the Art of Zen

Submit, Submit and Submit Some More
Once you have your search terms on your site and have it uploaded to your server, you need to submit (or resubmit) them to the search engines and directories. Your best option is to do a little more research and find directories that cater to your specific industry. While you will most likely find directories that you have never heard of before, if they are specific to your industry they will show relevance to your site content and thus weigh heavier toward your ranking. So submit to them.

Now a lot of your directories will have the old “we will keep your link if you put our link on your site” deal. This is fine, but one-way links are always better. If your web site and domain name are new, then these links will help get you started in your ranking journey. You need to make sure “your” link is going to your home page or an industry specific page; and place their link on a links page that is attached by a simple text link in your footer. You see these links help you create relevance to your site, while they (the directories) want to increase their ranking by using your site. The downside to this is that these directories also have links to your competitors; so you are in a way advertising your competition. Try to make this page of links hard to find so people don’t easily find these directory links. Don’t do anything unethical like making the link the same color as your background or hiding it off the viewable area with CSS, but if you can hide the link on a site map page or in the web page footer, you’re still satisfying your obligation to them while not giving away your competition. If you are refreshing your site and looking to increase ranking on an established web site and domain name, then these links are not the best for you.

Make sure you submit (or resubmit) to Google, MSN Search and Yahoo. Yahoo charges for priority submissions, but you can still submit a free listing if you search for it. Also take the time to find directories that are updated via humans and not bots or spiders. A great example is DMOZ. DMOZ is a human updated directory, constantly looking for people willing to edit/maintain a specific category. These directories take a while to get listed in as the editors (volunteers) have only so much time in the day to maintain their specific category. But it is worth the effort and the wait. These directories hold a great deal of relevance for those accepted into them. These do not have to be exclusive to your industry; they just have to be human-edited to be extremely effective.

In Part 5, we will discuss inbound linking and how to get the most “Bang for your Buck.”