to see what works and what does not. The primary goal of a webmaster should always be to have unique, high-quality content and lots of it.
The best directory to start with is the Open Directory Project. Make sure you read their instructions carefully before you submit your website. The editors usually review sites quickly and will not reject them unless there is a good reason for doing so.
The Open Directory Project is free of charge. This makes it a perfect place to start with. It will also provide you with experience that will be valuable to you later on.
After you are successful at listing your website on the Open Directory Project, you should try to get it listed in the Yahoo directory. Commercial websites are charged a fee but it is worth the price. Non-commercial websites are free. Again, make sure you read their instructions and guidelines carefully before you attempt to list your site.
The third biggest directory is Looksmart. A good listing in it can send a lot of visitors your way, but it is expensive. Their site does not draw as many visitors as Yahoo or the Open Directory Project. However, MSN, Altavista and Dogpile all use Looksmart's data in their search results, making it very attractive to a lot of people.
SEARCH ENGINES:
Now that your website has been submitted to the three major directories, you have built a good foundation for submitting it to the search engines. Your next task is to learn how to optimize your website for the search engines.
Before you submit to search engines, learn the basics of their ranking systems and adjust your pages to meet their criteria as well as possible. This will take some time and effort, but doing some work now will save you from a lot of trouble in the future.
Try to make the design of your site as search engine friendly as possible. If in doubt, research articles online that offer tips and guidelines for website optimization.
Make sure you choose the correct keywords for your website. This is called keyword optimization. If you use the wrong keywords, you will not get good results. Research keyword tools online if you are unsure about what words to use.
Now you are ready to begin the process of submitting your website to the search engines. Before you begin, however, you will need to know what search engines to submit to and how to submit to them. This process can take some time.
Google, Lycos, Inktomi, and AltaVista are the four top search engines. There are hundreds of other search engines available but they will not generate a fraction of the traffic that will come from the top four.
Learn the submission guidelines for each of the search engines you submit to. Incorrectly submitted pages will not be included. Once you submit to them, check back after four to six weeks to see if your site has been included.
There are a variety of other promotional options available to the webmaster, including pay per click, exchanging links, ezine advertising, and email marketing, just to name a few. You should definitely investigate some or all of these methods. The more work you put into your marketing efforts, the more rewards you will receive. |
| Author: Chris Chenoweth |
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Author Bio:
Chris Chenoweth, author of the DO-IT-YOURSELF HOME, HEALTH & MONEY GUIDE, writes articles pertaining to diet, exercise, health and business. One of the best weight loss systems available, the BURN THE FAT program, reveals healthy ways to force your body to burn fat and lose weight. |
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