Why you should NOT submit your site on Search Engines
Before to answer to this question we have to know what is the difference between a search engine and directory. Here is a brief explanation.
Main difference between search engine and directory lay in the way how websites get entered into their index. People submit their sites to the directories, which are reviewed by human editors. Think of the directories as collections of Internet sites organized by subject. Search engines works by sending out a spider to fetch as many documents as possible. Another program, called an indexer, then reads these documents and creates an index based on the words contained in each document.
Having this said, let's see why you should not submit your site to the Search Engines.
More than 90% of the search engines traffic comes from three major search engines Google, Yahoo! and MSN.
You can see many ads on Internet which looks like this: submit your site on X00.000 search engines
Submitting your site on hundreds of thousands search engines wouldn't help and is simply not worth. Save your money as you would do when you see ad's like: loose weight while you sleep.
These three search engines provide results for many other search engines, and if you are listed on these three search engines, your site will be listed on many other search engines too.
Altavista for example show results from the Yahoo! index. Rankings are not the same, because the algorithm is different but index is the same. If your site is new and is listed on Yahoo but not on Altavista, be patient and do nothing. Altavista will show your site when they update their index from yahoo. AOL (America On Line) and Netscape use Google index. They additionally receives and listings from DMOZ. Examples are many.
So called Meta search engines like DogPile or Metacrawler are showing results from Google and Yahoo among of others. These search engines actually search the top search engines and show combined results.
If your site is not new, there is a chance that search engines spiders already find your site and index him. So before to do anything check is your site already listed, even if you did not submit your site on any search engine.
But what you should do if your site is just uploaded?
As we already explain search engines are equipped with spiders which will find your site. All you need is to submit your site in Directories, and search engines spiders will find your link and your site will be indexed. But be sure to provide enough food for the spiders. That is, submit your site in enough directories, and you will make that process shorter.
While submission to the search engines is wasting of your time, submission to the directories is not. You will benefit from submitting your site in Directories, not only because search engines will find your link there and index your site, but you will also increase your link popularity. Search engines consider each link who is pointing to your site as a one kind of vote and give him a credit for each vote.
That's why you should submit your site to as many directories you can. However, don't expect bulk traffic from the directories. Even the biggest directories like Yahoo! or DMOZ are not able to deliver load of traffics. From the other side, traffic delivered though the directories is usually quality traffic, because these people are browsing to find products or services that you offer.
Submitting your site more than once on search engines might slow down indexing time. If you still want to submit your site on search engines best is do that just once, and do that manually. Companies who advertise that they will submit your site on X00.000 will not do that manually, that is for sure. They use automated submission software, even all major search engines say's in their submission guidelines that you should submit your site manually. And major search engines are what you should care for only. You remember the fact where the over 90% of traffic comes from?
Remember that only submitting your site to the search engines does nothing to increase your ranking in most cases. If web site optimization on your web site is not properly implemented or is not implemented at all chances are small that your site will be on first few pages with results. And having in mind that only about 7% of the people look further then third page, top is the only place you want to be.
How to calculate if the search engine optimization is worth to invest in? Consider this: What is the annual worth of one customer to you?" Is it 25 €, 250 €, or perhaps 2500 €? How many customers you need to get the invested money back?
Optimization of your website might be one of your best investment ever, if is planed and implemented right.
When to NOT hire a SEO and why?
When you get an e-mail from SEO Company with content similar to this:
"We submit your site on X00.000 search engines and directories"
Stay far away from companies which offer you to submit your site on thousands of directories and search engines.
Why?
What they do is: they use submission software and advanced scripts and they submit your site to different guest books, local search engines, search engines in other languages, post your URL in comments in different Blogs, FFA etcYou will not have any benefit from this.
FFA stands for Free For All, pages which are designed to carry a designated amount of links on each page. Have in mind that when comes to link popularity relevancy counts and links form this pages will not going to help you much. Add to this that FFA pages have very limited life span, you will get the picture.
When some SEO company claims that they can guarantee #1 on Google
Why?
No one can guarantee #1 on any Search Engine! (Except the owner of course) I can guarantee you first place in the search results in my Greek Business Directory, since I am the owner, but there is no chance that ethical and honest SEO company will give you such a guarantee in real life.
Even the biggest companies in SEO industry do not give such a guarantee. There are companies who claim that if they don't achieve specific number of top 10 positions, you get your money back. Take even this with great caution, and be sure to read their guarantee 2 times, including the small letters on the bottom (if there are any). Many of them will attempt to propose you non competitive phrases, which will give you no traffic and therefore you will have no benefit from this.
When SEO Company offers you to get paid on base on delivered traffic
(Though THEIR domain)
Why?
Many SEO Companies offer to the prospective client's deals on base on delivered traffic. This traffic to be measured easily, they propose new domain, or sub domain to be created, optimized and to deliver traffic though this domain. Be sure to ask which property will be that domain or sub domain. If SEO Company told you that domain will be their property, your site will not be optimized. Here is what will follow: SEO Company will register domain name on THEIR name, and will optimize that domain for your keywords. They will redirect all traffic from that domain to your site.
You will be forced to pay monthly maintenance to that company and if you decide to stop their services, they will redirect their traffic to some other company in same industry. Keywords which worked well for you, will work well for your competitors too.
Fair and honest company might offer similar deal because of many reasons, but the domain from which the visitors will come will be YOURS, so if you want to change SEO Company, you will have the traffic directed to your site until the new company takes over, and your investment (optimized domain and the traffic) will remain your property.
In case that SEO Company doesn't want to disclose the techniques which will use to rank high your website.
Why?
Legal and ethical SEO Company will give you very clear idea what they intent to do with your site, and will give you detailed plan of activities. You have to know that some SEO Companies use techniques forbidden by search engines and your site may get banned from the search engines because of this.
For example if your SEO company use thousands automatically created so called doorway pages, which are full of your keywords only and are useless to the visitors, your site might get banned because of this.
So be sure to ask your SEO Company what they intent to do, and which techniques they plan to use. Good SEO Company is always ready to educate their client to some level.
When SEO Company claim that you will see the results within 1 months
Why?
In this case, don't walk away. Run!
If your site is brand new, it might take up to 3 months to get listed on major search engines. To get some results even in less competitive results, you should count that 4-6 months is the timeframe where you can expect to see first results. Note that if your website has 5-10 pages only, you will need much more content that this. SEO Company will have to add much new pages to your site, and that is time consuming task.
So, if the SEO Company claims that you will be on the top within a month, they have PPC (Pay per Click) in their mind, and that have nothing with Search Engine Optimization.
Forget SEO It's All About Conversion!
Which SEO hat do you wear? Is it white or black? Or perhaps it's a subtle shade of gray. Well, wherever you are on this spectrum, if you are like 99% of the SEO-fixated webmasters out there, you are doing all you can to get visitors to your site. Where you used to optimize your keywords meta tags, you now worry about anchor text and XML site maps.
So, you finesse your site, schmooze the algorithm du jour and begin to climb the slippery search engine rankings pole. But this is where you have to leave your SEO tricks behind and start thinking conversion.
Whoa there! Conversion? That's all about making sales on shopping sites. My site's a forum! I don't sell anything. What has conversion got to do with me?
Everything, my friend. Everything.
SERP Conversion
You want visitors to come your site, right? That's why you climb greasy SERP pole, after all. (And why you lay awake at night wondering when the next Florida, Hilltop or Bourbon algorithm earthquake is going to hit.) But what does it matter if you reach the peak, but no one clicks through to your site anyway?
The fact is that you have to convert prospective visitors even before they arrive. You have to pique their interest, tweak their curiosity and make sure they click your link and not the other guy's. And all you have to use are words. No technical tricks will help you now your only tools are plain ol' words.
The SERPs will show words from two of three places. Two of these you can control and one you can't:
1.Your title tag.
2.Your meta description tag.
3.A directory description.
(For example, Google is known to use DMOZ descriptions in their SERPs, and Yahoo uses their directory descriptions in theirs.)
Now, there's not much you can do about how Yahoo or DMOZ editors describe your site, so don't worry about number 3. But do what you can do: Place your value propositions clearly in 1 and 2, and use them to lure searchers into your website.
So you have to convert people before they even get to your site. But that's not all. You want them to stay, right?
Flash Conversion
No, this has nothing to do with being blinded by bright lights on the road to Damascus. Nor am I telling you to go and make a 100% animated website.
This flash is that split second, that tiny window of opportunity that opens up when a searcher arrives at your site and decides whether they have actually found what they are looking for or not.
Typically, you'll have a couple of seconds to persuade the new visitor to stay and hang out. That's all you get. It's the ultimate in speed-dating. So, how do you wow your date? Do you show him a page of scraped content interspersed with Adsense ads? Not if you want this to be a lasting relationship.
Follow these tips and be sure to impress your date:
1. Have a clear theme
Ranking high for blue widgets? Then be sure your visible title, copy and images are clearly focused on them.
2. Have a clean design
Imagine you are taking a first date to a movie. Do you pick her up wearing your pajamas in a dirty, trash-filled car? Or do you clean the car, wash your face and dress to impress? Of course you want to impress her, so you make sure you look (and smell) good.
It's the same with your site: Clean design, a nice text size and pages that don't scroll from here to eternity are going to float your first-time visitor-date's boat.
3. Write clearly and focus on your date
Waffle on about yourself and your date will get bored. She wants you to be interested in her. And in terms of your site, that means giving her what she wants to know as quickly and succinctly as possible. This comes down to your ability to write and communicate. So, if you are like Steve Martin in Roxanne, make sure you get a someone else (a copywriter) to compose the lines to wow your date for you.
OK, so let's say you have successfully wooed your first-time visitor date. He's here and he has decided to stick around. You're going steady, getting to know each other a little more. That's all you want, isn't it?
No, it isn't! You want to pop the question, of course!
Getting hitched
You've made all this effort and spent money on getting your date this far, so you want to get the most out of your investment, right? You want to hear those sweet words, I do:
I do want to click your Adsense ads. I do want to become a forum member. I do want to buy that cool digital thingy.
So how do you turn a whirlwind romance into a successful proposal? Try these ideas for size:
Have clear navigation
You want to make your date dizzy with excitement, not frustration! Make sure you have clear, consistent, well-labeled navigation and make your visitor-date's time with you a pleasure, and not a reason to reach for the Advil.
Have a clear proposition
What do you want your visitor to do? Buy something? Sign up for something? Join something? Whatever the point of your site is, it does have a point, right? So don't beat about the bush, and don't hold back waiting for the right moment: Make your proposal, and make it clear and direct.
Happily Ever After
You thought that was the end of the story? Wait a minute, it's not over yet! I thought you were in this for a long-term relationship, not a one night stand?
I know, you were thinking that having made all that effort while you were dating, you could ease off now that you're married. But don't you know that the real rewards start here?
So what are the secrets of a long, blissful relationship with your visitors?
1. Feed them!
You convinced him to come visit once. But how often will he come back if all you give him are the same old leftovers? Cook him up something juicy and delicious, and have him salivating for more:
Enliven your content with new, relevant pages and, not only will you set the search engine robots drooling, but you will also find you have a hoard of visitors coming back for seconds. And in this age of fast-(visitor)-food creation tools called blogs, there's really no excuse anymore.
2. Shower them with gifts
Everyone likes a gift - and not just on birthdays, anniversaries and at Christmas:
Money talks, and if you are selling anything through your site, then discounts and other offers to previous visitors and customers will draw them back like magnets. Throw in tempting freebies as well and you will have a potent marketing mix.
3. Send them love letters
Anyone who has been in a long-distance relationship (like my wife and I were for a year and a half), knows that if you can't be together, the next best thing is a letter or email. For your website, this means an interesting ezine that is light on sales pitch and rich in information.
4. Start a family!
Not literally! But you can create a family atmosphere by adding a forum where your visitors can interact with each other not just with you and your site. People are social animals, so use a forum to keep them coming back.
OK, so perhaps I overstated it a little in my title. SEO is not dead, so don't forget about it quite yet. Just remember that it will only get you so far: If you want to actually achieve anything with your site, then you need to focus on conversion like a laser.
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