2. Search engines, we all agree, are critical to the success or
failure of your website or online venture. If the search
engines don't find your business within the first page or
two of search results, you're doomed to mediocrity at
best, failure at worst. But most of the giant websites have
millions of dollars of capital to throw at regular advertising
campaigns; you couldn't advertise at a kindergarten
football game, let alone the Superbowl.
3. But there's another route for those of us with great ideas
and work ethic, but little cash: directory submissions.
These are sites that store free articles for sharing,
contributed by website owners who get one critical item
in return: a resource box with the contributor's link,
formatted in the manner he or she prefers.
6. Most people who hear about this for the first time are
appalled. Give away articles? They're hard to write, time-
consuming, and besides, you want them for yourself so
you can have fresh content on your own site.
7. But that's not the point. Fresh content and search-engine-
optimized articles are helpful to a degree to be listed well
on the search engines, but links back to your site and the
amount of traffic you get are becoming increasingly
important. Content today is much more important for
keeping the customers that the search engines first send
to your site.
8. If you have good content already, you can gain the
audience to enjoy it by donating articles. When you're
listed in an article directory, three things happen:
9.
10.
11.
12. All that from a single article submitted to one directory.
14. If you want to rise in search engine rank more quickly, you
can submit the same article to hundreds of article
directories. Each directory, though, is time-consuming. It
can take up to a half-hour with some systems to submit
your article, and that's after you locate the directory and
assess its quality.
15. Many webmasters go to specialists instead of performing
this task themselves. Article Submission companies and
contractors will take your single article and submit it to
dozens of websites by hand, resulting in hundreds of
inbound links to your website that will be tracked by the
search engines. The best news: these companies can
submit your information faster and cheaper than you
could imagine, freeing you to developing your website,
serving your customers, and filling orders.
16. Be careful who you choose, though. Many directory
submissions services submit low-quality packages that
article directories will reject, providing you with little or
nothing for your money. Look for directory submissions
companies that guarantee their work and who operate
quickly. Then watch your rankings in Google and other
vital search engines rise!