Let’s face it;
Internet is cluttered with all sorts of guides about increasing traffic to your web site. Unfortunately, most of these guides are outdated or incomplete. In fact, many of techniques being touted in them will get you in serious trouble. Wouldn’t you like to build up quality traffic that will stand test of time? The key phrase is “test of time”. You don’t want to be a flash in pan.
FIRST THINGS FIRST
Before you rush out to tell world that your brand new web site is open for business, set it up properly. Do not even start to think about traffic if your web site still has broken links, empty content, and other unfinished business. While patience can be a hard thing to control, having some will pay off later. Once your web site is completely operational from top to bottom, you are ready to flood it with traffic.
SEARCH ENGINES
While there are many web sites out there which claim to be search engines, you only need to be concerned with a few of major ones like Google, MSN, etc. You do not need to submit your web site to these engines—they will find you on their own once your web site is being linked from other web sites. Never pay for a service or software that does this function because it will be a complete waste of money. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either trying to sell you a product or lacks real experience on matter. The goal is to get your web site linked on other related web sites, which will cause search engines to index your web site and visit somewhat often to look for changes.
DIRECTORIES
Your first step to building a solid traffic foundation is to submit your site to good directories. Doing so will increase your incoming links, page rank and traffic. Many directories charge a fee for a listing—most are one-time fees. Following is a breakdown of some of more important directories to get listed in.
The ODP (Dmoz.org)
Submission to this directory is free and it is one of best to be listed in. It is extremely important that you read their guidelines. All submissions are reviewed by an editor and approval process can take weeks to months. Many web site owners have waited a long time before having their web site added. It is worth wait.
Yahoo.com
Adding your web site to this very popular directory will cost $299 annually. Because of price, you will want to think about this one. Experiences with Yahoo listings are on both sides of aisle. The best thing to do is see where your web site will most likely be listed and evaluate conditions for that section.
sbd.Bcentral.com
This is Microsoft’s business directory and it will be a solid listing for you. The current listing fee is $50, which includes use of their web site tuning service. This service will evaluate your pages and let you know if page is ready to submit or contains errors such as under-optimization and spam alerts. It can help you optimize your pages for keyword phrases you are interested in.
SevenSeek.com
This directory has a great page rank and many back links. As will all directory submissions, pay attention to guidelines. The fee for submission is $40. Seven Seek is a general directory so just about any web site will fit here.
GoGuides.org
Go Guides is another great directory to get your web site into. Their web site is crawled by all bots daily, which is a great plus. Submission is $40 for this general directory.
Wowdirectory.com
Wow Directory is a large general themed directory. Web site submissions are free but approval can take some time. They offer an express submit for $20 that will ensure your web site is listed within 24 hours.
