Search Engine Submission – Some Basic Rules

One of the most fundamental and effective things your can do to get targeted visitors to your website is listing with the search engines.

You may be thinking duh of course it is!

However, you would be surprised how many online business owners don’t understand the basics of search engine submission – or think they do but then find out it is not as easy as submitting and forgetting.

I am a firm believe in hiring professionals to do the things that you are not good at – it is cost effective when you get the right people for the job. It frees you up to make more money in the long run because you are not struggling to learn something you are not even interested in knowing.

With this being said – it is important to understand who you are hiring, and if they are truly the professionals they claim to be. I cannot tell you how many people I run across who have been ripped off by unscrupulous (so called) businesses.

This article is to help you have the checks and balances you need before submitting – and make you aware of some of the most basic (an important) things you need to know to get the most effective results.

Step number One – website development

Make sure your website is search engine optimized – has keywords and is really up to snuff. It isn’t all that difficult if you know what to do and how to do it.

Make sure your web developer/designer knows that you do want your website to be put together in the most effective way for the search engines. If they don’t know how to do it – you need to find someone else.

If you are building your website, there is so much information out about SEO, do some research so you know what you need to have on your website.

I have a free check list – for you to go through you can pick it up at http://artistadesign.com

Even if you are hiring your website designer – pick up my free SEO check list so you can make sure that your website is exactly how it needs to be.

Please make sure your website is designed to look professional as well as have all the right keywords and copy in place.

Step Number Two – Who?

You need to decide if you are going to be the one to submit your website to the search engine or hire someone to do it.

If you are going to personally do it – make sure you have gathered all the pertinent information together – submission places will ask for descriptions, keywords and more. Make sure to include the name and contact information for your business. Even if you are going to hire it out it is good to gather all this information to give to the person you are hiring.

Search engine submission is very time consuming – you have to fill out forms and information that are asked for and every search engine is different. You need to make sure you get it right the first time.

One thing that may be very advantageous for you is to find a student, who is good on the internet – who can submit your site to various search engines. Make sure they keep a log – you are going to be able to save money and help them in the process.

If you prefer to hire a professional service make sure to get referrals and do your research – you will find a lot of charlatans’ and unscrupulous people promising the world and delivering nothing.

Beware of companies that promise submissions to hundreds of search engines – which are more often than not a lot of false promises.

When you submit to the DMOZ and other big search engines you will be picked up by a lot of the little more niche sites – where do you think they get their lists from!

There are a few good, solid dependable companies that can help and networking with people and businesses that are willing to give 110% is always a good thing. I have made many friends for life by networking with people and businesses who know how to give good customer service and are willing to give as well as receive.

Step Number Three – Somethings to Remember

You will want to submit your website to search engines more than once, and if you are a busy business – your website will always be evolving and growing. Search engines love new fresh content that is why having a blog associated with your website is so important.

It is going to take time to see your website emerge to the top of search engines – it can take months. There are other alternatives as you strive to reach that goal – like pay per click – back links – JV partners – article marketing – press releases and social media sites (Twitter, Facebook, Plaxo, Linked-in, Hubpage, Squidoo, friendfeed etc.) that will help you market your business, they all work like a puzzle and each one enhances the other.

Few things are more satisfying than reaching a goal – and building a successful online business can really be a lot of fun and very financially rewarding.

So pull up your boot straps and get to work – enjoy the fruits of your labor – you deserve it!

Pamela Jacob - Artista Design

Article marketing – “Simple things that Make a Difference”

It is amazing that for as long as I have been in this business I still run across things that I should have known – thing that just make a lot of sense.

This morning I was going through my Google Alerts and found an article on how to make the most of “Article Marketing”.

In the article there were only a few tips but they were so profound I have decided to pass them on to you my readers…

Tip number 1:

When writing an article for a blog or other venue don’t just write on the topic but “pick an aspect of the topic, state an opinion and back it up with details on why you believe the way you do.”

When providing an opinion, you will then spark a discussion – and people, especially on the social sites – love that. I would suggest you make sure it is an educated opinion – but then again if you just want to get some attention you could play the devils advocate – it just depends on what your goals are.

Tip number 2:

Encourage your readers to respond to your article.

We have all seen the comments section on the bottom of a blog post. This helps your reader become engaged in the conversation - most of the time it is important to let your readers make comments – however sometimes comments can take away from your article – (I prefer to moderate my comments simply so that a “knuckle head” doesn’t get on and us profanity or some such stuff) – another way to encourage participation is through a survey.

A survey not only encourages your readers to become engaged in the topic but it is also a great way for you to know who your visitors really are and what is important to them – WOW talk about a win - win.

In my list of some of the most unique and fun business sites I do mention some websites that provide customers with a service that can build surveys for little or nothing.

The one I chose to use for this article – is http://surveymonkey.com this website allows you to have a free subscription or a paid one.

I simply made my survey – created the link – now I am counting on you to look at it and fill it out – answer my questions so I know what you think of this article – and what else you would like to know.

Click Here to take survey

To your success in 2009

Pamela Jacob - Artista Design

The Skinny on Press Releases

Press Releases are a great way to get recognition – especially when what you have to say is news worthy. Not only do they get people’s attention they also provide back links to you website – and that is (as you know) gold.

One of my clients recently received (for the second year in a row!) an award for Best of Salt Lake City 2009. We are both thrilled - we have worked hard to get high visibility and build a client base (second to none) in her industry.

Last year when we won this award - we sent out Press Releases to the free PR sites – and even though it was a bit time consuming the results were fantastic. This year I am finding that it is a little harder to get in and submit them. In fact a lot of the free press release sites are no longer free.

This really isn’t a big deal (I do believe in paying for good service) except one of the best websites (PRWEB.com) has gone from a free service to a paid service and the starting point is $ 80.00 and up – Because of their sterling reputation – it may be worth it to pay – but make sure your Press Release is one that is top notch – and if you are on a shoe string budget you may want to start with the Free PR Sites.

The purpose of this article is to give links to some of the Press Release web sites – and also valuable information on the experiences I have had trying to submit to each of the sites.

If you are not familiar with how to write a Press Release don’t waste your time, read my – report on how to write an effective press release - one that works!! Click Here

Then come back to this article and get the list!

10 Press Release Websites – the Good, Bad and Ugly…

http://www.PRWEB.com

One of the best for getting a lot of exposure – you use to be able to submit free press releases – as well as buy extended services. This service is no longer free – the fee’s range from $ 80.00 - $ 360.00 you will get good visibility but it can be pricey for a business that is new or marketing on a shoe string budget.

http://www.prlog.org/

Truly a free site – I loved submitting on this site just register and the rest is really easy – a must when submitting your Press Release.

http://www.1888pressrelease.com

Once you register this website is easy to submit to – they do have some paid plans that are far less expensive than PRWEB if you are on a limited budget but not totally strapped you may wish to get one of the enhanced plans they range from $ 10.00 to $ 50.00 check out the website to see all the options.

http://www.bizeurope.com/pressrelease.htm

Very easy to submit to – no registration, just submit – once submitted it just disappeared – so I am not sure how effective this is… I tried searching several days later – could not find the link?

http://www.PR.Com

This web site is a bit cumbersome – You are require to register – I When I was registering they had you fill out a lot of sub-topics - good in refining the search results – however I didn’t read the fine print and I ended up with a $ 60.00 bill at the end.

To be fair I was able to back up and re-do the Press-Release and it was simple. I paid 0 but once again you can pay to have pictures and different keywords and regions selected. I have heard this is a good site to get listed with Google News so perhaps really picking some good categories would be worth the small price.

http://express-press-release.net/

This is no longer a free site – however it only costs $ 29.00 and claims to do the same as PRWEB for quadruple the price.

Expressly published within 24 hours on all 12 State-based PR sites across U.S., on our EPR Blog Network of more than 30 Blogs, on our PR forum all part of EPR Nationwide Network as well as on 3rd party social media and bookmarking sites

http://freepressindex.com

This is an interesting site – you just access the press release link and you fill it out – no up sales at all. Very easy, no registration - -

FreePressRelease.co.cc

This was a very straight forward free site. It gave me a choice to submit to different countries – I choose England because I had already submitted press releases all over the place and I want to attract people from overseas to what my client has to offer.

http://www.i-newswire.com

This was another “free” service but it looks like it costs $25.00 to submit a press release because I have decided to pay to Prweb for my press release (I know they work) I skipped this – but you may want to pay a few lower fee press release sites – let me know how it goes if you use this particular website.

http://www.IndiaPRWire.com

As you can see this is a place to submit international press releases this may benefit you or not. When I registered it offered a place to put my company profile and it will be placed below the actual piece. I like that – I did have to register and it seemed to be a lot more info then a lot of places I registered. Once it was submitted it said waiting approval, I like that it shows me that someone is looking at the quality of the actual content.

********************************************************

There are many more press release websites some free some for a fee FYI: I did use prweb.com for my client’s press release – it was a paid inclusion - I get progress reports and they have submitted it to a lot of social media sites.

We went live with the press release on 2009-04-22. So far we have release has received 62340 impressions and 944 reads. This is in only 7 days not bad – it is well worth the price we paid – you will have to decide what is best for your business…

.Pamela Jacob - Artista Design