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About IGMG

ph: 617-965-3294
fax: 617-916-1037
ncm@igorilla.com
www.igorilla.com

Why? Well, one reason is...because having a great web site is only the beginning. Just as you must distribute a great brochure, or publicize a great book, you must invest in publicizing your web site. And not just once, but over and over, on an ongoing, regular and persistant basis. If you do, you will see the results on the bottom line. If you don't, you would do well to ask yourself if you're serious about doing business on the Internet.

Step One Optimize your Pages
Step Two Get your Site Indexed
Step Three Monitor Results and Respond to Changes

Step One: Optimize your pages
Pages need to be "optimized" for the major search engines and directories so that your target market will be able to find you when they do a search. This process is a time-consuming and complicated, but it is essential. Modifications can be made to an existing site, but ideally a web site should be created with search engine indexing techniques foremost (but only if you want to generate business!).

Every search engine and directory uses unique, proprietary methods to index the millions of pages on the web, and then to generate reports when someone performs a search. These methods are secret. You may think that a search is a search is a search. This is NOT the case! Each one is a spearate business, run by a separate corporation and each creates its searching mechanism in the fashion it believes to be the most useful to the greatest number of people. They are in business to make money, like everyone else. The more useful and relevent their searches are, the more people will use them and the more advertising revenue they can generate. So each one indexes pages differently, each one extracts and stores the data differently, each one reports search results differently and each one presents the results and ranks and organizes it differently.

Of the millions of pages on the Internet, you need to be sure people can find YOURS. The most complete of the major indexes (which may be FAST or Google but no one really knows for sure) only contains a small percentage of the information available. Knowing how to get web pages into the indexes and keeping them there, and making sure they get high rankings on searches, is an art - a black art.

And they don't keep the rules the same from day to day either. Your page may rank #1 on Tuesday and on Thursday you will find it at #101. Unfortunately, most people looking for information never explore much beyond the top 30 sites listed (the first 3 pages) and of course the closer your ranking is to #1, the more likely you are to be found.

Step Two: Get Your Site Indexed in Search Engines and Directories
You've probably received the classic spam email which claims, "We'll submit your site to 600 search engines for $39.95!" Or maybe even $29.95! Even at $9.95, don't bother. Why not? Did that email mention that the major search engines block automatic submissions? Did they mention that your page needs to be optimized first? If you don't optimize the page, you're not going to rank high in any case. Did it mention that they only submit one page? Generally, Don't you want all your pages to be indexed?

That email also neglected to mention that the top 5 search engines perform 90% of all Internet searches. The next 595 perform less than 10%. It follows that you need to focus your time and energy on those top search engines. Once you are certain your site has been properly prepared and optimized for the search engines, you need to make sure major search engines and directories are aware your site exists. Sometimes this means that one at a time you go to each search engine, and register your pages individually. But some search engines don't want you to submit to them. They want to find you by themselves. You need to know which ones are like that. You need to make sure they are able to find your site.

The Top Search Engines (2005)

Note: you need to go there and seek out the submission/inclusion policies for each one. The rules of the game are changing too rapidly for me to keep this information accurate here. Many on the list below now charge serious money for inclusion. Some may no longer exist. Good Luck!

Tier 1
Google
Yahoo!/Overture
MSN
AOL

Tier 2
Ask /Teoma
FAST
Zeal
JoeAnt
Gimpsy

Others of note: Open Directory Project

Step Three: Monitor Results and Respond to Changes
Once you've optimized your pages, submitted them and gotten some good rankings on the top search engines, then you can relax and enjoy the ride, right? Unfortunately not. Why?

For starters, you don't know for sure you'll get listed at all in any given index. Due to backlog, incompetance or the phase of the moon, you may think you should be listed, but you're not. Or you were listed, but were dropped. Or your site fell in results ranking, etc. You need to check for your pages and your keyword and see how your site is doing. Then you need to make the necessary changes and resubmissions. It's tedious. It's annoying. It's essential.

You can do all of the above, or you contact IGMG.

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