If you have a very large, text-loaded web site, with a lot of products and pages, it makes sense to have a search engine for people to zero in on what they want. One option is to hire a programmer to write you a script for a search engine. This could cost a few hundred dollars, but would be worth it if you web site is successfuly selling your product--consider it as a cost of doing business. A less expeditious but also less expensive alternative would be to have a site map (index) for your site, which also aids people in navigating through your web site. Most newcomers to your site will want to browse around, but someone returning for a second or third time will want to get down to the business of buying. Another option is to use a free search engine--such as the Google one above, which lets visitors choose to search your site or the Web. There are other companies out there that offer free search engines--your web developer can copy and paste the coding into your web site. In return for their generosity, the company would want their name to appear on your web site, plus a link back to them, and maybe some advertising. It won't look as "customized" as having your own search engine programmed, but personally I don't think most visitors will notice or care.

Ah, the weighty topic of getting your web site listed with search engines--the goal being that your web site appears at the top of the list when someone searches for your product. I will briefly explain below how things work, but a wonderful resource for more indepth information on search engines can be found at the SearchEngineWatch web site.

The first step in getting listed is making your web site "search engine friendly." This could entail different procedures, depending on how your web site was built. Search engine crawlers love text. Text is what they see--what they are all about. If your web site contains some images, and the text portions are truely text (to see the whys of this, click here), then there's no problem--you can proceed to step two. However, if your web site is purely graphics-driven--in other words, all of your text was made into graphics rather than using html text on your pages, when a crawler looks at your web site it sees . . . nothing. You will not get listed. End of story.

To circumnavigate this problem, I can create a text-only page containing all of your web site's information purely as text, containing links to the rest of your pages. An invisible link to this text version sits at the very top of your home page. If a crawler visits your home page, it jumps to the text version. I can also create some "invisible" text on each page, which sums up the page contents--some search engines will also compare your key words (see below) to the text on your pages. If there is no text there, they will skip your site.

Meta text is a key to becoming search engine friendly. You must decide on appropriate titles and descriptions for your web pages, plus key words and alt tags for images. Meta text is hidden from the public eye, but visible to search engines, and essential for finding your web site. My suggestion for creating the right keywords, title and description is this: (a) write down what you think describes your product or service best; (b) write down what words you would type in a favorite search engine to find your product or service; and finally, (c) do a search on those words. The search will result in a list of your competitors. Visit their web sites and then, in your browser window, look at the source code and see what they used for meta tags. Compare this information with your notes: You should now have enough information to decide what to use for your web site. Remember, too, that meta text is not carved in stone--if you find that your choice of meta text is not working after a few months, change it! Want to learn more about meta text? Click here.

The second step to getting listed, once your meta text is in place, can be handled fairly simply. One way to submit your web site is to go to each search engine's web site and find the link for "suggest a site" or "submit a site". You may have to dig a little. Depending on how far-reaching your business is (do you want to sell out of the US?), this could be the most natural way to go. It doesn't take too long, especially if you just submit to the most popular search engines (see a list of these by clicking here). A lot of search engines now charge to list your site (such as Yahoo, which was once free), but there are still some out there that don't charge.

Another option is to take advantage of "free search engine submission" offered by some businesses on the Internet. They will blast submit your web site to 10 or so search engines for free, or will offer 100 or more for a price. This is usually a good place to start. If some search engines you like are not listed, you can list with them manually.

Making the top ten list or top search engine ranking is not a simple matter. Search engines take many different things into consideration when ranking sites, not all search engines take the same things into consideration, and I feel most of it is a mystery. Here is my list, from different articles I have read, of some of the factors search engines consider when ranking web sites (and not necessarily in this order):

• Key word relativity. If someone types in "blue belly buttons" into Google, and your keywords are "blue belly buttons", no more and no less, and not "belly buttons blue" or "red and blue belly buttons" or "blue belly buttons Denver Colorado", and your pages also refer to blue belly buttons, and your page title and description contain those words, then bingo, it's an exact match and you will probably come up Numero Uno. Having fewer keywords (in this case only three) also gives those keywords extra weight, which improves your ranking as well. Also, DO NOT, and I repeat DO NOT repeat keywords--a big no-no. Considered trickery, repeating keywords is punishable by not getting listed at all. Don't forget to include common misspellings too. If you company name is Smyth, make Smith one of your keywords.
• Links and link popularity. If you have a lot of links to other web sites (preferably those that are relative to your web site), your ranking improves. If other web sites link to yours, and they are fairly substantial and popular sites, your ranking goes up even more. Links are very good.
• Traffic. Don't ask me how, but somehow search engines know how many visitors (visits, not hits) have been to your web site. Maybe they can access your stats. But the more popular a web site is, the higher it is ranked. Or so they say. So ask your friends and relatives to visit your web site every day, and drive up that traffic!

Make sure you carefully study your stats regularly. Most well-done stats will tell you where you're getting your referrals (which search engines or web sites are sending visitors to your site), what keywords people used to find your site, what browsers they are using, what countries they are from, etc.

Finally, there is information on how to check your listing on search engines here.

Getting listed correctly and successfully can be (and is for some folks) a full time job. If all of your efforts do not pay off, it may be time to break down and pay one of the listing companies to get you listed. Some charge a monthly, quarterly or yearly rate, and others charge by the click (when someone clicks through to your web site using their service they get a referral fee).

The bottom line on having a successful and popular web site is that you need to get your web address out there--advertise, advertise, advertise! Put your web address on business cards, letterhead, ads, bumper stickers, product labels, other web sites, the back of your tee shirt, your forehead--where ever you can! Because, face it, the success of your business really rests on you and your efforts.

I will continue my research on this search engine issue, and will update this article when I find new information. Check back!