Increase Your Web Traffic in a Weekend

Table of Contents

Introduction Whats This Book About? How Is This Book Organized? Who Should Read This Book? What Do You Need to Use This Book? What Do You Need to know? Conventions Used in This Book Friday Evening - Promoting Your Web Site to the World You Built It, But Will They Come? Can You Really Promote Your Web Site without Spending a Fortune? Making the Web Work for You Leveraging the Power of Search Engines and Directories Crawler-based Search Engines Human Powered Directories Hybrid Sites Paid Inclusion and Paid Placement Promoting Your Web Site to Joe Web Surfer Determining Who Is Visiting Your Web Site G. Wrapping Up and Looking Ahead Saturday Morning - Putting the Motion in Promotion Capitalizing on Search Engine Fundamentals Millions of Users Are but a Search Away Indexers, Spiders, Crawlers, and Other Web Beasties Working with Search Engines Comparing Search Engines and Directory Lists Who Power Whom? Search Engine Fundamentals What Do Search Engines Look for? What Does the Indexed References Look Like for a Real Page? What Happens After Your Web Site Is Indexed? Determining Popular Keywords Keyword Creation Tips Researching Popular Search Engines Keywords Free Keyword Generation Tools Be On Guard Against Accidental Spamming Boosting Visits with Ordinary Descriptions a. Understanding Summary Descriptions b. Understanding Relevancy Using Page Titles to Your Advantage Getting Your Frame-Enhanced or Graphics-Intensive Page Noticed a. Handling Problems with Frames b. Working Around Scripts c. Preventing Problems with Your Tables d. Working Around Your Graphics and Image Maps Getting the Most from Keywords and Meta-Information a. Working with Meta-Information b. Using Meta-Information in Your Web Page c. Meta Tag Generators d. Analyzing Your Meta Tags Leveraging Your ALT Tags and Comments Inspecting Your Web Pages Body Text A Last Look at Search Engine Fundamentals Taking a Break Registering with the Top Search Engines on the Planet Submitting Your Site to a Search Engine How Does Indexing Work? How Can You Exclude Directories and Pages? How Often Is Your Site Reindexed? Why Wont This Search Engine List Your Site? Search Engine Tricks to Avoid a. Title Tricks b. Hidden Text and Fields c. Setting Up Multiple Version of Your Pages Increasing Your Web Traffic with the Top Search Engines a. AllTheWeb b. AltaVista c. AOL Search d. Ask Jeeves e. Excite f. Go.Com g. Google h. HotBot i. Lycos j. MSN Search k. Netscape l. whatUseek m. Yahoo! Metasearch Engines a. The Mechanics Going on Behind the Scenes b. Dog Pile and Mamma and Other Options i. DogPile ii. Mamma 5. Targeting Shopping Search Engines Submitting Your Web Site to the Top Guides, Lists, and Directories 1. Submitting Your Site to Lists and Directories 2. The Open Directory and Yahoo! 3. Submitting Your Site to Web Guides 4. How Do People Find Your Listing in a Guide or Directory? 5. How Often Is Your Sites Listing Updated? 6. Increasing Your Web Traffic with Guides and Directories a. Alcanseek b. CANLinks c. CentralDrive d. EuroSeek e. Galaxy f. Gimpsy g. Illumirate h. Jayde i. LookSmart j. Mavicanet k. Nerd World Media l. Open Directory M. Scrub The Web N. Skaffe O. Yahoo! E. Offline Marketing 1. Promote Your URL on Everywhere a. Business Cards b. Letter Heads c. Offline Advertising 2. Promote Your URL Alongside Your Products and Services Wrapping Up and Looking Ahead Saturday Afternoon: The Coolest, the Hottest, and the Best The Best Business Search Engines and Yellow Pages Directories Submitting Your Site to Business Search and Directory Sites Increasing Your Web Traffic with Yellow Pages Directories a. BigBook b. BizWeb c. Superpages.com d. Where2Go e. SMARTpages f. Yahoo! Local Yellow Pages g. AnyWho h. TheYellowPages i. AOL YellowPages j. MSN Yellow pages k. Yellow Book l. AskMrYellow Directories by Industry and Category Getting the Most Out of Industry and Category Directories Community Guides Creating a Listing in EscapeArtists Submitting a Listing to the MetroGuide Network Yahoo! Country and Metro Guides Real Estate Directories and Guides Getting Listed at REALTOR.org Getting Listed in Estates Today Getting Listed in the International Real Estate Digest Other Real Estate Directories Travel and Tourism: Guides and Directories Getting Listed in Hotels and Travel on the Net The Excite City Travel Guide Other Travel and Tourism Directories 5. More Guides and Directories by Category C. Take a Break D. Childrens Directories: Getting Noticed by One of the Webs Biggest Audiences E. Getting More Mileage Out of What's New? Directories Exploring the Starting Point Directory Finding Out Whats New at NerdWorld Other Whats New? Directories E. Getting Your Site Listed As the Cool Site of the Day Wandering the Maze of Web Awards Finding the Right Award Submitting Your Site Cool Site of the Day Wild, Hot, and Zany Awards Best of the Web a. NerdWorlds Nifty-Fifty b. The World Best Websites Award c. The Webby Awards F. Wrapping Up and Looking Ahead Sunday Morning: Attracting the Masses A. Registering with Many Search Engines and Directories Simultaneously Introducing Web Registration Services Using Registration Services Working with Registration Services i. 1 2 3 Add Masters ii. Add Me! iii. @Submit! iv. Easy Submit v. Metanet vi. Submit It vii. Submit it! Free viii. Submit Express 2. Checking on Your Listings a. Determining Whether Your Web Site Has Been Listed b. Finding Out Which of Your Web Pages Are Listed B. Selling Your Web Site Through E-mail Web Site Promotion Through Direct E-mail, Newsgroups, and Mailing Lists Establishing a Privacy Policy Promoting Your Web Site Directly Sending Promotional Material Tips for Direct Mailings Promoting Your Web Site Through Newsgroups Finding Newsgroups You Can Use to Promote Your Web Site Posting Tips for Newsgroups Promoting Your Web Site Through Mailing Lists Finding Mailing Lists You Can Use to Promote Your Web Site Posting Tips for Mailing Lists "Tell a Friend" Marketing Announcing Your Web Site, Products, and Services by E-mail a. Announcement Newsgroups b. Business Newsgroups for Making Announcements c. More Newsgroups for Announcements Setting Up Autoresponders Creating a Professional Image Using Multiple Email Accounts Creative signature Files Developing an On-line Business Card C. Take a Break D. Advertising on eBay E. Setting up a Cybermall Shop 1. Benefits 2. Finding the Right Place for Your Web Site F. Get Access to Millions of Customers Working with Amazon.com 1. Become an Affiliate and Set up Your Own Store Front 2. Sell Your Products Via Amazon.coms Marketplace G. Attracting the Masses with Giveaways, Contests, Sweepstakes, and More Cant Get 'Em Any Other Way? Give it Away! a. Free Samples b. Free Articles What to Watch Out for: The Legalities Disclaimers for Age and Residency Other Disclaimers Putting the Rules Together Boosting Traffic with Giveaways and Sweepstakes Creating a Giveaway or Sweepstakes Looking at an Actual Sweepstakes Gaining Readers with Contests Running a Contest Looking at an Actual Contest Using Games, Puzzles, and Teasers to Attract Visitors Creating a Game, Puzzle, Teaser Finding Free Online Games to Add to Your Web Pages Looking at an Actual Treasure Hunt Sites That Promote Your Freebies Promoting Your Freebie at FreeStuff2000 and Playhere Promoting Your Freebie in ThefreeSite.com Promoting Your Freebie at Virtual FreeStuff Other Places to Promote Your Freebies Other Ideas for Attracting the Masses a. Providing a Tip of the Day b. Adding External Content to Your Web Pages c. Setting Up a Survey d. Generating Repeat Visits with a Whats New Page e. Keep Your Visitors Informed with a Calendar of Events f. Using Video to Promote Your Web Site and Products g. Reward Loyal Visitors with a Free Members Only Area Setup Up Your Own Affiliate Program Sponsoring a Virtual Web Site Launch H. Generating Traffic Using MySpace 1. Networking with Others 2. Sharing Content 3. Linking Back to Your Web Site I. Free Banner Advertising: No Joke What the Heck Is a Banner Exchange? How Do Banner Exchanges Work? Exchanging Your Banner Creating a Banner Advertisement Selecting a Banner Exchange Banner Exchanges for the Masses Exchanging Banners with LinkBuilders Exchanging Banners with Exchange-it! Using CyberLink Exchange Other Banner Exchanges J. Analyzing Off Page Factors Building Strong Ranking Through Links Avoiding Link Farms K. Sharing Authoritative Information Through Wikipedia 1. Tips for Creating a New WIKIPEDIA Page 2. Providing Authoritative Content 3. Linking to Other Wikipedia Pages L. Increasing Your Traffic with Web Rings How Do Web Rings Work? Working with the Major Web Rings M. Reaching Out to Users Through Online E-zines N. Post Company Job Opportunities on Your Web Site to Attract Visitors O. Short on Time? Try Paid Inclusion Locating Sponsored Links Google AdWords Yahoo! Search Marketing Other Paid Inclusion Programs P. Keepem Coming back Q. Wrapping Up and Looking Ahead Sunday Afternoon: Discovering Who's Visiting Your Site and Why A. Using Web Stats to Understand Your Site's Visitors Options for Collecting Web Site Statistics Selecting Your Web Traffic Analysis Tool Web Site Stats Are a Necessary Evil Discover Popular and Unpopular Resources Learn More About the People Who Visit Your Site Find Out When People Visit Learn More About Banner Advertising Obtain Information on Referring Sites, Search Engines, and More Determine the Browsers and Platforms Being Used Zeroing In on Visits a. Putting Visits Together b. Tracking Visits c. Getting the Big Picture B. Taking a Break C. Gaining Lost Readers from Error Analysis Errors: We All Hate Them Missing Files How Can You Fix File Problems? Lost Connections Time-Outs E. Improve Your Web Site with Visitor Feedback 1. Setting Up Your Own Blog 2. Creating a Guestbook 3. Creating a Bulletin Board 4. Collecting and Posting Positive Customer\Visitor Feedback F. Redirecting Lost Readers Redirection Basics More Redirection Techniques a. The META Refresh Tag b. Scripted Client-Side Redirection c. Redirection Using Your Web Server No More 404 - - File Not Found Taking Advantage of Free URL Analyzers A few Last Words on Errors Finally, You Know What to Do - So Whats Next? Web Site Analyzers Directing Users to Popular Areas Cleaning Up Unused Pages Avoiding Dead Ends Understanding Your Niche G. Reviewing Your Progress and Planning More for Next Weekend What Have You Done This Weekend? Planning More for Next Weekend Keeping Up With the Latest Web Promotion Techniques a. Web Marketing Discussion Forums Keeping an Eye on Your Competition Giving Your Web Site a Facelift Using a Web Site Template A Final Note Appendix: Additional Resources on the Web Site Management Programs AccuTagger FastStats LinkProver MozillaTracker NetTracker PageStats/HitCount PowerMapper Search Engine Commando SERanker SEPopular Surfstats log Analyzer TopDog Pro WebSpeed Site Submission 1. AddWeb Website Promoter 2. Dynamic Submission 3. Exploits Submission Wizard 4. SubmitWolf Pro 5. WebPosition Web Authoring 1. HTML Power Tools 2. MetaWizard 3. SiteXpert 4. TagCheck Connectivity 1. Connection Keeper 2. Magic NetTrace 3. MySpeed Server 4. VisualRoute Glossary Index