World Wide Search Engine Submission Services

Welcome to WidePromote�, a leading online website promotion service, registering your website with the major search engines in more than 39 countries, including Yahoo!, Google, MSN, AOL, AltaVista, AllTheWeb, Excite, Lycos, InfoSpace, NBCi, C|Net, Web Crawler and many others. For the complete list Click Here.
Our goal is to provide this first step for every new website, at the best quality and fair prices. As many companies provide search engine submission using everyone approachable submission softwares, we have developed our own submission strategy, striving to cover the major and most important search engines over the globe. (Currently total 521 search engines in 39 countries). The point is to ensure a global search engine presence for our clients. We provide monthly resubmission, to ensure constant presence.
We analyze every website prior to submission. We will make you aware of any specific issues that may prevent a successful registration, this will help to ensure your site is search engine friendly prior to submitting. After your website is ready for submission, we carefully hand submit to the top internet search engines and directories. We also manually submit your site to popular directories that can bring additional targeted traffic and build your site's link popularity (which is an important factor in attaining top listings). In addition, we utilize our continuously updated database to safely submit to over 521 international and USA search engines (those that truly matter).

World Wide Search Engine Submission Services

Secret Benefits of Search Engine Optimisation: Increased Usability

A higher search ranking is the dream of many Website owners. What they don't realise is that, if done correctly, the optimisation of their site for the search engines can also see it optimised for site visitors.

Ultimately, this means more people will find the Website, which can translate to increased sales and lead generation. But, are the tasks of search engine optimisation and usability compatible? Aren't there trade-offs between giving search engines what they want, and giving people what they want? Read on to find out (although I'm sure you can guess the answer!).

1. Perform Keyword Research

Before you even begin to build your Website, you should carry out keyword research to identify which keyword phrases your site should target. Using publicly available tools such as Wordtracker, you can identify the keywords that are searched most frequently, then specifically target those phrases.

Keyword research is also crucial for your site's usability. Write your site's content using the keywords for which users search, and you'll literally be speaking the same language as your visitors.

For example, you might decide to target the phrase, "sell toys", because that's what your Website does. Keyword research would undoubtedly show you that Web users are actually searching for, "buy toys" (think about it: have you ever searched using the word, "sell", when you want to buy something?). Place the phrase "buy toys" on your Website's pages, and you'll be using the same words as your visitors -- they'll be able to find what they're looking for more easily.

2. 200-Word Content Minimum Per Page

Quite simply, search engines love content -- the more content on a page, the easier it is for search engines to work out what that page is actually about. Search engines may struggle to work out the point of a Web page that has less than 200 words, and may ultimately penalise that page in the search rankings.
It's also good to avoid low-content pages from a usability perspective. A page with less than 200 words is unlikely to contain a large amount of searchable textual information, so site visitors will undoubtedly need to click elsewhere to find more detailed content.

Don't be afraid to put a reasonably large amount of information on to a page. Generally, Web users don't mind scrolling down anymore, and, as long as the page provides mechanisms to aid scanning (such as employing sub-headings -- see point 6 below) it shouldn't be difficult for site visitors to locate the particular information that they want.

3. 100kb Maximum HMTL Size

If 200 words is the minimum length for page content, 100kb is the maximum -- at least in terms of HTML file size. Include pages that are larger than this, and search engines may give up on those pages as simply being too big.

A 100kb HMTL file will take 20 seconds to download on a 56k dial up modem -� the kind used by three of every four UK Web users as of March, 2004 (source: UK government PDF). Add to this the time it takes for all the other parts of the page, such as images and JavaScript files, to download, and you're looking at a highly user-unfriendly download time!

4. Use CSS for Layout

As I mentioned in Part 2 of this series, it's not unusual for sites to experience significant traffic increases after they switch from a table-based layout to a CSS layout.

Search engines may prefer CSS-based sites and can score them higher in the search rankings. The benefits of clean code, flexibility of important content placement, and greater content density make it easier for search engines to access, assess, and rank CSS-based pages.

Using CSS for layout is also highly advantageous for usability. The reduced HTML file size inherent in CSS-based sites results in significantly faster download times.

5. Use Meaningful Page Titles

If you know anything about search engine optimisation, you'll know that many search engines place more importance on the page title than on any other of the page's attributes. If the title adequately describes the content of that page, search engines will be able to more accurately ascertain what that page is about.

A meaningful page title also helps site visitors work out where they are, both within the site, and on the Web as a whole. The page title is the first thing that loads up -- often quite a few seconds before the content -- so a descriptive, keyword-rich page title can be a real aid to user orientation.

6. Use Headings and Sub-Headings

Search engines often assume that the text contained in heading tags is more important than the rest of the document text, as headings (in theory, at least) summarise the content immediately below them. Many search engines assign the most importance to

, then

, and so on.

Headings are also incredibly useful for your human site visitors, as they aid scanning significantly. Generally speaking, we don't read on the Web: we scan, looking for the information we're after. If we, designers and developers, break up pages with sub-headings that effectively describe the content beneath them, we make scanning much easier for users.

Do be sure not to abuse heading tags. The more text you have contained in heading tags within your page, the less importance they will be assigned by many search engines.

7. Opening Paragraph Describes Page Content

We've already established that search engines love content, but many engines are especially fond of the first 25 words on each page. By providing an opening paragraph that adequately describes the content of the rest of the page (or the site, if it's the homepage), you should be able to include your important keyword phrases in this crucial area.

When we arrive at a Web page the first thing Web users need to know is whether this page has the information they're after. A great (and logical!) way to find out is to scan through the first paragraph, which, if it sufficiently describes the page content, should help out.

8. Descriptive Link Text

Many search engines place a lot of importance on link text. They often assume that link text will be descriptive of its destination and, as such, examine link text for all links that point to any page.
If all the links that point to a page about widgets read 'click here', search engines can't gain any information about that page without visiting it. If, on the other hand, all the links read 'about widgets', search engines can easily guess what that page is about. (The example I provided in Part 2 of this series is a case in point.)

Descriptive links are also extremely important for usability. If Web users scan, rather than read, a litany of 'click here' links will be worthless to them. Descriptive links act like signposts to scanning users: as the person looks down the page, they understand immediately where the link 'about widgets' leads.

9. Avoid Frames

Frames are quite an old-school technique, and although aren't as commonplace as they once were, they're still out there. Using frames is commonly seen to be detrimental to your search engine ranking, as most search engines can't follow links between frames.

Even if a search engine does index your pages, and Web users find you through a search engine, they'll usually be taken to one of the pages within the frame. This page will probably be a content page with no navigation (navigation is normally contained in a separate frame) and, therefore, no way for the user to move to any other page on the site!

Frames are also disadvantageous for usability, as they can cause problems with the back button, printing, history and bookmarking. Put simply, say no to frames!

10. Provide Quality Content

This may seem like a strange characteristic of a search-optimised Website, but it's actually crucial. Search engines, in addition to page content, look at the number of links pointing into Web pages. Often, the more inbound links a Website has, all other things being equal, the higher in the search rankings it will appear.

By providing creative, unique and regularly updated content on your Website, other Webmasters will want to link to your site: doing so will provide extra value to their site visitors. Of course, you'll also be adding value for your site visitors.
Conclusion

Optimising your Website for both search engines and people needn't be a trade-off. There's significant overlap between the tasks required to reach these two objectives, and this overlap can be used to your advantage. It shouldn't be too challenging to create a Website that users can find easily via the search engines, and use once they reach it.

Social Bookmarking for Traffic

A while back I wrote an article commenting on Yahoo's public declaration that they were effectively conceding to Google in the search market. The point of the article was that Yahoo was not necessarily giving up as a business, but rather focusing its efforts on more modern forms of search. And what are these more modern forms of search? In a word, social networks which includes social bookmarking and variants on social bookmarking.

What is Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking is one of the flagships of Web 2.0. The basic concept behind social bookmarking is that when thousands of people get together, bookmark their favorite pages, and apply descriptive tags to each page that they bookmark, certain websites will rise to the top as being more popular. The result of this is that surfers will be able to see what websites are currently popular among users.
The idea of social bookmarking seems to have been originated by Del.icio.us back in 2003. Just by visiting the front page of Del.icio.us you can see the social bookmarking in practice. On the right hand side of the page there is a column labeled 'Popular'. These are websites that currently are receiving a lot of attention from users under specific keywords and phrases. These websites are listed under common 'tags' that users have given.

Article Tip:
Wikipedia gives a fairly good explanation of social bookmarking. You can find that explanation at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_bookmarking. You can also goto Del.icio.us and try out the service which is a great way to learn about social bookmarking

Digging for the News

Del.icio.us is not the only Web 2.0 flagship that relies on the power of the collective people. Arguably one of the most successful Web 2.0 enterprises is Digg. Digg is a news website which presents headlines from across the Internet. Unlike practically every other news website to date, however, Digg does not rely on editors to determine which news stories are worthy of their front page and which news stories they should ignore. Rather, Digg relies on the input of their users.

The system behind Digg is simple. Registered users can navigate their way to "Digg for Stories". Here everyone can see all of the stories submitted to Digg. If a user likes one of the stories, they simply click on the "Digg It" link. If they do not like the story they can either ignore the story or report it as being lame, a duplicate story, or outright spam. If a story receives enough Diggs in a fast enough amount of time, it gets promoted to the front page.
The system seems to work fairly well. Digg has been smart enough to put into place anti-cheating devices which do a fairly good job of catching manipulators of their system. And if someone does break through these barriers, Digg users (often referred to as Diggnation) are usually pretty quick to point out the offending users.

Why Should I Care About These Services?

This is all fine and interesting, but you might be wondering why you should spend your precious time reading more of this article. The answer is simple: websites like Digg and Del.icio.us represent the opportunity to get a lot of new traffic as well as quality links to your website.

Digg and Del.icio.us offer the absolute best type of web traffic: viral traffic. Business owners know that the most reliable prospects are the prospects that come from the referral of someone else, and Digg and Del.icio.us offer just that. In order to get seen on a large scale from any of these websites that rely on a community of users, your content must be good enough to meet the approval of enough people to warrant the elevation of your site to the front page. This, in effect, is like one great recommendation for your website.

So how much traffic are we talking about? Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.net noted that when a post of his reached the front page of Del.icio.us, he saw around 8,000 visitors that day from Del.icio.us alone. This does not take into account all the bloggers and website owners who discovered his site from Del.icio.us, posted a link to it on their site or in a forum, which would in turn generate more traffic to his site.
Tech-Recipes, a relatively common website on the front page of Digg, wrote a great post on what the digg effect is like. The traffic numbers they post are quite astounding. From being featured in Digg, they regularly see 5,000 � 10,000 visitors per day. This is not unusual either � websites that are featured in Digg are often subject to what has been dubbed the "Digg Effect". It is quite common, unfortunately, for a dug website to receive so much traffic that it brings down the server.

Now both Del.icio.us and Digg users do not tend to be very active users. This has been pointed out by more than one person. Typically they do not click on ads, they do not comment on blogs, and they do not register for an account with you. But the name of the website marketing game is always going to be free exposure, and social bookmarking services like these are great ways to get a lot of free exposure for your website. In addition, these sites will often have secondary and tertiary effects which you may not be able to link back directly to your initial exposure on them.
I'm Sold � Where Do I Sign Up?

So you are now sold on just how great it can be to be featured on sites like Del.icio.us and Digg. The natural question to ask here is how do you get featured on these sites. I am pretty sure the answer I am about to give is going to be one that you do not like as it is a tired phrase:

You need good, unique content.

Sound familiar? If you follow SEO at all, you undoubtedly have been told that good, unique content is the best way to get to the top of the rankings. The same thing holds true, but even more so, for social bookmarking websites.

In order to be featured on these sites, your website does not have to meet the approval of an automated bot that is scouring the web for information. Instead, your website needs to meet the approval of actual human beings who are going to look at your website, determine whether they like it or not, and then tell you the honest truth.

In the past, web pages that have been successful in being featured may have had the following traits:

- They are usually unique
- They often have useful content, such as a tutorial
- They may contain breaking news or an exclusive report
- They are sometimes particularly humorous
- It may be free content for downloading (free wallpapers have done well with Digg)
- It will rise to the top naturally � without manipulation

After I wrote the article on Yahoo I received an email asking how one would optimize their site for social bookmarking services. The response to that would have to be simple: optimize your site by offering some great, free content that anyone can access.

A Word to the Wise � Don't Cheat

As a quick sidebar, it is important to note that those who try to cheat the systems usually find themselves worse off than they were to begin with. It is very tempting when dealing with a system like Del.icio.us and Digg to try and manipulate the system to artificially get your website to the top.

The problem with this is simple: if you do succeed in manipulating the system, but do not have the content to really deserve a featured placement, you will undoubtedly turn off more visitors than attract. If your content is deserving of a featured placement, it should rise there naturally.

Social Bookmarking � The Future of Search?

The point of the article which I referenced above was not to state that Yahoo was washed up, but rather that Yahoo was on the cusp of a new Internet and a new form of search. They recognized that Google would not be beat in the search market; however, this does not mean that they can not beat Google by creating a market more effective than search.

Social bookmarking is already becoming a very effective way for experienced web surfers to find the latest information on a particular subject. Do you want to see some of the latest videos to become popular? Just goto http://del.icio.us/tags/video and you can see what others are discovering and bookmarking as valuable. Want to find some rather obscure guide on Ruby on Rails? Lookup the common tags for Ruby on Rails and search through these resources.

Social bookmarking has the great ability to reach where search engines cannot: by using viral marketing and popular opinion, social bookmarking has the ability to discover what is important before any bot can spider the site and rank it among the thousands of sites available. Granted, social bookmarking will never replace search completely, but as it grows in popularity, web users are quickly discovering a whole new way to discover web pages that they would never discover otherwise.

So take the time today to examine Digg and Del.icio.us. Take a little more time to find new social websites like Digg and Del.icio.us (they are popping up all over the place) and learn what seems to make users on these sites click. Social technologies are here to stay, and they are only going to grow in popularity. Right now is a golden opportunity for you to gain great exposure for your website if you simply learn how to use these services.

About The Author:Mark Daoust