An additional mistake was submitting my site to search engines before it was fully optimized. It is much easier to achieve a great ranking if you optimize your site first and then submit it rather than submitting your site and then trying to pull it up to a higher ranking. So how can you optimize your website for a better ranking in search engines? This is a topic in and of itself and entire books have been written on this subject. Below are four basic steps to get you on right track. These four steps were taken from Obtaining a #1 Ranking in Search Engines by Ryan Allis. I highly recommend this book and it can be found at: http://www.search-engines-guide.com

Four Basic Steps of Page Optimization 1. Select keywords you want to focus on. 2. Create an optimized page for each of your targeted keywords by having ample page copy, focusing on keyword prominence, and using related page names, proper meta-tags, proper title tags, proper alt-tags, heading tags, and text links. 3. Avoid dynamic database-driven content, JavaScript, keyword spamming, and multiple use of content. 5. Make sure there are lots of web sites linking to yours.

So before you embark on your e-business journey be sure to develop a marketing plan. This plan must be flexible as it will change as your business grows, but it is critical to success of your business to identify how you will position your products/services to your target market; and remember – optimize your website BEFORE submitting it to search engines.

Brandon Milford is the Founder/President of Pimil.com. A web solutions firm dedicated to providing professional website templates and additional web based solutions.

While search engines are a phenomenal way to drive traffic to your website, they are most certainly not only way. In order to ensure you are protected should Google (or whoever is next "big" search engine) change their formula yet again, you need to create a diversification plan.

Think of all outlets that reach your target audience. Investigate each one to see how feasible it would be to market your site through those channels. Then implement a plan that includes several advertising avenues (including search engines) that - as a whole - generates as much (or more) business as you originally received from Google. That way, should one of these channels go down, your business would only be slightly affected.

Don’t stop there! Twice a year you’ll want to go over your plan and be sure that everything is working, as it should. If one outlet begins to dwindle in its response, look into finding a replacement. This way you are never taken by surprise.

Once you have your diversification plan working for you, you will be in a much better position to be rest assured that business you receive will be there for long haul. You will also feel more comfortable that no one organization can cause tremendous damage Google has caused and could cause again.

Diane C. Hughes * ProBizTips.com