How to Announce Your New Web Site to the World

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by Michael Wong

Research has shown that 82% access Web sites through search engines such as Yahoo, Excite, etc. Of that same group, 88% said that they reach Web sites through links on other Web sites. This is why you must get your Web site listed in as many other Web sites, as well as in as many search engines as possible.

Search engines and Web directories
The first places you need to get your Web site listed is in some of the many hundreds of search engines and Web directories that are on the Internet.

Search engines can list your site even if you haven't submitted it for listing. The way they work is that they send out what's known as "crawlers" or "spiders" all over the Internet searching for Web sites to index. They follow the links from one Web site to the next, so they happen to come across your Web site via a link from another site, then you will also be indexed.

Unlike search engines, Web directories will only index your site after you have submitted your Web site to be listed. You can submit your site to each of these directories manually or use one of the site submission services, which will save you a lot of time. Once you have submitted your site, either a real person will come to inspect your site or a "crawler" will be sent to gather information about your site.

The use of meta tags
Before a search engine or Web directory can index your site, it will send a "crawler" to visit your site and gather information about it. It doesn't gather all the information that is presented on your site, but rather parts of it, such as your home page and the first 10 or 20 pages.

Where meta tags come in, is that these Web crawlers are usually programmed to gather the information that is presented within these meta tags, rather than the Web pages themselves, if they are present. These tags can contain information such as the title and description of your site. But the most important meta tag that you can set is the keyword tag. This tells the search engine or directory what keywords describe your Web site the best, so that when people enter one or two of these keywords in their searches, you want your Web site to show up in the results. You will find more information about meta tags in another article and I recommend that you read it, if you want to have your Web site indexed properly in the search engines.

Online malls
Having your Web site listed in some of the many online shopping malls is a great way of attracting the right kind of visitors. The people who visit these online malls are obviously looking to shop online. You don't have to move your Web site to their server. You simply advertise your store in the mall and a link from the mall will send people to your existing Web site.

You can usually advertise your store for free in most online malls, as they make their money from selling advertising space and upgraded listings. Be aware that some will charge a monthly fee or even a set fee for each visitor they send to your Web site.

Web site awards
If you feel your Web site is somewhat special, then why not nominate your Web site for a few online awards? If you receive an award, a lot of publicity and traffic can be generated within some of these award sites. You can usually nominate your own Web site for consideration.

Press release
Sending out a press release is one of the most effective ways of promoting your Web site. There's no guarantee that your press release will be used, but if only a few of the many thousands of media outlets that you might send your press release to, uses it, then a lot of publicity and traffic can be generated for your site. Use one of the many press release agencies on the net that can both write the release for you and send it out to the thousands of media contacts across the world.

Newsgroups
Newsgroups are often forgotten as a possible avenue for new Web site announcements. In fact many millions of people read the messages found within the many thousands of newsgroups on the net. It might not be ideal for a long term solution and it might only generate a response of a few hundred or thousand visitors to your Web site. But it is one of the best method I know of generating traffic for no cost, apart from your time.

Web site submission services and software
It would take you many hours to manually submit your Web site to the hundreds of search engines, directories and award sites on the net. You can use one of the many site submission services who can submit your Web site for you, for a fee. But none of them can guarantee that your site will be indexed in the search engines or directories. That is just not possible, as they don't have any control over the index procedures. There is no difference in the submission services you pay for and the free ones, except maybe in the number of submissions that are made. And don't believe any of these claims that they will automatically submit your site to Yahoo for you. The way that the submission form is set out, I have yet to come across program that can handle the Yahoo submission procedure.