When you are ready to finally submit your web site to search engines or directories, consider the following checklist before you submit your website to search engines and directories.

Complete the website first. Make sure that there are no broken links, no under construction pages, misspelled words or missing graphics before submitting your website to search engine optimization. If an indexer for a directory sees that your site has problems they will toss it aside and move on to their next submission.

Have the details ready. When you go to a directory to submit your website, have a few things ready in a word document so you can cut and paste the information they request. This list should have your site and or company name, a descriptive title of no more than 60 characters, the proper URL you are listing, 8-10 keywords that you have carefully researched as well as 10-20 others and a short description of no more than 150 characters that tells exactly what your site has to offer. This will avoid deadly misspellings and assure that your description is consistent on every submission.

Find the right category. In preparation use a separate browser window and have your chosen category page on it as you fill out the submission in a separate window. This can be the most important part because most directories will lock you into their database in your chosen category and if you make a mistake it may be very hard to change later. Checking to see where your competition is listed is usually a good place to start when choosing a category. Also, keeping a detailed list of which sites you list with and which categories will be vital in the last step.

Search engine follow-up. Typically it can take up to three months to get listed, so be patient. After that time has passed, look back over your list and revisit those sites. If you aren’t listed, then resubmit once more and check back again in two or three months. Don’t spam the website; it won’t help your cause. Also keep an eye on your log files or invest in a web site analysis service so you can see if you are receiving traffic from your listings.

Never remove an indexed page. When your site is growing in popularity and probably in size, you decide that some of your original pages need to be removed to make way for the new ones or because they are no longer relevant to your site. Well stop! If at all possible use the same URL’s, just change the content or at least put a redirect on the page so the visitor is instead taken to your home page. Don’t tear down pages that are categorized with a directory or search engine. If a prospective visitor clicks on your link and finds the page missing you have missed out and all your hard work to submit them wasted.

So here you are, now you’re ready to submit that new web site of yours.

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