After all the planning, designing, coding, testing and re-testing, your new business Web site is ready to launch – almost.
It’s a big day, the culmination of a lot of careful work. But to go live properly, and see the face of your business looking back at you from the infinite possibilities of the World Wide Web, there’s a little more housekeeping to finish. Then celebrate!
Here’s how to do it right in 6 easy pieces:
- Register with Search Engines
- Buy Ads for Better Placement
- Sign Up with “What’s New” Directories
- Launch a PR Campaign
- Try Pay-Per-Click
- Start a Blog
Register with Search Engines
As we’ve mentioned earlier, if your Web site is built according to the guidelines we’ve laid out, search engines will find you on their own.
But you can give the process a goose by registering your new site with them.
Start by submitting your URL to the top search engines, including Google, Yahoo and MSN. Basic registration is free. A great clearinghouse for many other search engine links and advice on how to get higher rankings can be found at SearchEngineWatch.com.
You can also use such registration sites as QuickRegister.com (free for a basic submission) or SubmitExpress.com (starts at $29.95). They’ll want to sell you additional Web marketing and SEO services, and if you’re sold, go ahead.
Registering is simple, usually little more than entering your complete URL in a form. Sometimes you’re asked for a brief description of your new Web site.
Don’t just dash it off. Include two or three keywords that will act as search magnets – one more way to improve SEO.
Buy Ads for Better Placement
Paid advertising on major search engines is one method used by many businesses to help them climb in rankings. Lately, opinion has been sharply divided on whether the return on investment is high enough to justify the costs or if there are enough safeguards against fraud by competitors.
Before you spend the money, research the pros and cons of specific cost-per-click (CPC) programs and other advertising-related ranking services. Forums such as those hosted by DigitalPoint.com, SEOChat.com, HighRankings.com and many others will supply plenty of guidance for making a smart choice.
These are the two major online advertising models being used now:
- Paid Placement. Advertisers buy a place a section reserved for them on search results pages. Also called “pay for placement” and “cost-per-click.”
- Paid Inclusion. You can buy your way into a search engine’s listings quickly, but they’re usually quick to tell you there are no guarantees for improved rankings. Still, it’s a way to get fast visibility while waiting for crawlers to find and list your pages.