Announcing your online business on the Internet

After you have published your site on the Internet, even if you do nothing, it is going to be found by the spiders and robots that constantly traverse the Web looking for new information. However, you can speed-up this process by submitting your domain name to different search engines and by using announce sites.

You can submit your Web site, or domain name, to hundreds of search engines and directories either manually or automatically by using an auto-posting service. The main benefit of doing your submission manually is that it gives you greater control over your listing, while submitting automatically reduces the amount of time required to make hundreds of submissions.

Submitting your Web site manually

Submitting your Web site manually to search engines and directories will give you greater control over your database listing and should improve your Web site's ranking. The downside to manually submitting your Web site is the length of time it takes to submit your Web site to all of the different search engines and directories. This becomes especially inconvenient if you want to submit multiple pages, or domains, to many different search engines.

Probably the best approach for you, at least at the outset, is to use a combination of both	Use Inktomi Search/Submit to get your web site listed right-away.
manual and automatic submissions. Choose a couple of search engines where you want to get your highest rankings, like Yahoo! and AltaVista, and submit your site manually. For all the others, use an automatic submission service like SubmitIt!

Remember that with either the manual or automatic submission process, the time between you actually submitting your Web site and its eventual appearance on a search engine can be many weeks. Therefore, to save time later on, make sure you have done the following before starting the registration process:

• Developed a good set of 5 to 50 keywords
• Written a description for your Web site
• Gotten your Web site near completion

Submitting your site manually to a couple of search engines is a pretty simple process. On the search engine's home page, like www.altavista.com, look for some words like Add a Page or Add URL and click on the appropriate link or button. Now you can follow the on-screen directions to get your site added to the database. Currently, if you want to submit to Yahoo!, scroll down to the bottom of the home page and click on How to Suggest a Site.

Using an automatic submission service

As mentioned previously, probably the best way for you to register your site with different search engines is to use a combination of manual and automatic submissions. Use the manual method for those sites where you want to get the highest rankings, and use an automatic submission service for all the rest. This does not imply that you can't get high rankings with an automatic submission service, it just means that you should use your valuable time with just a few manual submissions. As of today you can register your site with well over a thousand different search engines and directories!

There are many automatic submission, or auto-posting, services on the Web. SubmitIt!, one of the most famous and now part of LinkExchange, gives you the capability to register your Web site with over 400 search engines. For other auto-posting services see the list below, or check Yahoo! under their Computers & Internet heading.

In order to submit a site through SubmitIt!, to all the search engines and directories, you will follow a four step process. The first step is to complete the SubmitIt! Master form that contains information about you, your business, and your Web site. While most of the information required on the form is straightforward, you will be asked to provide a short (70 characters) and long (255 character) description of your Web site, and a list of 10 keywords. To save time and rework, it is a good idea that you already have these descriptions and keywords ready before you start completing the Master form.

The second step involves having your site reviewed by SiteInspector, a website analyzer. This tool will visit your Web site in real time (in may take a minute or so), and check it for HTML validity, spelling, popularity, Meta tags, and broken hyperlinks. Although you don't need to do this every time, it is well worth getting the feedback the first time you register.

The third step is to send your domain name, or URL, to the list of search engines shown in the table below. SubmitIt! makes it very clear that the descriptions and keywords you entered on the Master form will not be used by the search engines on this list. Only your URL is submitted to the search engines, who in turn will send a spider to visit your site and develop a description.

Your fourth and final step is to register with Yahoo! and all the other directories that will appeal to your target audience. Unlike the first step, where just your URL is required, this step is going to use much of the information on your Master form. Also, you should be aware that if you submit to a large number of directories, the process can be time consuming. Therefore, as SubmitIt! suggests, choose only those directories that will appeal to your target audience. For instance, if your site is going to sell Beanie Babies, you don't have to register with the travel service directories.