Newbie Question For Submission Services

[skiman1]

Morning All,

Let me first say thanks for all of the great advice I have read in these forums, this is an indispensible part of the web as far as I'm concerned! I am still kinda a newbie as far as marketing and search engines go and have a couple of sites I would like to promote and need cheap avenues to do so. I had a link sent to me from a friend for <snip>. Has anyone ever heard used this service? Or has anyone used a service like this that really works?

I am an instant skeptic and need to be frugal, right now unemployed and need to get my web design site noticed. How dopes one not throw money down the toilet?

Thanks,
Skiman1

[edited by: Woz at 12:13 am (utc) on April 1, 2003]
[edit reason] no urls please. [/edit]

[EliteWeb]

skiman1 welcome to webmaster world :)
I would say if your trying to be frugal then dont use any one elses service because chances are its a huge ripoff and you could learn so much quicker for sitting around here picking up on other peoples conversations and of course the search.

I don't trust anyone who says they will boost my sales ;)

[miles]

Elite is correct on this one. Most companies boast that they can increase sales. Its a crock 99.99% of the time. They can bring traffic to your site under specific keywords, but they can not increase your sales.

Example; I have a customer that got over 20,000 unique visitors and made 20 sales in one month. Bottom line you have to sell your product to the customers.

For submissions its best if you do it and keep track. In most cases people who have "submission programs" use what is called a dump truck submitter. It submits to over 20,000 engines only about 6 do you need or will ever see traffic from. It is designed to put your site to every po-dunk engine out there. It is a waste of time.

Submit your site yourself and keep track so you know about how long its gonna take in the future.

[skiman1]

Geez, it gets so confusing. I figure sites like the one I mentioned were scammers, but with my lack of experience, its hard to tell. What are the best sites to submit to beside Google?

[Wired Suzanne]

Google, FAST, Altavista and Iktomi.

[skiman1]

Thanks Suzanne, what is FAST?

[x3nos]

A general rule to abide by is this: If it sounds to good to be true then it probably is.

Most SEO companies that you will find are worthless in my opinion. The best option is an in-house solution. The only recommendation I would ever make as far as outside hires is that look for a consultant that will help you understand how to do it yourself.

And yes, Google, FAST, Ink and AV are the biggies. Esp. with most internet searches done on MSN, AOL, Yahoo and Google which are either Ink or Google. Also look to get into directories like LookSmart, ODP and if you are non-commercial then Zeal as well.

Otherwise it's been said all over these forums and holds true (I believe Brett Tabke said it first) you throuw it all against that wall and see what sticks.

Start small try a few things, track the results and build on the successful actions. Remember, Life is won in little victories.

x3nos

[agerhart]

And yes, Google, FAST, Ink and AV are the biggies.

I certainly agree with the first three, but I would like to hear your explanation for AV. AV is known for its low search engine referrals even with top placements.

[EquityMind]

I'd replace AV with LookSmart

[bocaguy6]

testing one two three

[x3nos]

agerhart: true, AV has lessened by a large degree in popularity over the last few years. However, being one of the first large scale search engines and given that reputation + it's recent aquisition by the search mogul Overture as part of it's attempt to enter into the search engine market as well as it's highly successful PPC solutions, I believe we will see AltaVista's improtance rise in the next year. (This is just a gut feeling and may be predisposed by my own early internet experiences as AV was my first favorite search engine) However, despite the personal skew on the subject, I have a feeling that Overture did not just up and purchase AV and FAST for no good reason, or just because they could do so. Plans are afoot for AV. Anyway there are a few fiercely loyal AV fans out there.