How do I make my web site known?

Preface

This is a page dedicated to all those who count the number of times they have checked their site by the number on their counter.

First of all let me start by saying that everything that follows is theoritical. If you've searched for my site on a search engine it is highly probable that you haven't found it anywhere! Still it DOES comply with most of the ideas below.

My only problem is that I refuse to pay in order to make my web site known. This is my personal web space designed for visitors who are involved in the computer industry one way or another. I am not making any money out of it.

Now that I've cleared this up lets explore...

Ways to increase traffic and get yourself listed in the search engines

Keyword Phrases
Identify your most important keyword phrases and design your site around them. In our experience keyword phrases are much more attainable than individual keywords for a high search listing.
In addition keyword phrases are more descriptive than single keywords so they produce more targeted traffic. For example "Handmade Furniture" is not only more descriptive than "furniture" but is also easier to get the top spot in search results.

Title Tags
The title tag should be the first thing after the head statement and should say what you do, not who you are. In most search engines the title of your document carries a lot of weight, in many they are the most important part of your document.
Think of it this way - how many times do you think "Tamara's Terrific Teas" is searched for? A lot less than "organic tea", so which should be in your title tag.

Where to Be Listed
I believe that the most important place to be listed is in Yahoo! Pay very close attention to the instructions and write a description with zero hype if you are lucky, you might get listed. Next, I suggest getting all your pages listed in the Inktomi database that handles the spill over search results for Yahoo! and also powers HotBot, Direct Hit, Canada, Anzwers, and others. Finally I suggest getting all pages listed in The Open Directory Project, AltaVista, Infoseek, Lycos, Excite, Northern Light in that order. And, of course don't forget Google

Getting into Inktomi
I've noticed that it's easier to get listed in Inktomi if you submit your pages to Canada or Anzwers then if you try to add them to HotBot itself. If you get them into the Inktomi database they'll show up in HotBot searches in around 7 days.

Keep Good Records
Where is your site listed/not listed? When is the last time you submitted to Yahoo? Where is the majority of your search engine traffic coming from? These are questions you really should know the answer to. Refer logs help here, if you don't have access to them get your hosting
provider to set them up for you. If they won't - change providers, they're that important.

Check Out the Competition
Now, I'm not abdicating stealing another site's title, tags, etc. but you do need to check out the sites at the top of the search engines for your chosen keyword phrases. This can show you not only what they are doing right, but can also give you insight into how the search
engine works. Make sure you check out the top 2 or 3, as examining only the first result can sometimes be misleading.

Make a "SiteMap" Page
One very simple idea is to include a page on your web site that has links to every page on your site. This way you can submit this page to search engines with good spiders to get all of your pages listed without having to submit them all individually. As an added benefit
some search engines like Excite seem to favor lists of html links with descriptive titles.

Use those Alt Tags
At least half of the large search engines index Alt tags, if you are not effectively using them you're loosing ground to the competition. This does not mean keyword stuffing though - give it a little thought and come up with alt tags that are descriptive as well as effective.
One new thing I've been fooling around with is alt tags not only for pictures but also for hyperlinks.

Make use of Heading Tags
A few of the large search engines rank words inside of <H1></H1> very highly. Our recommendation is to put your keyword phrase inside of a heading tag near the top of your page. With a little work you can usually work it out so that it is aesthetically pleasing and if not there is always cloaking.

More on Meta Tags and keywords

Use True Meta Tags Only.

Include the following meta tags at least in your index (starting) page:

Keep Meta tag content to a maximum of 1000 characters. Most search engines will simply ignore the excess characters. Try to enter as many as possible (something I haven't done!).

Identifying, displaying keywords.
Identify and display your real Keywords in a priority order. The keywords must relate to your business and service scope. Never misspell them. The secret is to review the Top 10 sites that appear under keywords that fit your website. Study their titles, Meta tags, keyword density, alt image tags etc. before defining your own keywords.

More things to look out for
Avoid using words like "Free, the Best, the only" and so on to describe your site.
Always use your Keywords in the title of each web page.
Use Alt tags in the first image on your website, and fill it with several important keywords in priority order.
Avoid using frames when designing a website (er... well I am lazy, what can I say?)
Use WebsiteGarage.com to do a site analysis, then correct site deficiencies.
Re-submit your website every two months.

Now, here's a list of things you don't want to do:
Never hide invisible text on your website.
Never use misleading keywords in your Meta tags that have nothing to do with the site.
Never try scamming search engines by writing bogus site descriptions.
Never use the same keywords more than 3 times.

Search Engine rules

If you really want your website to rank high, you must study and understand the rules of
each search engine.

Yahoo, for example, has very specific rules that you must follow in order to get listed. If your site is still under construction, then don't submit because they never accept websites that are not ready for viewing. If you have already submitted your site to Yahoo, then wait patiently. It takes at least six weeks for Yahoo surfers to review your site. If your site is well designed and has quality content, it will eventually be listed in the appropriate categories
you have chosen. It might even take up to six months to get your site reviewed by a real person at Yahoo. Do not keep re-submitting your site to Yahoo. If you lack patience, Yahoo offers its Business Express service which charges $199. They guarantee to review and respond within 7 days. However, they don't guarantee to list your website.

Since Yahoo receives thousands of site submissions on a daily basis, it's said they only list sites that are professionally designed with good and useful content. Websites using free website hosting services or that simply have a bunch of website links are rarely getting listed. If you are serious about your business, get a domain name and have your website designed by professionals. Yahoo is the most popular search engine and directory and getting
listed with them is important.

Before submitting your website to major search engines such as HotBot, AltaVista, Infoseek, WebCrawler, Excite, Snap and AOL Netfinder, you should double-check the spelling of your Meta tags and site descriptions. If you submit incorrectly, it takes a lot of time and effort to have errors removed from search engines. So do it right!
AltaVista and Infoseek recently have toughened rules on spamming. Remember, do not submit your site more than once every 2 months, keep your site keywords and descriptions related to your website content and never use terms like "the best, the only, number one."

Review your site ranking about two or three months after your initial submission. If necessary, modify your site keywords and then re-submit.

Epilogue

Before ending I should admit that approximately 1/3 of my counter is me accessing my site from different browsers while testing. That leaves me with 2/3 being visitors! If you take a moment to consider that the contents is targeted at a very limited number of people that;s more than enough (for me at least)