Up and Running..

So I have my website up and running..

I invite a some friends and family to view my site to proof-read and spot mistakes. After a week or so I have added more content and corrected spelling and grammar mistakes and was happy with my creation thus far.

It was now time to tackle the Search Engines as I want people to find my website without me telling them where to look.


This is where I ran into my 1st problem......


There are 10000s of websites on the Internet all contradicting each other and I could not find simple answers to simple questions.

I just wanted to know how to get my website onto Search Engines. I almost got sucked into scams offering to place me on 100000s of websites for a money.


After much searching it turns out there are only about 20 Search Engines and Directories worth getting listed on that will bring 99% of your visitors to your website.

This falls into the heading of "Search Engine Optimization" or "SEO" when you look around the Internet and I hope this Guide will help other people trying to do the same as me.

Lets start with the basic questions WHY submit your website.

If you want to attract visitors to your website because you have something to sell, or you have information you want other people to read then you need to get your website onto the popular web search engines so people can find your website. If your website is just for friends and family or just for a small group of select people you don’t need to submit your web site address (URL) you can just email it or pass it to the select people. Unless you want other people (the public) to find the website or if you want to display advertisements to produce a very small income.

Lets look at when to submit.

It can take 2 to 3 weeks or sometimes as long as a month to get listed on various search engines so if you want to get on them quickly then you should submit your web site as soon as you get your 1st page up (the main page or home page).

Now the important part HOW…

There are about 20 Internet Search Engines and Directories on the Internet that produce about 99% of all Internet traffic generated by search engines. Out of that 20 only about 7 need You to submit your website and most Search Engines will find you website after a few months even if you do not submit yourself, you may get picked up by one of the Internet web spiders or crawlers.

These are not scary little spiders in your PC there just the search engines eyes and ears (programs) searching around the Internet looking and old and new website and reporting back to the search engine database about websites.

After you are found or submit once, you will NOT need to RE-Submit your site to these ever again. You only need to submit your website to the major search engines ONCE!

Submitting your website multiple times has no effect on your position in the search engines, and it does not effect the frequency with which the search engines will visit your website.

What Search Engines and/or Directories Should I Submit My Website To?

The first question should really be, what are the major Search Engines and Directories? The top 5 search engines often comprise more than 95% of all traffic your website will receive from search engines. Below is a comprehensive list of the major players in the search engine scene.

Major Search Engines To Submit To:

Google (http://www.google.com)- Often called the greatest search engine on the Internet, it is also the most popular according to recent Nielson/Netratings polls. This search engine is entirely free for the primary listings, and offers paid listings at the top of the search results, as well as their AdWords program which shows small text banners on the right hand side of the search results. Google bases its search results on website content as well as their patented PageRank algorithm which factors in links from other websites to determining your rank in the search results. Submit to this website at http://www.google.com/addurl.html and your website should be in the index within a 3-6 weeks.

Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com) - Second most popular, and probably the most famous of all search engines, this icon among web portals controls the search results on MSN.com, AltaVista.com, and Alltheweb.com in addition to its own search results. Submission is free (but you must set up a free web email account, but don't have use it after you signed up), and I wouldn't recommend paying for inclusion in this directory at this time, though paying to be in the directory is a good idea if you can afford the $300/£160 per year. To submit your website to the search engine go here: http://submit.search.yahoo.com/free/request

MSN.com (http://www.msn.com) - The third most popular search engine, MSN, does not currently provide its own search results. The results found on MSN are actually provided by Yahoo!, and you can be listed in MSN by submitting through Yahoo! at the link above. MSN does plan to offer their own search results in the future.

AOL (http://www.aol.com) - This popular search engine uses Google search results as its primary and paid listings. See Google above.

AllTheWeb (http://www.alltheweb.com) - Purchased by Yahoo!, this once promising search engine now uses Yahoo! Results and will probably be used as a side project by Yahoo! For various purposes.

AltaVista (http://www.altavista.com) - One of the oldest search engines on the Internet, AltaVista was showing its age until Yahoo! purchased it in 2004. It now uses Yahoo! Results and is basically just another portal for Yahoo!.

AskJeeves / Teoma.com (http://www.ask.com and http://www.Teoma.com) - The Teoma index powers both the popular Ask.com website and its sister site Teoma.com. You can only get into this index through being found by the Teoma Crawler, or via paid Inclusion which you can order through http://www.positiontech.com/askjeeves/index.htm

The above are the main search engines on the web which you can submit your website to, if you know a website that is not on the above list, chances are it is using search results from one of the above search engines or indexes.


Major Internet Directories

DMOZ.org (The Open Directory Project) - owned by AOL, and operated by a team of volunteers, the Open Directory Project or ODP is the largest FREE active Internet Directory. This is THE place to be for a website on the Internet. It is the definitive directory, and is referenced by all of the major search engines. The only problem is that there are 3 million websites in the directory, and more than a million in the Que waiting to get in. Getting into this directory can take 3 - 6 months, and that's if you qualify. Make sure to read their guidelines for creating a Title and Description before submitting, and make sure you are submitting to the most relevant directory.

Yahoo! Directory - at $300/£160 per Year this directory carries a heavy price, but may still be worth your while. If you can fit it into your advertising budget I would recommend it, but usually only if you really have an extra $300/£160 per year lying around. The benefit of this directory may increase as time goes on, but as of right now, this is probably not worth your time or money.

LookSmart Directory - This is actually a Cost Per Click service that looks like a directory. You'll pay $0.15 per click and you aren't guaranteed a position or click volume. If done correctly this directory might do well for your website since it does provide the main results for the third largest search engine on the Internet (MSN.com), but this is strictly a budget and judgment call as you can get similar results for free from Inktomi.

-Other Good Free Directories With a Catch-

Gimpsy.com - Free directory with some weird requirements. The index tries to use "real language searches", for example "Compare Insurance Rates" would be a directory structure Compare >> Insurance Rates , Insurance Rates being the subcategory. A little tricky but worth submitting to.

GoGuides.org - A great free directory, the only catch is that they want you to become an editor. Which basically means that before you can submit a URL you will need to fill out an application. The bonus is that once you are accepted your link goes online immediately.

JoeAnt.com - Same deal as GoGuides.org. If you have the time to apply to become an editor, then you can list your site. Worth your time in my opinion, but its up to you. Zeal.com - Great directory, which will get you into the LookSmart directory for FREE! The catch is that your website has to be strictly informational and non-profit. Some exceptions are made, but in order to get in you will either need to know an editor and ask them to submit for you, or become and editor yourself like with GoGuides and JoeAnt, however I hear the application process is more difficult.

This covers 99% of the internet directories and search engines.

Don't be sucked into websites that offer to submit your website to 1000000 million search engines each month as it is just a scam to make money from paying customers or to get free email address that can be sold on.

I hope this will help some people get there websites listed and clear up some of the myths about search engines.

Feel FREE to add comments to this Article on SEO I am no Expert so any extra FREE advice that is correct will be passed on to the people who need it.

Lets Get Started

My name is Dominic Berry also known as Shagrat.

After years of using and building PCs, playing Games and basically messing about with PCs I decided to try to build a few websites.

I soon learned some Very basic html code from a cheap book and mastered using FTP (File Transfer Protocol) to transfer my files from my PC to my web-space.

I made a basic website and was happy with it, I asked friends and family to view my site.

I got some good feedback and was happy with my little creation.

You may view it here. www.callnetuk.com/home/shagrat/


Some time later ...... It was years.....


I decided I wanted to make a website for a business idea...

This opened a big can of worms for me.

I had to purchased a website name (URL) or (domain name) and had access to a host (place to keep my website files) and after a couple of days I had a basic website online.

You may view it here. www.londontheatrejobs.com

And so Started my On-Line Quest to understand the Internet.

The Saga will continue.....

Shagrat