http://Yahoo/Search_Engine/Evaluation/SEO_How-to/Do-it-yourself/

(That advice ALONE is worth $199.00!)

There are two other human reviewed directories that you might consider submitting to as well.

One is Open Directory Project at http://www.dmoz.org where your proper category is:

http://dmoz.org/Search_Engine/Evaluation/SEO_How-to/Do-it-yourself/

and a second category you would submit to is

http://dmoz.org/Reference/Education/Show_Me_How/SEO/Articles/

(That advice is worth $135.00!)

Submitting in proper category is essential to getting listed at Open Directory Project as it is staffed by volunteers and they will ignore your submission if you choose inappropriate category. Submission is free and this directory is critical because literally thousands of additional directories in specialized areas (including yours) rely on ODP database to populate their own topical and theme-based directories.

(That advice is worth $250.00!)

The second additional directory you might consider costs as much as Yahoo does ($399) and is called LookSmart and they will have a human review your site and place it properly in their directory. They supply search results to thousands of sites, including several VERY big ones that you won't get listed in otherwise, simply because of their partnership arrangements with large portals.

(That advice is worth $150.00!)

"Crawler based search engines send software-based "robots" or "spiders" to analyze your site content, keyword density, metatags, page structure, link structure, link popularity and site theme - based on all publicly accessible pages. You might consider increasing your number of free pages by writing articles about specific projects, referring to additional resources available online and adding content to your site overall with information that you would not be able to sell otherwise. Increased CONTENT ALWAYS HELPS YOUR SITE TO RANK BETTER.

(That advice is worth $650.00!)

The key to ranking well with crawler based search engines is combining all of those ingredients in appropriate measure and with good page structure, which is what I do for you.

I use techniques that are search engine friendly and gain top positions in "crawler-based" search engines, then submit your site to those that accept free submissions within top eight engines. Contrary to what many scamsters claim, it is entirely irrelevant to be listed in hundreds of search engines when only 4 or 5 are used by vast majority of people on web. The top 8 U.S. based (English) engines are:

Google Fast / All The Web Alta Vista Netscape Search HotBot Lycos AOL Search MSN Search

The other important web resources rely on Open Directory Project index, LookSmart and Yahoo to populate their own directories, which then increase your link relevance, which then help to improve your crawler-based engine rankings. It is all very neatly tied together if you understand it thoroughly.

(That advice is worth $1500.00 all by itself!)

Using a traditional sales pitch, I would tell you that all of this advice and information is worth a total of $2884.00, BUT WAIT, if you hurry and place your order by today, we'll include all of this, PLUS be available for occassional questions and advice in future!

You need to know how search world is changing. WebSite101 subscribes to over a dozen industry publications on search engine methodology, mergers, partnerships and those ever changing search algorithms. This keeps us thoroughly informed and up-to-date with all latest information needed to maintain your top ranking search positions. We also attend conferences around country to maintain complete and thorough understanding of search industry standards and practices.

(That follow-up advice is worth $1050 by itself!)

This means you get $3934.00 in benefits for your investment of just $427.50!

Your competition wants revenge

If your website has managed to obtain top position on search engines, you can bet that you have dethroned one of your competitors to get there. Do you think they will sit back and be happy with their lower positioning and less traffic? Of course not. The very reason you wanted to move up from obscurity is same reason that your competition is not going to be happy with their site dropping down rankings. Consequently, they are likely to be hurting, both emotionally and financially. They are going to want their #1 position back and quickly. Therefore, you can bet your life that they are going to be coming at you with a vengeance. More than likely, they will curse themselves for getting complacent and seek professional assistance to find out why they dropped down rankings and how it can be fixed. Pretty quickly, they will have either hired their own search engine consultant or read every search engine resource they can find in an effort to get back their top search engine position. Either way, they are going to be working hard to ensure that coveted #1 spot they once held is again in their possession.

With proliferation of articles and reports on importance of search engine marketing, it is easy to be lulled into a false sense of security. Most of advice that I see and hear seems to concentrate on techniques and tips to achieve top search engine positioning. In fact, a lot of search engine marketing companies only make a one-time fee to achieve initial positioning and fail to offer any type of maintenance service. Hopefully now, more people will recognize that, while it is important to obtain top search engine positioning, it is just as important to ensure your website stays there. Without constant supervision, any top rankings are open to being lost.

Andy Beal is Vice President of Marketing for Keyword Ranking, specialists in search engine marketing. Highly respected as a source of search engine optimization advice, Andy has had articles published around the world. Under his guidance, Keyword Ranking has grown to become one of the larger and more successful search engine marketing companies. They were one of the first companies to offer guaranteed levels of success using spam-free methods. andy@keywordranking.com