web position gold

Thu Oct 5 10:27:30 EDT 2000

I purchased Web Position Gold, and give it a solid "B."
Pardon my arrogance, but I just finished an article on this exact topic for
Informant, the Journal of the Illinois Chapter of the Special Libraries
Association.  Just in case anyone wants to read it, I've included it below.

Avi Janssen
Director of Information Services
Spertus Institute for Jewish Studies
618 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL  60605
voice: 312-322-1736
fax: 312-922-6406
mailto:avi at spertus.edu

Website Promotion

“If you build it, they will come.”  It would be wonderful if this phrase
applied to websites; but unfortunately, building a great website is only a
first step.  You also have to make sure that the site is easy-to-use,
constantly updated with new and fresh content, periodically redesigned, and
available (i.e. the server isn’t down).  Furthermore, you have to make sure
that people know about and can find your site.

There are many different methods of promoting your website and attracting
visitors.  Making sure that you are listed prominently in search engines is
one of the most important elements.  Search engines, after all, are the most
likely way that web surfers find sites that they’ve never been to before.

There are different types of search engines, and the technique for promoting
your site differs for each type.  True search engines employ web crawlers
(also called spiders or robots) that comb the web and index what they find.
Exactly how and what web crawlers index, i.e. the algorithms behind the
process, are closely guarded trade secrets.  When you use a search engine,
you are actually searching this index, which might be refreshed only every
two weeks or so.  Examples of true search engines are Google!
(http://www.google.com/), AltaVista (http://www.altavista.com/) and HotBot
(http://www.hotbot.com/).  Subject directories differ from true search
engines in that living, breathing cataloguers instead of web crawlers build
the index.  Examples of subject directories are Yahoo!
(http://www.yahoo.com/) and the Open Directory Project
(http://www.dmoz.org/).  Lastly, portals (websites that seek to be gateways
into a broader array of sites) and specialized directories present focused
information and links for a specific industry, subject, or audience.

To improve your ranking in true search engines, you might have to add or
revise some HTML code to your page and place keywords and key phrases
strategically to help web crawlers ferret out your page’s subject
automatically.  For example, make sure the <TITLE> is keyword-rich and
includes your organization’s name and what you do.  Remember that this is
what appears in the title bar of the browser, as well as the description
when someone bookmarks the site.  Be sure there are meta tags such as <META
NAME="description" CONTENT="..."> and <META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="...">.
Also make sure that the first paragraph on your page is rich in keywords.
Search engines generally assume that any page relevant to the topic will
mention keywords right from the beginning.  Frequency is another factor in
how search engines determine relevancy -- those pages with a higher
frequency of keywords are often deemed more relevant than other web pages.
At the same time, you should be wary of “search engine spamming.”  In other
words, some search engines penalize sites that simply repeat keywords 25 or
30 times.  For help on choosing keywords and key phrases, see “Promotion
Tip: How To Pick Your Keywords”
(http://www.netmechanic.com/news/vol3/promo_no9.htm) and "Determine your Key
Phrases" (http://www.selfpromotion.com/pageprep.t).  For advice on how to
write better HTML code that helps search engines index your site, see “Notes
on helping search engines index your Web site”
(http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/appendix/notes.html#h-B.4).

To improve your ranking in portals or directories, you should submit your
URL and information about your site for the portal’s directory’s
consideration.  Information on how to do this should be easy to find on the
portal’s or directory’s site.  For instance, Yahoo! has a page called “How
to Suggest Your Site” at http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/.  A critical
step in this process is choosing the directory’s correct category for your
site.

Again, unfortunately, submitting your site, choosing the best keywords, and
crafting the perfect HTML code are only initial steps.  You probably want to
check routinely that your website is not only listed in various directories
and search engines, but also that it ranks within the first page of results
for searches on the keywords you chose.  You could do this manually by going
to each search engine, typing your keywords, and seeing if your page pops
up.  This process would be a little tedious, to say the least.  Instead, you
might want to invest in software or a service that can do these steps for
multiple search engines simultaneously and also submits your site
automatically.  Examples include Web Position Gold
(http://www.webposition.com/), TopDog (http://www.topdog.com/), and
SubmitIt! through Microsoft’s bCentral (http://www.submitit.com/).
SavvySubmit lets you submit your web site to 16 major search engines for
free (http://www.savvysearch.com/submit).

Ideally, you might want to check your website’s position every other month.
The time it takes for your website to appear in a search engine or directory
once you submit it differs for each search engine.  The average is probably
about one month to six weeks, but Yahoo! might be even longer.

A lower-tech, but perhaps more effective, method of promoting your website
is making sure that your URL is visible and familiar to people who come into
contact with your business in other media.  Is it prominent on your
letterhead, business cards, print ads and flyers?  Is it included in your
voicemail message?  After all, people who already know about you before they
get online are the most likely ones to seek out your website.

You, your employees, and volunteers should also keep an eye out for your
site as they surf the web.  Most sites have a page of links to other
websites -- make it a habit of checking to see whether your website is
linked from other relevant sites and portals.  Being linked to increases the
chances of surfers finding your site through such lists, and may also
improve your performance in search engine rankings.  Google
(http://www.google.com), for instance, relies on links as an indicator of a
website’s relevance.  If your site is not listed, send an e-mail to that
page’s webmaster asking to be linked.  You might offer to link to his/her
web page in exchange.  You may want to join an association that encourages
reciprocal linking, such as a web ring, or try a banner exchange program
such as LinkExchange.

Lastly, don’t forget about direct marketing tools.  An e-mail newsletter
might be a perfect way to keep visitors apprised of news and additions to
your website.  Listbot (http://www.listbot.com/), Majordomo
(http://www.greatcircle.com/majordomo/), Listserv
(http://www.lsoft.com/products/default.asp?item=listserv), and eGroups.com
(http://www.egroups.com/) are all free or nearly free software or services
that help you maintain and manage e-mail newsletters or discussion groups.

Website promotion is a never-ending process.  By making the most of
opportunities to make those with whom you are already in contact aware of
your website, acquiring links to your site from other websites, and
maximizing your search engine rankings, you can draw visitors to the site
you’ve worked so hard to build.

Avi Janssen

Bibliography:
Boutin, Paul.  "Sending Search-Engine Traffic to Your Site."  Webmonkey
(Jul. 27, 1999)  Available at
http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/99/31/index1a.html?tw=e-business.

Hann, William.  "Search Engine Promotion"  Free Pint (20th January 2000
No.54).  Available at http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/200100.htm

Pilkington, Nikki. "12 Offline Ways of Promoting Your URL" Free Pint (4th
March 1999 #33). Available at
http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/040399.htm#tips

ScoreCheck Index Resource Guide.  Available at
http://www.scorecheck.com/resourceguide.html.

“Submit Corner - Search Engine Optimization and Placement.”  Free search
engine submission, META tag generator, Link Check, Robots Generator, and
more.  Includes free guides and tools to improving and optimizing your
website for search engine positioning.  Available at
http://www.submitcorner.com/

“Submit to Search Engines | Register Website | Add URL Free.”  Automatically
add your URL for FREE to over 100 of the most important indexes and search
engines!  Learn how to apply to Yahoo, win awards, and improve search engine
ranking.  Available at http://www.selfpromotion.com/

Sullivan, Danny.  "Search Engine Submission Tips"  Search Engine Watch.
Available at http://www.searchenginewatch.com/.  See also "Tips About
Internet Search Engines & Search Engine Submission," available at
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/index.html.

Winnick, Michael.  "Drumming Up Web Traffic on the Cheap."  Webmonkey (Sep.
2, 1997). Available at
http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/97/32/index3a.html?tw=e-business