Companies Cash In on Your Search Engine Ignorance

This article will cause many companies to stir, but it’s about time someone started speaking against these services.It really angers me when I see the numerous services that boast they will increase your traffic by submitting your web site to umpteen different search engines.

When I first started promoting my site, I used to buy into these claims and purchase such services only to be disappointed when my traffic did not increase.

FACT: The search engines can do wonders for your traffic. I attribute over 80% of my total Internet income from being found in the search engines.

FACT: Over the past couple of years, the search engines world has had a major overhaul. It used to be that most of the popular search engines were independently run. Now many of them get their search results from larger directories like Yahoo, Open Directory and LookSmart.

So if you’re not listed there, then you may not find your site in many of the popular search engines these days.

FACT: The majority of these multi search engine submission services use some type of automated software to perform the submissions.

Most search engine programmers have designed their engines to IGNORE such automated submissions.

What does that mean for you?

Yep….you probably aren’t getting most of the submissions that you pay for because the engines are rejecting them.

FACT: These submission services could care less about where your site ranks. They’ll just submit it for you, collect your money, and move onto the next unsuspecting Internet marketer, while you sit back and wonder, “Where is all the traffic I’m supposed to be getting?”

FACT: Spending hundreds of dollars on these multi-submission services is a WASTE of MONEY. If you want to get real benefits from the search engines, subscribe to Danny Sullivan’s newsletter at http://www.SearchEngineWatch.com and learn how the engines work and rank pages.

The BIG Yahoo Myth!

Don’t ever let any submission service make you believe they can get you into Yahoo with the click of a button.

First of all, Yahoo is not even a search engine. It’s a directory and it’s run by a group of human editors who decide whether or not a site will be accepted.

The ONLY way to get into Yahoo is to submit yourself, and if your site is commercial you’ll have to pay a fee.

FACT: You should submit to all the search engines yourself. Simply go to each engine - http://www.alltheweb.com for example - scroll down to the bottom of the page and look for the “Submit Your Site” link and submit from there.

Just keep in mind that several major engines now get their results from the BIG 3 - Yahoo, LookSmart, and Open Directory. Getting listed here will eventually get your site into popular engines like MSN, AOL, Netscape, and more.

The key to receiving search engine traffic is:

1. Educating yourself on exactly how the engines determine web site rankings.

2. Develop your site accordingly. (selecting an appropriate domain name, including relevant content, keyword phrases, etc.)

3. And by all means, submit yourself!

About The Author

Lisa Irby is the author of 2 Create a Web Site — a site that encourages you to plan accordingly and GET THE FACTS before diving into the web site creation process.

Written by SEO Tipster on January 7th, 2007 with no comments.
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How To Use Google As A Niche Website Builder

The popularity of weblogs or blogs has gotten a lot of attention from the media recently. In fact, “blog” was picked as the word of the year by Merriam-Webster, a U.S. dictionary publisher.There are many ways you can start your own blog. One of the easiest ways to set up your own blog is to use Google’s free Blogger.com (http://www.blogger.com).

Blogger lets you choose and customize your blog template. With just a few tweaks, you can easily integrate your blog into your existing website. By doing that you can also use Blogger as a website builder.

Here are 8 good reasons why you should consider using Blogger to build your website:

1. A sitemap is instantly generated for you. Each page you create automatically gets added to the list of created pages either on the left or right sidebar. All the individual pages are linked from the main page and link back to the main page. This link structure is optimized for the search engines. You can change the title to read “Sitemap” instead of “Previous Posts” which is the default setting.

2. Get your pages spidered quickly. Do you have a website that has been created for months and you’re still waiting for the search engines to index it? Believe it or not, blogs with frequently added content get visits from search engine spiders a lot faster.

3. You can easily change the entire look of your website. Just by changing the main template, you can republish your entire site to have a new look. You don’t have to manually change each page.

4. Each page or entry is automatically optimized for the search engines with the appropriate page title.

5. Generate income with Adsense. Adding Adsense to your website is simple. If you have an Adsense account already, you just have to paste the code into the template and the ads will automatically show up on every page.

6. Get more traffic. Submit your “blog” to blog directories. People will find your website through the listings in the appropriate category. Having your blog listed in blog directories also provides your site with backlinks.

7. Automatic notification. Using a free service such as Pingomatic (http://www.pingomatic.com), you can notify the most popular blog directories that you have new pages added to your site.

8. Syndication. With RSS, you can syndicate your blog to many readers. This will help you increase the traffic to your site. You can use a free service such as Feedburner (http://www.feedburner.com). You can also create email or forum signatures that link to your blog.

So start thinking out of the box and look into using Blogger as a niche website builder. If you already have a website, consider creating a blog that complements that website. Use the blog to drive traffic to your main website as well.

Hock Ng is the founder and editor of The Marketing Tools Review website (http://www.marketing-tools-review.com) and newsletter providing tips and tools for internet and affiliate marketers. He also maintains an active marketing blog.

Written by SEO Tipster on January 7th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on SEO Articles.