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PROMOTE
AND ADVERTISE YOUR WEBSITE
Promoting your web site
to increase the amount of traffic can be done in many ways. The most common
is to submit your site to search engines and directories
to aid people in finding your site among the millions of others on the Internet.
Other methods include using a paid listing on a directory,
or banner advertising.
To increase the effectiveness
of the submission, your site should also be tuned with meta tags (descriptions
of the contents of the web page that aren't seen when browsing the page),
and matching text within the page, which will move your site higher
in the of search engine listings. Any listing on the first few pages
of a search engine's search results is considered excellent.
It is important to know
that web site submissions are not a guarantee of more traffic. Each
search engine sorts web sites in a different way, and will have different
results for the same search terms. If you are competing against thousands
of other sites for the same web traffic you may not appear near the top
of a search listing.
You can submit your site
to each search engine yourself, or to save time, you can have us
do it for you.
If you
are shopping among other sites for submitting your web site, please be
aware that sometimes one URL = one web page, not an entire web site.
Additionally, these services may not tune your web site by adding meta
tags and suggesting text changes, although some will assist you in creating
meta tags for you to place in your pages.
Search
Engines
Search engines take
information you've submitted and index it for quick searches on their
sites. Others will visit your site for indexing, using the meta tags
and the text within the page for use in their index rankings. Search
engines do not charge for your site to be submitted. Examples of search
engines are: Google, AltaVista, Lycos,
and
Excite.
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Directories
Directories are similar
to search engines, but differ in that a real person will look at your
submission and decide whether or not to include your web site. Directories
are more difficult to be listed on since someone has to take the time
to review your site, and may decide that your site does not offer any
value to their directory. The most well known Internet directory is Yahoo,
which is also nearly impossible to become listed on. HotBot
and Lycos also use directories, and
DMOZ is the largest edited directory on the web.
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Paid Listings
Paid listings are
the guaranteed way of getting your site to the top of the list. Google
and Yahoo provide results based on paid advertising. They are often shown
as Sponsored Results.
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Banner Advertising
Banners are the moving
and often annoying advertisements that appear at the top of a web site,
especially on search engines. They are usually targeted at the search
terms that have been entered. If you search for books, there is a good
chance you'll get a banner ad for Amazon or Barnes and Noble. Rates
on banner advertising can run into the thousands of dollars, depending
on the popularity of a particular search term and the amount of hits
that search term gets on a given search engine. Less expensive banner
advertising where you simply pay for banners, without linking them to
targeted search terms are generally not as effective.
If your web site already
generates a moderate amount of traffic you may be able to trade banner
advertising space with other companies or trade associations.
You may also want
to consider affiliate programs where you pay other web sites for each
click through they provide to your site.
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