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Search Engine Submission
Knowing that for every person who e-mails me with questions like these, there are hundreds more of you who are silently wondering the same thing, I’ve decided to do two things in this article. First I want to clear up any confusion by answering your questions. I know the sheer volume of information about search engines can be pretty overwhelming. So I’m going to do my best to condense things down into this one short, understandable article! And second, as promised in the last
issue of Marketing Tips, I’m going to explain how you can KEEP your
top 10 position once you get it. (If you’re not careful, your position
in the search engines can start to slide down the ranks, so you’ll want
to pay close attention to this!)
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#1:
"You talk about using submission software to get your web site listed in the search engines… but what about the directories like Yahoo! and Looksmart? They’re an important source of traffic, too!" Answer: Okay! You caught me… sort of. Directories and search engines are obviously different. Listings in directories are compiled and managed by human editors who manually process your submission. Search engines, on the other hand, use a "spider" to crawl the Web and analyze your site to decide where you’ll be listed. Frequently, though, you’ll hear directories and search engines lumped together under the blanket term "search engines" – and that’s what I did. Sorry for the confusion! The SitePromoter software does, in fact, submit your web site to the top 150 search engines AND directories – including the "biggies" like Yahoo! and Looksmart. Question #2: "If you don’t recommend free submission services… and you don’t recommend low-cost automated submission services… why would you recommend submission software? Won’t the software just produce the same poor results?" Answer: Like I mentioned in the last issue, I actually didn’t start recommending submission software until recently because YES – most submission software does exactly what the free and low-cost submission services do. They submit the exact same information to all of the search engines and directories. Every search engine – and every directory – is different! So it stands to reason that if you want a top-ranking position, you can’t just give them all the same information. That would be like applying for the position of CEO at a Fortune 500 company with a general resume and cover letter that says something like "I could use the extra cash." It just isn’t going to work! If you want to get the top-ranking position you deserve, then you need software that will prepare an individual submission form for each search engine and each directory. This is the ONLY way to make sure that each one gets the exact information it needs! And there are only 3 ways to do this:
But if you’re really committed, it CAN work. I just worry about steering you in this direction because of how easy it can be to make mistakes… Hiring a professional is a good option too, though it can be expensive. The professionals live and breathe the search engines, so they know exactly what to "feed" each one to get you the top-ranking position you deserve. Of course, at $600 to $900 per site, I know this won’t fit into many of your budgets. And that’s why I’ve pointed you in the direction of SitePromoter, software that was designed by the same search engine professionals that we use here at IMC. This software is the quickest, easiest way to get the benefit of the professionals’ expertise and get the top-ranking position you need without being forced to learn the rules of each individual search engine… or pay really high consulting fees. Question #3: "But what about WebPosition Gold? Why do you recommend SitePromoter instead of WebPosition Gold for search engine submission?" Answer: Wow! Was I ever swamped with questions about the difference between WebPosition Gold and SitePromoter! I’m really glad to see that you all are doing your homework… So let me take a moment to explain the key difference between these two powerful tools. First of all, let me tell you that I’m a BIG fan of WebPosition Gold. It’s a really powerful tool that I do recommend… just NOT for search engine submission! Yes, WebPosition Gold will submit your web site to the search engines, but only to about 10 or 15 of them. And it does not prepare an individual submission form for each engine! SitePromoter, on the other hand, will submit your web site to the top 150 search engines using an individually prepared submission form for each one – so you’re guaranteed that each search engine and directory gets exactly what it needs for a top ranking! You see, what WebPosition Gold is really good for is monitoring and maintaining your search engine position once you’ve secured your top 10 listing. Know If Your Web Site Is
Slipping In Rank – And If Your Competition
Make no mistake, submitting your web site to the search engines is only half the battle! Next, you’ll need to turn your attention to monitoring and maintaining your position. You need to ensure that your competition doesn’t outrank you and that your site doesn’t begin slipping down the ranks! And this is where software like WebPosition Gold can come in really handy… Monitoring your ranking in the top 10 search engines – for each page you’ve submitted and for each keyword you’ve submitted under – is almost impossible if you’re trying to do it all by yourself. Let me explain by visually doing the math for you. This should help make things a bit clearer...
2 products X 15 keywords for each product X 10 search engines = 300 positions to monitor! Yipe! Who has time to check 300 positions? I know I sure don’t! This would take days of effort, and you haven’t even done checks on where your competitors rank yet! But if you want the search engine traffic, you need to stay on top of your rankings and you need to know when your competition has outranked you so that you can take corrective action! Really, the only solution to this is automation. And that’s what I highly recommend you use WebPosition Gold for. WebPosition Gold will ensure that you don’t neglect your search engine positioning… and that you don’t lose this important source of traffic! It automatically generates reports that will show you exactly where your web site ranks in each search engine under specific keywords, keyword combinations, and search phrases, so you can make improvements, correct problems, and increase your web site's traffic. Plus, it can save you hours of work every week by monitoring where your competitors are ranked in relation to you, alerting you of any problems. If one of your web pages has been gradually slipping down the rankings, you can quickly identify the problem and correct it. Without WebPosition Gold’s powerful reports, you have no way of knowing a problem even exists… until your site traffic slows down and you start losing sales, that is! Final Thoughts: Look. If you are really serious about search engine positioning, then you should know that, together, SitePromoter and WebPosition Gold make a killer team that can dramatically increase your ranking. I highly recommend this software duo to anyone who wants to funnel traffic to their web site via the search engines. It would be impossible for you to manually do the crucial marketing tasks that WebPosition Gold and SitePromoter do automatically – it would just take you far too long to be cost effective. Sure you might be able to manually submit your web site to a handful of search engines? But 150? And give each one exactly what it needs? Plus, there’s no way you’ll convince me that you have time to monitor and maintain hundreds of different rankings and pages and still run a profitable business. You know me and how strongly I believe in automating everything – leaving you free to grow your business and look after more profitable promotions. I don’t want you to get caught in the trap of running your business when you could be growing it! (As a final note, if you'd like more
information about either of these software, you can click
here now to learn more about SitePromoter and click
here now to learn more about WebPosition Gold.)
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