Planting Seeds in All the Right Places
by Eric R. Ward
Building awareness of your web launch
When you launch a new site, one of the first things you need to do is to tell people about it. You probably accomplish this by submitting a URL to search engines and directories. Don't stop there, though. If you do, you're missing out on opportunities.
Planting the seeds of success
To really build awareness of your web launch, you need to plant seeds in many different places. Too often, developers use a shortcut site submission service to submit their URL to the major search sites, such as AltaVista (http://altavista.digital.com), HotBot (http://www.hotbot.com), and Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com). This means your front door is probably being indexed, but doesn't do much to drive traffic to other sections. There's much more you can do to bring in visitors.
I use a process I call "holistic" site promotion. This approach involves submitting to the top search sites, but also employs other methods. These can include some of the following:
The last approach can be very effective. Start by looking at your site's features. For example, do you have an email discussion list you could promote separately by submitting it to directories such as Lizst (http://www.liszt.com) and Tile.Net (http://www.tile.net)? Focusing in on your site's features and sections can increase your submission options.
Where to start
For every Web launch, there are search engines, directories, guides, e-zines, site reviewers, announce sites, and other outlets that will want to know about it. Some may be interested in the broad subject coverage you offer, while others will be drawn to specific features. To achieve a holistic approach to site promotion, you'll need to target both types.
Here's the tough part. Once you've finished with the dozen or so promotion outlets that we all know about, how do you find the rest? Here are some tips and resources to get you started.
"What's New" Pages
One option is to announce your site at several resources designed just for that purpose. The quality and impact of these announce sites can vary greatly. For example, getting covered at Netscape's What's New page (http://guide.netscape.com/guide/whats_new.html) typically means your site will garner tens of thousands of new visitors. Submissions are heavily reviewed, so you're not guaranteed acceptance. On the other end of the spectrum, your announcement at What's New Too (http://nu2.com/) will likely yield only a trickle of visits. One of the first rules of web site promotion is that all submission sites are not created equal. Understand the differences between submission sites, and plan your strategy accordingly.
To find "What's New" pages, check out Yahoo's list of announcement sites & services (http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Internet/World_Wide_Web/ Searching_the_Web/Indices_to_Web_Documents/What_s_New/).
Search Engines
The most widely used submission resources are the search engines. There are normally the "The Big Seven" (Infoseek, AltaVista, Lycos, Webcrawler, Excite, HotBot, and OpenText), but there may well be others targeted to your particular industry or niche. Find out if your field has an industry-specific search engine by checking Yahoo's list of search engines (http://www.yahoo.com/
Computers_and_Internet/Internet/World_Wide_Web/Searching_the_Web/Search_Engines/).
Getting your site included in a search engine's database isn't enough anymore. Improving search engine rankings is one of the hottest topics on the minds of site builders today. After spending hundreds of hours studying every legal and illegal rankings trick in the book, I can tell you this simple truth: the only way to improve your ranking is to devote time to it once a week for the rest of your natural life.
If you're willing to do this, give yourself a headstart by heading over to Danny Sullivan's SearchEngineWatch (http://www.searchenginewatch.com). The site explains in detail how all the search engines work, what you should and should not do, and what you can realistically expect in the way of rankings improvement. Pay special attention to the section on spamming. One word of advice when it comes to spamming search engines: don't.
Directories
The main difference between a search engine and a directory is human intervention. With a directory (such as Yahoo), a human being reviews the submission and decides whether to accept it. With a search engine, no human intervention occurs. It's an entirely automated submission process.
The most widely known directory is Yahoo, though many hundreds of others exist as well. These include The Mining Company, LookSmart, and Magellan. To locate directories that are right for your site, take a look at Yahoo's amazing list of directories (http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/ Internet/World_Wide_Web/Searching_the_Web/Web_Directories/).
Now is the time to get subject- or topic-specific, too. A great place to begin looking for subject-specific directories, search engines, and other resources is the DirectoryGuide (http://www.directoryguide.com) maintained by the folks at Submit-It. It will give you a sense of the process and can help you find that perfect industry-specific search engine. Don't be lulled into thinking they cover everything, though. I can assure you from experience that they barely scratch the surface.
Other places to look for topic-specific submission resources are SEARCH.COM (http://www.search.com), I-Sleuth (http://www.isleuth.com), and Beaucoup (http://www.beaucoup.com/engines.html; it features over 350 search engines organized by category).
If all this research has you dizzy, don't forget you can hire help with submissions. For more information, check out the list of paid promotion resources published by Steve O'Keefe (http://www.olympus.net/okeefe/Pubnet/ResPaid.html).
Media Coverage
Another key aspect of building awareness for a site launch is to seek coverage from the online media
community. This is another area in which you can benefit from third-party experience. When you go in search of press contacts for a web launch, you're dealing with a whole new genre of publications and contacts. These can be loosely defined as the following:
While email is a popular way of reaching the media, many media people still prefer fax or phone. Make sure you find the right editors for your subject. If you think you might need help in this area, take a look at the Comparative Feature Chart (http://www.urlwire.com/email-releases.html) I maintain on my promotion site, URLWire. It will show you what's offered by better-known email news release services and help you decide which one is right for you.
Automated Tools
There are a number of services that automate the process of making submissions. They look seductive. They claim to save you time and energy. Spend an hour setting things up and you're
done with the whole process. You can lounge in the sun while the hits roll in. Not.
These tools, such as Submit-It (http://www.submit-it.com), can be effective for some types of submissions, but not for every type. The more likely it is that a human being will be on the receiving end of the process, the less likely it is that the service will want to receive automated submissions. And remember that these tools are just a start. They are no replacement for an honest-to-goodness full launch campaign. They are only a part of it. You spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars building your site. Why would you expect to effectively promote it in an hour for $50?
Outsourcing
In web development, both staff and time are often at a premium. Outsourcing awareness-building activities to a third party can make sense in many cases. If you do decide to outsource, never select a service based only on the number of submissions they'll make. Numbers are meaningless. Why? Because submission sites are not equal in value. What's worse, some submission sites aren't even legitimate. Some are "fronts" for other businesses and aren't really in the directory business at all. Anyone can submit your URL to 500 of these sites, but chances are it will have little or no value to your campaign.
Costs for third-party submission services can vary wildly. It usually depends on who's doing the submission and how customized your campaign will need to be. A quality submission campaign surrounding a site launch should cost about $1,500 or less for a one-time service. For ongoing services, prices are typically negotiable.
If you're ready to get started, think back to my earlier advice. Make sure to take a holistic approach. Whether you do it yourself or outsource all or part of it to a third-party service, awareness-building requires constant commitment. Plant seeds in the right places, but don't forget to tend to your site's growth over time.
Eric Ward runs NetPost (http://www.netpost.com), a site promotion service whose clients include Amazon.com, Microsoft, and Mecklermedia. He writes a column on web marketing for Advertising Age, which you can find in their Net Marketing section (http://netb2b.com/). Article © 1998 Eric Ward.
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