A few weeks ago I wrote about building your website from the
ground up (http://news.stepforth.com/blog/2008/09/
your-website-from-ground-up-in-10-steps.php). This article did
not dive into great detail on any specific topics, but rather
touched on the key points you will want to address. In this
article I will place most of the focus on the promotion aspect
of this previous article. Image of bullhorn saying 'Promoting
Your New Website'
While at times new websites can experience organic search
rankings in a matter of months, for the most part, it can take
well over a year before you start to see any progress, and that
is if you start promoting right away! SEO
If your new website has not been properly optimized for the
search engines, then this is a necessary first step you must
take. Ensure that your new site has integrated the appropriate
keywords into all the fundamental areas of the site. Without
this critical step of optimizing your site, in many cases no
level of promotion will help you get those search rankings. Note: Extreme numbers of inbound links can sometimes cause an
un-optimized site to rank, but an optimized website will
drastically reduce the number of links needed, and its
associated cost. This varies from industry to industry, but is
true as a general rule. Ideally the optimization of your site occurred during the
planning and building stages, but if it did not be sure to get
this completed as soon as possible. Press Releases
The first thing you should do when your site goes live is issue
a press release. Be sure to include a link back to your website,
preferably with your target phrase hyperlinked as well. Submit
this press release to an aggregator such as PRWeb
(http://www.prweb.com/). This will help get the word out that
your site is live, draw some attention from the public, and also
get you that first valuable link to your website. Search Engine Submission
These days search engines will find your site on their own, and
submitting to them is not necessary. If you feel you must submit
your site to the engines, submit it only once and shortly after
the site goes live. In order to help the search engines fully spider your new site,
the best thing you can do in terms of submissions, is to create
and submit an XML sitemap. Submit this sitemap to your Google
Webmaster Tools account, and also be sure to include a call to
it within your robots.txt file by adding the following line
including a complete path to your sitemap: Sitemap: http://www.domain.com/sitemap.xml
There are many tools out there to help you build your xml
sitemap. Google has placed a list of some of these tools on
their "Third Party Programs (http://code.google.com/
sm_thirdparty.html)" page. Directory Submission
Back in August I wrote about using Directory Submission to help
build links. The general gist of it is to be sure that there is
a high level of relevance in the directories you submit your
site to, especially if it is a paid directory. Currently DMOZ
still has a high level of value as it is seen as a strong
authority at Google. Make the attempt to have your site listed
here in the most relevant category possible. Link Building
There are a number of ways you can work to increase your back
links. In July I wrote about 13 ways to help build links
(http://news.stepforth.com/blog/2008/06/
bakers-dozen-ways-to-increase-link.php). Links are one of those
strategic tools that will never be a bad investment. Today they
play a significant role in search rankings for most industries,
especially in Google. While the future will almost undoubtedly
still see search value in links, even if that value declines,
or disappears entirely, quality links can still help drive
traffic as well, and a strong base of inbound links can deliver
you customers well into the future. Explore the different ways to build links to your site. A steady
progressive increase in inbound links will help Google look
positively in your direction. Do not be afraid of reciprocal
links either. If you are trading with highly relevant websites
to your industry, then you should have nothing to be afraid of.
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Scott Van Achte is the Senior SEO at StepForth Web Marketing
Inc.; based in Victoria, BC, Canada and founded in 1997. You can
read more of Scott's articles and those of the veteran
StepForth team at http://news.stepforth.com or contact us at
http://www.stepforth.com/, Tel - 250-385-1190,
Toll Free - 877-385-5526, Fax - 250-385-1198
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