Online Marketing

Introduction To Internet Marketing

Effective Email Part One: samples, tips, and techniques

Effective Email Part Two: samples, tips, and techniques

Effective Email Part Three: samples, tips, and techniques

Introduction To Online Advertising

Introduction To Online Advertising Resources - Free - Low Cost - High

Introduction To Search Engines

Introduction To Pay Per Action Advertising

Additional Resources

Why do we say Search Engines are your best FREE online advertising option? Because it's an easy task, done once per month (preferrably less) that can result in a slow and steady stream of traffic to your website.

In the "old days" (ahem, in Internet terms that would mean 5 to 6 years ago) it was recommended you submit your website to the search engines at least once a week - more frequently if possible. DON'T DO THIS - EVER! Why? Because these days, that can be interpretted by most major search engines as spamming them - and can get you dropped in their directory, or even worse - BANNED from their directory.

Once you've been banned or blocked from a major search engine (or directory) such as Google for one example, it can be difficult, if not impossible, to ever get listed again.

You certainly don't want that happening to you!

So, now that you know the etiquette of search engine submissions, you now need to know your options plus how and what to submit, right?

That's the easy part! Here we go...

Most major search engines will tell you the minimum amount of information they require right on their submission forms. Here's what you can typically expect:

• Your website TITLE,
• Your website URL (some engines call it your website ADDRESS) which of course is http://yoursite.simpleasabc.com
• A brief DESCRIPTION of your website (anywhere between 140 characters to as much as 250 characters or more, depending on the search engine),
• Some require a CATEGORY for your website (such as "Business Opportunities"),
• A list of KEYWORDS pertaining to your website (anywhere from 5 to 50 ...depending on the search engine),
• Your FULL NAME,
• Your EMAIL ADDRESS (by the way, contrary to what you may have heard, some won't accept a free email address),
• and in some cases YOUR POSTAL MAILING ADDRESS and PHONE NUMBER.

Tip: if you've included your full name in the personalized part of your Simple As ABC website, be sure to include it as one of the keywords in your search engine submissions. Don't ask why - just trust us on this!

With all the variables listed above, it may seem like some bulk submission software tools and/or sites are not very effective, right?

The truth is, many of them aren't very good ...some can even result in your site being penalized in the search engine results (meaning you show up way down low in the results pages when someone searches for a keyword that matches your website listing - or you don't even show up at all - or worse, some will ban you from listing your site). However, there is ONE we highly recommend... and no, it's not free... but it gets you listed on some of the most important directories.

The submission Tool is Priority Submit and we've gone to some extra effort to be able to bring it to you as part of this Training Center. Click here for Priority Submit.

The FIRST place you want to use it for is: Inktomi

The Power Submit service has formed strategic alliances with AltaVista, whatUseek, WebWombat, Slider and the Inktomi network, which provides over 82 million searches per day, this includes sites such as About, LookSmart, Overture, Hotbot, MSN, Goo, Terra and many others.

Note: The Priority Submit online tool ensures that your URL is listed in the Inktomi search index within 48 hours. Inktomi is one of the few places that it's best to use an approved submission service in order to get listed or you could be waiting up to 9 months (or more) before you see results. They feed some of the LARGEST search engines online, so trust us on this, it's worth the few small dollars you'll spend to use the above tool... even if you only use it for Inktomi. Click here for Priority Submit.

The above submission tool will eventually get you listed in most of the TOP ONLINE Search Engines and Directories. However, there are some you will want to go direct to add your site manually.

Here's a list of a few of those we recommend you visit and manually add your site information for listing:

• Yahoo
• Google ...you'll want to read more info on how Google works here.
• Dmoz Open Source Directory
• AllTheWeb
• AltaVista
• Searchhound
• ScrubTheWeb
• whatUseek Collection
• Splat - make sure you select the Submit Preview option and modify your website information when listing here.
• Jayde.com - The B2B Search Engine (for those of you qualified and/or going for AmeriPlan® Group Certification)

IMPORTANT NOTE: once you have submitted your website to the search engines it may take anywhere from 2 weeks to several months for your site to be listed (except when using the above referenced Express Submit tool). Keep in mind, it's FREE advertising - so don't expect FAST results. But, at least it has the chance of bringing SOME results, no matter how many - or few - and that's not bad for FREE, right?

Free is good, particularly if it's TARGETED traffic coming to your website. Some search engines simply won't list your site, however, particularly if/when it has an opt-in form requirement. The next best thing is Paid Inclusion... which brings us to the next topic... Introduction To Pay Per Action Advertising.