When you're ready to see your ranking reports for first time, you click on Run Report link. Within minutes, you're reviewing your rankings across 18 search engines and directories. You can choose to view ranking reports by domain, by keyword, or by search engine, or you can create custom reports.

Then, once a week (or once per month, depending on your account type) WebRank will check your rankings and generate your reports automatically. Plus, you can choose to run reports "now," at any time, by going into your Administration area.

With WebRank, you can customize service to suit your needs. Do you want to receive reports by e-mail? Would you rather view reports online? It's possible either way.

The Email Notification Rules feature is also very handy, because it lets you choose when to receive e-mail pertaining to your rankings. For example, let's say that you've just created a new page. As soon as page hits a 1-30 ranking, you can choose to be sent an email notification.

Once you've gotten your rankings and if they're not quite what they should be, click on "Increase My Rankings" for a comprehensive resource center that offers information on search engine marketing for do-it-yourselfers or for those who would rather hire a professional.

Also, their "Software Integrated Help System" will check your account periodically and send "smart" messages that will help you with your search engine marketing efforts. This system is designed particularly for beginners.

Another very interesting part of WebRank is Doorway Domain Manager. Here's how it works. You decide on a domain name (with help from some handy online tools), then buy it for $19 a year through WebRank. Then, you use their step-by-step wizard to create doorway site. Within 48 to 72 hours, domain is live and accessible. You're then prompted to submit some of your pages through free AddURL pages or pay inclusion programs. Then, WebRank will begin notifying you when pages have been indexed and what their rankings are. Can't set up a Web site much easier than that!

In Conclusion

If you're looking for an alternative solution to ranking software, be sure to consider WebRank. Visit http://www.webrank.com and sign up for their free trial, and test drive service for yourself. You'll love it!

Copyright 2002 Robin Nobles. All rights reserved.

Now lets consider some things that can get you banned from search engines, so pay close attention. These could be more important than things you should do.

* DO NOT use text that is same color as background. Now this can get tricky. Some people have inadvertently broken this rule and don't know why they were banned. Lets say your site has a white background. So obviously you won't use white text. But what if you have a table on a page that has a black background and you use white text in this table? The search engines don't know table has a different background. They only know that page background is white, and suddenly here is white text. Oops! So make text palest gray you can. It will still look white to viewer, but search engines will know that its a different color from background.

* DO NOT hide teeny tiny text somewhere on you page. The search engines know viewer can't see it, and that you are trying to trick search engines.

* DO NOT use keywords in your meta tags that are irrelevant. some people try to use 'the most searched for words' in their meta tags.... such as, sex, MP3, etc. You get picture. Just stick to keywords that are related to your product or service. Remember that search engines read content of page, so if you have keywords that do NOT show up in content, you are likely to be ignored by search engines. It doesn't make viewers happy either, if they land on an irrelevant site.

* DO NOT use flash movies, frames, java applets, or image maps. You will choke spiders to death. This is just garbage to them. They can't read it and can't index it. You should also limit your use of javascript and cgi scripts. Javascript will push your content farther down on page, and spiders generally look for content near top of page.

Sometimes it is little things that will make or break your listing in search engines. Just use common sense. And always remember number one thing your site must have to get a good listing on search engines: CONTENT! Without this, all optimization in world just won't do you any good.

----------------------------------------------- Copyright © 2002, windsong

windsong is a noted webmaster/editor/publisher at Marketing Resources: http://marketing-resources.com

Learn how to get great ranking in Search Engines! Subscribe to windsong's free e-zine: 'All About Search Engines' Send a blank email to: mailto:aboutsearchengines-subscribe@yahoogroups.com