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PaperStreet Web Design is pleased to bring you its newsletter geared toward legal professionals.

Questions from Readers: What do you think about submitting our site to 1,000 Search Engines?

Everyone has received an email stating that your web site could be listed in 1,000 search engines for only $49.95. The email usual starts of with, "I saw your awesome site and noticed . . . blah blah blah" and ends with, "Give us money and we will submit you to 1 gigatrillion-zillion-million sites." We have all wondered whether paying to submit our awesome web site to these search engines will result in more web traffic and more clients.

Our advice: Don't waste your money.

If you want your web site to gain more traffic you need to correctly optimize your web site and not just submit it. Submitting your web site to 1,000 different search engines, or even 1 gigatrillion, will not do anything because of three reasons.

Reason No. 1
Submitting your site does not mean you will be ranked well. If you are submitted to Google, all that it means is you are included in the search engine database. At recent count Google has more than 3 Billion web pages in its database. You could be No. 1000, No. 40, No. 67 or No. 2,000,000 for your keyword phrases. Asking a client or customer to find your web site through this method is like asking that client to meet you in a bar . . . somewhere on the Eastern Seaboard.

What you really need is for your web site to be optimized correctly. Optimization is an intricate process whereby the content and organization of your web site is revamped. You can view our previous newsletters on the topic. Optimizing your web site and THEN submitting your web site will ensure that you are ranked in the top-ten for your keyword phrases.

Reason No. 2
The second reason to not buy these submission services is the fact that there are not 1,000 search engines on the Internet that are useful - and there are many that are actually harmful to you.

Sure, there are a quite a few major search engines that you want to be included in, such as Lycos, Hotbot, Excite, MetaCrawler, Netscape, WiseNut, AOL, Fast, AlltheWeb, Yahoo!, Inktomi, Go.com, Looksmart, AltaVista, iWon, MSN, Ask Jeeves (aka Ask.com), Teoma, and Google. However, through mergers, buyouts, and syndication agreements, nearly all major search engines and portals receive their search results from a few providers of data. In fact, some of the top web properties, such as MSN, Yahoo!, AOL and others receive syndicated content and search results.

If a company offers to submit you to 1,000 search engines or more then that company is submitting you to countless SPAM directories and/or irrelevant search engines. Their sole purpose is to obtain your email address and SPAM you. If you like receiving offers for enlarging various body parts, then cool, sign up for these SPAM directories. If not, then directly submit your site to the top search engines through each search engines web page.

Reason No. 3
Most likely your web site is already listed in the major search engines for free - isn’t that nifty? Search engines are in the business of having the most complete resource of web sites on the Internet. Each major search engine is constantly crawling the Internet looking for new web sites to be included in their directory. Sure, some of these “crawling bots” are slow, but they eventually index your web site. If you need a speedy process, then most web sites have a paid program.

Of course, if your web site has been on the Internet for more than a year, then there is a good chance that it has already been included. And if your web designer knows anything other than how to create a scrolling logo that flashes orange and blue, then they would have already submitted your web site upon completion of their project. In any event, if your web site is not listed in a search engine for some reason, then you can submit your own web site for free by visiting each major search engine.

So Where Should I Submit?
You only need to be submitted to a few search engines and database providers. Google and the Open Directory Project offer free submissions. Simply go to their web site and fill out the necessary forms and you will be listed within four to six weeks. Altavista, Teoma, Fast, and Inktomi also offer free submit programs, but they try to push their $20-$50 paid inclusion program heavily. We would recommend the paid inclusion programs if you are not listed in each database within eight weeks of the free submission OR if you are in need of being listed quickly. Overture and Looksmart are paid programs whereby you setup a pay-per-click ADVERTISING program. This is great if you do not have time to properly optimize your web site or you cannot achieve a top-ten ranking. Of course, it will cost you anywhere from .15 cents a click to $2 per click.

Free Inclusion Web Sites (Just a Few)

• GOOGLE
  Content Syndication: Google, Netscape, AOL, Yahoo!, iWon, Ask Jeeves (aka Ask.com) and more.

• OPEN DIRECTORY PROJECT (DMOZ)
  Syndication: dmoz.org, Hotbot, Google, AlltheWeb, Lycos, AOL, Teoma, Netscape and more.

Pay-per-Click Web Sites

• OVERTURE
  Syndication: Hotbot, Go.com, AltaVista, iWon, MSN, AlltheWeb, Excite, Yahoo!, Lycos and more.

• GOOGLE ADWORDS
  Syndication: Google, AOL, Ask Jeeves (aka Ask.com), Earthlink and more.

How We Can Help

PaperStreet Web Design has extensive experience developing, redesigning and optimizing law-related web sites. We also are adept at creating and executing entire Internet Marketing campaigns that include various advertising options and individualized newsletters.

Our expertise can save you time and money while increasing your firm's business traffic. Contact us and we can easily redesign your web site to impress clients and get results.

Feel free to contact Peter Boyd at PaperStreet Web Design, or 954.523.2181.