FAQ: Proper Website Promotion

By far the biggest mistake made is not taking into account the marketing of a site while it's being designed. Most webmasters / designers are overly concerned about animated GIFs and JAVA-related effects while ignoring how "sales worthy" the site is to its visitors.

Having the most beautiful, dazzling and state-of-the-art Website means nothing if no one sees it. I cannot stress enough to those looking at building a high traffic site that they develop a 'Game Plan' and share it with your Web designer.

Regarding Websites themselves, it's important that the designer make them simple and relevant. To a large degree, many sites on the Web today are modern-day versions of online Taj Mahals --a tribute to interactive architecture, but not the most utilitarian or convenient venue to navigate through.

QUESTION #2
I've listed my Website with over 100 search engines but I'm still not getting many "hits". Why?

Well, first of all, a "hit" is a deceptive statistic to use because a "hit" is NOT a visitor; its a download of a file. Every file you reference from a webpage creates one hit. So, if you have three images on your home page, one visitor will equal four hits: three separate image files, plus the page file.

Getting back to your question, though, the answer probably is that your Website is listed too low for anyone to find you when doing a keyword search. Basically, only those wWbsites listed in the top 10 to 30 of a search engine or directory will bring any visitors to your site.

QUESTION #3
What is the best way to get people to visit our Website at little or no cost?

Do-It-Yourself marketing may be the least expensive way to publicize one's Website, but you get what you pay for and if you don't pay anything, you won't get anything in return!

Do-It-Yourself search engine submission isn't effective either, unless you (a) really know what you're doing and (b) keep working on it month after month. There are a number of services that will register you with multiple engines and directories for no charge (www.AddMe.com). Be aware, however, that while these services will get your site listed, you will lose control over how you want your site described and even if your site is indexed at all!

That's why using Blurt, Inc. to promote your Website is the most cost-effective way to drive targeted, prospective customers to your site.

When we promote your Website, we do more than just get your site indexed by the major search engines and directories. We do research because proper internet requires lots of tedious research so that all possible ways of publicity and promotion are utilized such as;

    1. Search Engines: still the most important way to get visitors
    2. Reciprocal Links: absolutely critical in building consistent traffic
    3. Newsgroups: an excellent source for targeted marketing efforts
    4. E-Mailing Lists: often overlooked; always under appreciated
    5. E-Zines: becoming the preferred vehicle for 'Net advertising
    6. Press Releases: contacting the media equals free advertising

    Via Search Engines............................ 22.50%
    Links From Other Websites..................... 22.00%
    Print Media Advertisments..................... 16.00%
    Recommendations From Friends.................. 13.80%
    Newsgroups / Chatrooms......................... 9.74%
    Signatures On Emails........................... 8.10%
    TV/Radio Commercials........................... 7.86%

QUESTION #5
What are the key elements in improving a Web page's ranking in the major search engines?

TITLE TAG
Include and repeat keywords that people might search for to find you in the TITLE of all your pages. This is very important. Keep common word groups or phrases that people might search on together if you can. The TITLE is EXTREMELY important to achieving good rankings.

PROMINENCY
Keywords that are more prominent will be weighted much higher with the search engines. Most engines rank you higher if the keyword or phrase is near the beginning of the title and as close to the beginning of the page as possible.

REPEATING KEYWORDS
Experiment with repeating keywords up to six times and more on some engines. If this makes your page look bad, consider putting the keywords at the top of the page preferably in the same color as the background. That way nobody can see them but they should still get indexed.

Warning: Most engines are now detecting wording in the same color as the background and either ignoring such text or leaving the page out of the index altogether! Proper "netiquette" discourages blatant "spamming" of keywords. You should not try to go overboard repeating the same keyword or using keywords that don't apply to your site.

META TAGS
You should fill out META tags for keywords, author's name, and page classification. You can find the syntax for this in most good HTML editors. Many editors such as Netscape Gold let you simply fill in the values under the Document Properties screen. META tags tell search engines what keywords or categories you would like to be listed under. A couple of engines factor this in to their indexing algorithm. However, generally it will not make a significant difference in how you are positioned. It doesn't hurt to try though especially since any of the engines can change the rules tomorrow and it could catapult you to the top of the list (assuming you took the time to add the META tags).

EXPERIMENT
Try different page designs and submit them. Consider making different secondary pages tailored for each engine when necessary. Avoid submitting too many similar pages to the same engine (particularly on the same day) or you risk your site being banned or rejected.

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