Simple Strategies to Gaining Site Popularity

When I first started my website I didn’t know the first step to getting it seen by anyone. It was all so foreign and I didn’t know that I would ever learn what it took. I spent weeks online learning every thing I could; from creating a good title to developing the perfect meta tag. And now I would like to share some ideas with you.

Signature: Probably the easiest way to promote your site is with your signature. Make sure you add a link to your site in every email you send out and on any message board you post to. Even if you belong to a board that does not allow advertising, most will allow you to use a signature.

Message Boards: Sticking with message boards, join as many as you can and chat, chat, chat. After all, who would you rather give your business to? A total stranger or a good friend? Posting to message boards can prove to be very successful for your business, plus you may meet some great friends!

Online Awards: Applying for awards can help increase your sales. Apply to as many as you can. This can be time very time consuming but is recommended. You can also hire someone to submit your site for you. I offer a great submission package that I will talk about at the end of this article.

Link Popularity: It is crucial for you to get your site seen on as many web sites as possible. A lot of search engines will look at a sites popularity in determining its ranking. You can check your site popularity free at www.bravenet.com. Gain popularity by participating in link exchanges. A link exchange is where you place a link to a site on your page and that site will add a link back to yours. You should also place your ad on the free classified ad sites & FFA sites. This can take many hours if you are submitting by hand. You may want to hire someone to do this for you.

Meta Tags: You’ll also want to add a meta tag to your site. Most (not all) search engines use meta tags in determining ranking as well. A meta tag is an HTML snippet you insert onto your page. A good meta tag will include the following:

~ Your site title: This is the heading used on the very top of the web browser. A good title consists of 100 characters (including spaces)

~ Keywords: You should include 1000 characters in your keywords. Some search engines are case sensitive and therefore it is recommended you type your keywords twice; once in all lower case letters and once beginning with a capital (Mom, mom). Don’t forget to use commas to separate words or phrases. Be careful not to spam your words. Some search engines will reject your site if you use keywords more than 6 times.

~ Description: It is recommended you use 250 characters to describe your site. Make sure it is an eye-catching description as it will appear on the search engines!

Meta tags can be scary if you’re not quite sure how to create one. I offer services that will help you in writing one that’s right for your site.

Copy: Page copy is also important when search engines determine your ranking. This is the number of words on your site. Most engines like to see at least 200 words. If your page is an entrance page, try to get at least 200 words on it.

I hope this helps you on your pursuit to gaining web site popularity. The road to site submission can seem endless if you are just starting out.

Article by Jacky Gamble