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Introduction
Promotion is a tedious but essential part
of any successful website, or traditional
business for that matter. This page covers
listing your site on search engines, which
continues to be the way the majority of
Internet users locate businesses and services
online, but we've also listed some other
suggestions towards the bottom of this page
that we strongly suggest you consider as
part of the ongoing promotion of your website.
Search Engine Submissions
One of the few services that ITC
out-source is Search Engine Submission.
Over the years we've tried pretty much every
sort of submission techniques available
in one form or another. We've used the various
types of software available, we've manually
submitted (and resubmitted) sites to search
engines, and we've also used 3rd party companies
who specialise in Search Engine Submission
and nothing more.
With the possible exception of bandwidth,
there is more hype about Search Engine Submissions
than any other service relating to the Internet.
Here are a few points that ITC
consider to be particularly important:
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Concept |
Our Views |
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Ongoing
Process |
Promotion isn't
something that you
can decide to have
a crack at one day
if you've got nothing
better to do. It
has to be done regularly
(but not too regularly!)
in order to maintain
positioning in Search
Engines.
People who get
the best listings
from Search Engines
put aside a couple
of hours each week,
and work a complicated
rota of search engine
submissions to different
pages on their website.
Over a period of
time, the return
on this investment
of time pays off
as a wide variety
of search engines
contain details
about your website.
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Meta
Tags |
Search engines
use a combination
of Meta Tags and
Page Content to
determine the content
of your site. Their
interpretation in
turn affects both
the search results
and listing position
of your site following
an end-user's query
of the search engine.
Good quality and
accurate Meta Tag
usage on every page
of your site is
essential if you
are to ever successfully
list your site on
the search engines.
You can use ITC's
development
service to add and
edit Meta Tags to
your site at any
time.
Note: Meta Tags
should be in place
before spending
time or money on
promotion, as the
return on investment
(ROI) of promotion
of a site without
Meta Tags is significantly
lower than the ROI
of a site with Meta
Tags.
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Different
Methods |
ITC
strongly suggest
that you use a variety
of different methods
for search engine
submission. The
one-time or preferably
the subscription
submission services
offered below are
extremely valuable,
but from time to
time it's also worth
manually ensuring
that your site (or
even new pages on
your site) are manually
submitted to at
least the top 5
or so search engines.
Variation amongst
submission companies/services/software/techniques
is always worth
trying due to the
fact that different
Search Engines have
different criteria
and different searching
algorithms. This
means that what
works well with
one search engine
may not return any
results with another.
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Cheating |
There
are lots of Tips &
Tricks available online
for cheating the search
engines. The bottom
line is that Google
didn't get to be the
number one search
engine in the world
(as of Oct. 2002)
by returning bad search
results, which is
basically what would
happen if you could
trick the search engines.
There is also an increasing
risk of your site
being banned for attempting
to cheat the system,
so all in all ITC
think it's a waste
of time. YMMV. |
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Additional
Domain Names |
Certain domain
names may increase
the likelihood of
good search engine
positioning. There
are 2 easy examples
of this, but in
practice there are
many more benefits
as well.
Country Specific
Top Level Domains
(TLDs) - Some search
engines are geographically
centred, and therefore
making sure you
own yourcompany.co.uk
means your site
is more likely to
be found in a *.uk
specific search
engine.
'Keyword' Domain
Names - If your
company name is
Bob Jones &
Son based in Southampton,
and your primary
domain is bobjones.com,
it doesn't mean
much to the search
engines, which not
surprisingly are
inundated with 'bob'
and 'jones' references.
However, if you
also own the domain
'bob-jones-southampton-builders-plumbers.co.uk'
which is an alias
of bobjones.com,
it may provide you
with more hits if
someone searches
on 'southampton
builder'.
Domain
names and aliasing
services are available
at low prices and
don't complicate
things at all, so
why not give them
a try. Click on
the titles at the
beginning of this
line for more information.
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So now you know a little more about what
is involved, here are a couple of links
to services that we hope you'll find useful.
You should be aware that ITC
are partners/affiliates of these companies,
and while we do receive a small referral
fee, we are not responsible for the services
they offer. You will need to agree to whatever
terms and conditions are applicable for
their service, and you will also need to
arrange payment directly with these third
party companies.
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Promotion
Service |
Price
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- Top 4,000 Submission
Monthly Submission
(12X) to the top
4,000 search engines
directories, award
sites, yellow
pages, classified
ad networks, and
link listings
found on the Internet.
Click here
for more details
or to order service,
and select 'Top
4,000 Submission'
from the menu under
Services.
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$69.00
/ Year
(< $6 / month)
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- Top 650,000 Submission
Monthly Submission
(12X) to the top
650,000 search
engines, directories,
award sites, yellow
pages, classified
ad networks, and
link listings
found on the Internet
Click here
for more details
or to order service,
and select 'Top
650,000 Submission'
from the menu under
Services.
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$179.00
/ Year
(< $15 / month)
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- Top Search Engine
Ranking
Keyword Phrase
Research
Analysis &
optimisation of
your Home Page
Monthly Submission
(12X) to the top
650,000 search
engines, directories,
award sites, yellow
pages, classified
ad networks, and
link listings
found on the Internet
Click here
for more details
or to order service,
and select 'Top
Search Engine Ranking'
from the menu under
Services.
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$349.00 / Year
(< $30 / month)
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SubmitPlus
SmartTraffic:
- 1000 search
engines
- Multiple URL
discount
- 6 months
Smart Indexing
- Lifetime Smart
Toolkit
- Top 10 position
tools
- Biweekly reports
- Guarantee
Click here
for more details
or to order service.
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(1st URL) $49.00
(2nd+ URL)
$19.00 each
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SubmitPlus
TrafficPlus:
- 1000 search
engines
- Multiple URL
discount
- 7-day Index
Express
- 1 year
Smart Indexing
- Lifetime Smart
Toolkit
- Top 10 position
tools
- Biweekly reports
- Guaranteed
Click here
for more details
or to order service.
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(1st URL) $129.00
(2nd+ URL)
$79.00 each
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SubmitPlus
Top 10 Positions:
- Full service
package
- Complete site
optimisation
- 7-day Index
Express
- 1 year
Smart Indexing
- Lifetime Smart
Toolkit
- Biweekly reports
- Keyword position
report
- Top 10 positions
in major engines
guaranteed
Click here
for more details
or to order service.
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- Top of Page -
Stationary and
Signatures
Despite sounding obvious, many companies
still don't list their website and email
information on their headed notepaper, invoices,
credit notes, faxes, and business cards!
When you send an email, do you include your
website address in your signature? If not,
why not?
Your website should be as much a part (if
not more so) of your corporate identity
as your phone number. It's so easy to implement
these changes, and can you really afford
to miss out on a business opportunity over
something so simple?
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Advertising
Advertising (or advertizing if you're in
America!) can be a major expense, no matter
the size of your business. As we mentioned
in Stationary and Signatures above, your
website and email details should be a part
of any advertising you do. Some companies
even spend less on traditional advertising
now than they used to, because they can
get away with less words and/or space per
advert by providing enough information about
their particular products/services to catch
the readers eye and then sending them off
to the company website for more details.
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Reciprocal Links
One of the most valuable forms of traffic
on the Internet is generated by Reciprocal
Links. This is because the end-user (web
surfer) is actively looking at one site,
and is therefore more likely to find something
of value on a related website (though not
necessarily in the same market) than by
returning to a search engine and following
more 'blind links'.
Many companies are reluctant to link to
their competitors sites, and while it doesn't
work for every industry, it can be extremely
effective. End-users tend to appreciate
the effort, and they are more likely to
return to your site if it's proven useful
for them in the past. If you don't currently
have what they want and they aren't purchasing
anything from you anyway, what harm can
come from helping them locate what they
are after.
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ITC
would like to wish you the best of luck
with your promotion! If you're reading this,
at least we must be doing something right!
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