How do you get your site to appear on search engines?

[Meanon]

I can't belive I'm asking this but how do you do it? My Mum is having kittens as her new site is not appearing at all, she has paged through them all and it's not there. Her boyfriend designed it, it looks great, he is in IT and is trying moving into web design. He's done a great job, it looks fab, he knows about the theory of how the site is spotted (spiders?) and has designed accordingly (hooks?) but clearly something is not right. Maybe it takes longer, or maybe he should check some codes or something???? It went up a week ago.

Duke/Josh?Anyone else - Any ideas? Here is the site:
http://www.paint-cuba.co.uk/

Cheers!

[Duke]

I'd suggest the following:

- Target as many keyword and keyword phrases as possible and work on keyword density (without spamming).
- Add more keywords and keyword phrases to their meta tags.
- Add keyword heavy alternate text and title text to images and links (without spamming).
- Make the images smaller and possibly have them open in a new window (target=_blank) if your visitors want to see the original sized image.
- Make the main page text smaller and add much more of it in clearly labeled sections (as it is currently). I'd also suggest aligning the content because right now the header is larger than the body and the body is larger than the footer. I'd also suggest adding a bit more eye candy either in the form of more images or a background color/border or graphic.
- Make the main page text re-direct you within the site and possibly to other information resources making sure to use keywords and/or alternate text in your url's.
- Submit their website to as many web directories as possible.
- Submit their website to the search engines.
- Get involved in reciprocal link exchanges with like-minded websites.
- Place a hit counter and possibly a guest book on their site (give visitors something to do other than read).
- Register at a webmaster website such as http://www.seochat.com/ or http://www.webmasterworld.com/ (I have another good resource but I can't find the link until I'm at home).

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a deep puddle of mirky waters and there is a lot of things you can do to get your site on page one of the SERPS (Search Engine Result Pages). Be sure to register at a webmaster and/or SEO resource and read everything you can asking questions along the way if you don't understand something.

Up until I slacked off around here, I had Lifesupporters.com up to a Google Page Rank (Site Importance) of 6 out of 10. As of today, a few of my targeted keyword phrases are on page one to page three with google.

Examples:

- Family Friendly News.
- Family Friendly Forums.
- Online Family Support.
- Online Community Support.
- Life supporters. You may laugh at this one but it took over a year to get on this listing alone. BTW, anyone else notice how we're ranked higher than ESPN, w00t!!!

Anyway, it's likely I've only scratched the surface but this is pretty much exactly what I've done to get to this point with this site. I have have left out many strategies that far more successful webmasters use because I feel that I've not compromised any of my morals in getting Lifesupporters.com to where it is today. If I were a greedy pig, I could be making over $1000/month with advertising, pop ups, pop unders, mouse-over .wav ads, scrolling marquees, etc.

[Duke]

My tags:

<META NAME="DISTRIBUTION" CONTENT="GLOBAL">
<META NAME="AUTHOR" CONTENT="Lifesupporters.com">
<META NAME="COPYRIGHT" CONTENT="Copyright (c) by Lifesupporters.com">
<META NAME="KEYWORDS" CONTENT="Family, Family Friendly, Family Focused, Family Website, Family News, Family Matters, Family Webforums, Family Forums, Family Community, Family Discussions, Family Issues, Family Support, Family Friendly Website, Family Friendly Webforums, Family Friendly Forums, Family Friendly Community, Family Friendly News, Family Support Forums, Family Friendly Support Forums, Child, Childhood, Child Friendly, Child Development, Childhood Development, Child Focused, Child News, Child Webforums, Child Forums, Child Discussions, Child Issues, Childhood Issues, Child Support, Child Friendly Website, Child Friendly Webforums, Child Friendly Forums, Child Friendly Community, Child Friendly News, Child Support Forums, Child Friendly Support Forums, Teen, Teen Friendly, Teen Focused, Teen Website, Teen News, Teen Webforums, Teen Forums, Teen Community, Teen Discussions, Teen Issues, Teen Support, Teen Friendly Website, Teen Friendly Webforums, Teen Friendly Forums, Teen Friendly Community, Teen Friendly News, Teen Support Forums, Teen Friendly Support Forums, Relationship, Relationships, Intimate Relationships, Relationship Focused, Relationship Website, Relationship News, Relationship Webforums, Relationship Forums, Relationship Community, Relationship Discussions, Relationship Issues, Relationship Support, Relationship Friendly Website, Relationship Friendly Webforums, Relationship Friendly Forums, Relationship Friendly Community, Relationship Friendly News, Relationship Support Forums, Relationship Friendly Support Forums, Health, Wellness, Health and Wellness, General Health, Mental Health, Mental Wellness, Health Focused, Health News, Family Matters, Health Forums, Wellness Forums, Health Discussions, Wellness Discussions, Health Issues, Wellness Issues, My Child, My Childs Development, Friends and Family, Uplifting, Inspirational, Separation, Divorce, Love, Romance, Marriage, Dating, Pregnancy, Parenting, Grandparenting, Grand parenting, Communication General, General Communication, Abuse, Physical Abuse, Mental Abuse, Drug Abuse, Alcohol Abuse, Relationship Abuse, Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, Religion, Politics, Life, Life Support, Lifesupport, Lifesupporters, Life supporters, Intimacy, Support, First Time Parent, First Child, Baby News, Baby Support, Sexual Intimacy, Anxiety, Separation Anxiety, Anger, Anger Management, Physical Contact, Physical Relationships, Parenting, Family Friendly, Parenting Focused, Parenting Website, Parenting News, Parenting Matters, Parenting Webforums, Parenting Forums, Parenting Community, Parenting Discussions, Parenting Issues, Parenting Support, Parenting Friendly Website, Parenting Friendly Webforums, Parenting Friendly Forums, Parenting Friendly Community, Parenting Friendly News, Parenting Support Forums, Parenting Friendly Support Forums, Teenager, Teenagers, Teenager Friendly, Teenager Focused, Teenager Website, Teenager News, Teenager Webforums, Teenager Forums, Teenager Community, Teenager Discussions, Teenager Issues, Teenager Support, Teenager Friendly Website, Teenager Friendly Webforums, Teenager Friendly Forums, Teenager Friendly Community, Teenager Friendly News, Teenager Support Forums, Teenager Friendly Support Forums, good parenting, healthy parenting, healthy child, sex, sexual intimacy, teen sex>
<META NAME="DESCRIPTION" CONTENT="Online Community Support Forums">

<META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="INDEX, FOLLOW">
<META NAME="REVISIT-AFTER" CONTENT="1 DAYS">
<META NAME="RATING" CONTENT="GENERAL">

[Meanon]

Thanks Duke Makes no sense to me but I'll pass it on!

[Duke]

No problem.

I don't think he'll have much problem understanding the above.

[darkangelism]

wow thats a lot of mrta tags, maybe thats whyh my sites never got hits, i stopped at about 10.

[Duke]

Originally Posted by darkangelism

wow thats a lot of mrta tags, maybe thats whyh my sites never got hits, i stopped at about 10.

There's no such thing as targeting too many keywords IMHO. Even though meta isn't used much these days, I do believe it ads to the overall keyword density so it can't hurt to have it there.

[Meanon]

Originally Posted by Duke

No problem.

I don't think he'll have much problem understanding the above.

He did understand most of it and found it really helpful. He didn't know about registering/submitting the site, how do you do that?

[Meanon]

Hey Josh, there's a photo of my sister on the site. Thought you may like to see it as you met her

[darkangelism]

lol,ok, post or send me the link, sh was a really cool person, im gonna try and be out in UK next year, so ill make sure to see you if you are not busy.

[Duke]

Originally Posted by Meanon

He did understand most of it and found it really helpful. He didn't know about registering/submitting the site, how do you do that?

If you don't feel like waiting for google and the other Search Engines to index your site, you can submit your site to them. Now I never personally did this so there's no guarantee that it will speed up the process but I guess it couldn't hurt:

Just type in Search Engine Name site submission as your search keyword and you'll get results such as follows:

Example: google site submission: http://www.google.com/addurl/

http://search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html

http://submitit.bcentral.com/msnsubmit.htm

I can't promise that this helps do anything. The simple fact of the matter is that the spiders will eventually find your friends site and index it but there is simply no way to get on the front pages of your targeted keywords without working for it. I've spent over 2 years and I'm not even half way where I want to be.

As for site submissions to online directories such as dmoz, etc., try a search keyword phrase such as:

- web directories: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&l...es&btnG=Search

- website directories: http://www.google.com/search?q=websi...&start=10&sa=N

This will keep your friend busy for a while because it does take time. I've heard of many sites that have tried to get into ODP (Open Directory Project, DMOZ) for years and still haven't been added. We got somewhat lucky because I membered at a webmaster site with a dmoz editor who thought this site was great so we were included in dmoz in under a month.

Essentially there are no short cuts, anyone who tells you there are is either a liar, a crook, an owner of a high traffic/established site and/or network or a combination of all the above.

The harder you work, the better the rewards.