I’m the first to admit that getting
your web site listed in the search engines – particularly
in a top 10 spot – is tricky business. Every day we get question
after question from subscribers who are totally confused about
how they can get their web site to "appear" in the
search engines.
Obviously, the "Insider
Secrets" course spends quite a bit of time exploring
and explaining how you can dramatically increase the traffic
to your web site using the search engines. However, I
am concerned that many of you may be making critical mistakes
when it comes to submitting your web site to the search engines
– mistakes that could be ruining your chances of getting
the top 10 ranking you deserve!
So while I highly recommend that
you refer to the course for more in-depth, more advanced
search engine techniques and strategies, here I’d like
to briefly review the different choices you have for getting
your web site listed…
| #1
– |
Use
A Free Submission Service |
Please… please… please! Avoid the free submission services!
Remember your mother telling you not to play with matches?
And remember her telling you not to take candy from strangers?
Well, think of the free submission services like stranger offering
you candy AND matches! Run… run fast!
Basically, free submission services
offer to submit your web site to as many as 500 of the top
search engines for FREE! And while that may sound like a great
deal to the inexperienced site owner, the truth is that if
you use a free submission service, you’ll pay! It
will cost you traffic and sales that should have been yours!
Top ranking positions are NOT
achieved using a free submission service. Why? Because every
search engine is different! Each engine has a different
"rule book" (called "algorithms") that
it uses to decide where your web site will rank. As a result,
free submission services are useless because they submit the
same information to every single engine.
This is of absolutely no value
to you!
| #2
– |
Use
A Low-Cost Automated Submission Service |
Much like the free submission
services, low-cost automated submission services offer to
submit your web site to as many as 900+ search engines for
a minimal fee (usually between $40 and $80).
This is another deal that’s really
too good to be true!
Much like the free submission
services, automated submission services like this will automatically
submit the same set of information to ALL of the search engines.
So your web site gets submitted to 900+ search engines… without
being optimized for their individual requirements!
You’ll be lucky to secure a spot
in the top 100, never mind the top 10!
You should also be aware that
these services often promise to resubmit your web site to
the search engines on a periodic basis. Again, while this
might sound good on the surface, you need to critically
analyze the offer.
What if you already have a top
spot in a particular engine? Resubmitting your site may cause
you to lose your place. What’s more, because each search engine
has different rules and regulations governing resubmission,
you risk being accused of spamming and having your site
banned!
So while low-cost automated submission
services may sound like a great deal, I personally would
not recommend this route. You will be far more successful
manually submitting your site, using a professional search
engine consultant, or using software that will optimize your
submission individually for each search engine.
| #3
– |
Do
It Yourself By Manually Submitting Your Web Site Information
To Each Individual Search Engine |
This is one of the best ways to submit your web site to the
search engines. You visit each search engine separately, and
manually submit the information for each web page you wish to
have listed.
By doing this, you will be sure
that you have met the specific requirements for each of the
individual engines -- a key step in securing a top 10 ranking!
Of course, I should point out that there are a couple
of disadvantages to submitting your web site this way:
- It can be very time consuming
and labor intensive. Researching and then meeting the
individual requirements of each search engine takes a lot
of time and energy because they’re all different.
- There are no professionals
available to look over your keywords and titles, verify
that you are using the most up-to-date search engine tricks
and techniques, and then double-check your choices and test
their effectiveness.
The fact is, search engines change
their rules (their algorithms) on almost a daily basis, making
gathering the "best" information about which techniques
work, and which don’t, a labor intensive process.
| #4
– |
Use
A Professional Search Engine Consultant |
I’ll tell you right up front
that the services of a professional search engine consultant
don’t come cheap. However, they are extremely effective
and worth considering if you can afford it.
Search engine consultants will
educate you and work hand-in-hand with you to maximize your
exposure in each search engine. They know all of the latest
tricks and techniques for securing a top spot, and will show
you exactly what you need to do to optimize your web site
for the best possible ranking.
I deal with a few companies like
this and they all charge approximately $600 to $900 for their
services. They evaluate your web site, help design keywords
and content, give tips and pointers, and design a search engine
submission campaign.
Then, when they start submitting
your information to the top search engines, they will not
only maximize every single field in the search engine submission
forms, they will also submit multiple web pages from your
site (this is a more advanced search engine technique
that we discuss in the "Insider Secrets" course).
If you can afford it, I recommend
hiring one of these "top notch" search engine consultants
to submit your site to the search engines. They are not cheap,
but they will take care of everything from designing your
keywords to providing a written report 90 days later to let
you know where your sites are ranked.
Plus, in many cases, the traffic
generated by a top position will more than pay for the cost
of the consultant. It’s just something to keep in mind when
making this decision…
Note: If you are interested
in learning more about what a search engine consultant can
do for your business, and want to speak directly with the
consultants we use, click
here now to fill out a special form, and we’ll automatically
forward it to the company who we currently feel is doing the
best job (this changes periodically).
| #5
– |
Use
Submission Software |
Until recently, I can’t honestly
say I recommended search engine submission software. This
is because most of the software out there does exactly what
the free and low-cost submission services do; they submit
the same set of information to all of the search engines…
so your site is never optimized and you never secure the
top ranking you need.
So if you’re going to use submission
software, here’s what you need to look for:
- Software that guides you through
the important process of choosing keywords and descriptions
that will generate maximum traffic for your web site.
(Choose the wrong keywords, and you can really harm
your ranking…)
- Software that takes the information
you input and prepares an individual submission form
for each search engine. Make sure that each search engine
receives the exact information it requires… without you
having to submit to each engine separately!
- Software that automatically
submits your web site to the top search engines,
indices, and directories.
Really, there’s only one software
we’ve found that can do all of this for you (you can click
here now to learn more
about it), but in a nutshell, this is what you should be looking
for.
Actually, I guess I should tell
you that the software we use was created by the same search
engine consultants that we personally use to submit both our
sites and our clients' sites to the search engines (the ones
that charge $600 to $900 per site).
So if you want the benefit of
their expertise, but can’t afford to hire them personally,
you can use the same software they are to get the top ranking
you need without the expense.
Final
Thoughts:
However you decide to submit
your web site to the search engines, I advise you to take
your time. Don’t rush in and make mistakes that could
destroy your chances of securing a top ranking. Remember that
search engines receive thousands of requests every day from
people who want to make changes to their listing!
These requests are at the bottom
of any search engine's priority list. In fact, you will have
more success completely removing your listing and starting
over than you will trying to change it.
So it is absolutely critical
that you take the time to submit your site the right way,
the first time.
