Getting Serious -
By now you should have developed at least a few inward links, know what your search words will be and what search engines and directories
you want to target, but be warned - do not autosubmit to “400 search engines”. There really are no more than about twelve worthwhile directories or search engines and most of them have names you recognise and trust, such as Yahoo, MSN, Google, AOL etc. The other 388 are largely a method of aquiring your email address for advertising purposes.
At this point, you need to decide just how important searchengine positioning is to your site and how you want to approach it. Your decision
will largely depend on how much time and money you think it is worth and whether your time or your money is more important. As usual, you get what you pay for but the options are as follows:
Least cost method
The least expensive method - at least in terms of money - is to do it yourself, using the free
“add URL” links at the bottom of most search engines pages. Free additions will work eventually but be aware that it can take some time. Six to eight weeks is not uncommon for many free entries and there is no guarantee that you will ever show up. You must just keep trying until you get to an acceptable level. Expect this to take about six to eight months.
Before submitting, however, you must try to optimise your pages to give them the very best chance of showing up with a high rating for your
searchwords on the engines of your choice. Otimising your pages for your chosen search words is not always easy but can pay big dividends.
I use Web Position Gold, a combination of software solution and ongoing service and advice which I have found to be excellent. WPG is constantly updated with the
latest search engine knowledge almost every time you log on, the page critic features are helpful, the Reporter function which checks your position on chosen search engines saves hours of work and their monthly free
newsletter has excellent, up to date advice. I like it - a lot! You can try Web Position Gold free for thirty days with absolutely no obligation and without having to give your credit details up front.
Perservering with WPG and free submissions will get you there over time, but there are a few relatively low cost solutions to speed things
up. Paid submission to Inktomi is probably the best value at the moment. I said earlier that most of the search engines came under names you would recognise, but Inktomi is not actually a search engine, more of a
solution provider for other search engines.
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