How do I get search engines to list my website?

So you’ve set up your store, you're ready to sell your items but you don’t have a whole lot of visitors or maybe you don’t have any visitors. The single most valuable method of getting visitors to your site is through search engines. Not only can search engines give you the most traffic they also bring highly targeted leads, people who actually want your product or service and are actively searching for it. Unfortunately getting listed in search engines is not an easy task. There are millions of other websites vying for the same visitors, so how do you win those visitors.

Meta Tags

Specify keywords and description text for each and every page. Each page should be optimized for up to 2-3 keywords that are relevant to your site. It takes a great deal of time and patience to choose appropriate keywords and set them up for each and every page but these words are very important to your sites search engine listings.

Page Content

The text on each page is very important to your search engine listings. The keywords you are optimizing each page for should be weaved throughout the page and formed into actual content that will benefit your visitors. Use the keywords in links, in different forms and in heading and image names. Be careful not to overdue it. Each search engine has different limits on search engine density and if they think you are spamming their engine you could be banned forever from their listings.

Choosing Keywords

One of the most important things to do before submitting your site to search engines is to make sure you have chosen good keywords. Keywords should be very specific. General keywords are much more difficult to get listed under and will not bring the targeted traffic you desire. Not only should you choose specific keywords but also you can use a keyword selection tool such as Wordtracker to help you choose keywords that have a higher Kei. Kei is a measure of a keywords competition versus number of searches performed. Keywords with a higher Kei are more beneficial to optimize pages for.

Do Research

Search engines are constantly changing their algorithms and there are thousands of websites that go into great detail about how to get listed and what to do. Don’t just read one article ready many different articles to get a variety of ideas and different points of view. The optimization process is never ending, you should always be trying new things and monitoring your results. We recommend AgentWebRanking, which will enable you to run reports of your current rankings and track your progress over time.

Get Reciprocal Links

Search engines are increasingly placing more value on the number of links pointing to your website. Reciprocal links are links from other websites to your site. Search engines see these links as votes for your site. The more popular the site is that links to you the more votes it is seen as. To find reciprocal link partners contact websites that sell products or services that are complimentary to yours but do not compete and ask them to put a link to your site and you will do the same. You should also search for directory sites and seek placement in those directories.

Getting traffic to your site

In addition to search engines there are many other methods of site promotion that you can use to get your site noticed. It’s a good idea to diversify your marketing campaign so that you don’t rely to heavily on a single method of marketing.

Search Engines

Search engines account for almost 90% of all traffic sent to sites and can be a great method of getting visitors but unless you know how search engines it work it can be very difficult to get listed. Also search engines sometimes take a while to find your site and as such its sometimes a good idea to try other marketing methods in the meantime.

Get Listed in Directories

There are many directories of links that focus on a particular topic or service. Search for directories that focus on your area of expertise and contact the webmaster and ask them to add your link. Some will request that you add a link to them first.

Exchange Links

Contact the owners of other sites that are complimentary to yours and ask them to link to your site in exchange for you to link to their site. These links not only generate traffic but will help out your search engine rankings as well.

Pay Per Click Search Engines

Pay per click search engines like Overture and Google Adwords are a good way to get initial traffic to your website. Search engines can take months to list your site in their normal search engine results but these pay per click engines will list your site immediately.

Free Giveaways

Everyone wants something free and having a free giveaway is a great way to get visitors to your site. Tell visitors that if they make a purchase they will be entered into a free drawing. Giving away free advice in a newsletter is a great way to get new subscribers.

Create a Newsletter

Newsletters are a great way to stay in constant contact with previous customers. Some visitors need to hear from you up to 2-3 times before they will actually buy anything. Make sure your newsletter has original and useful content or your subscribers will not stick around long.

Include your site URL in all emails

Include your URL in all correspondence both online and offline. This will ensure that your current customers and friends who don’t know about your store will find out.

Write Articles

Newsletter publishers are always looking for original content to publish. By sending out informative content you are assured on getting at least a few links back to your site. And in addition you might get many potential customers who will see you as an expert in your field.

Forums

Offer to help out people in forums and include a link to your site in any responses given. Not only will this boost your popularity it will also make you a trusted resource in your field. The more free advice you are able to give, the more a customer will trust you.

Affiliate Program

Affiliates are independent marketers who are only paid for performance. Affiliates will link to your site, which will boost your link popularity, and they will also send you highly targeted leads. The best thing about an affiliate program is that unlike other forms of advertising you only have to pay an affiliate when an actual sale is made. This pay per sale form of advertising is very effective. In general a very small percentage of your affiliates will be good sources of revenue. Make sure you take care of these affiliates.

Offline Marketing

Not all of your potential customers will be online. You can market offline by including your URL in stationary and business cards. Place ads in newspapers, trade publications, send out postcards and fliers and get involved locally by becoming a guest speaker at events.