If your browser is displaying the heart menu above,
use it to navigate through the website, otherwise use the menu below.

Find-A-Friend

Dating Service

Tips To Promote Your Site

Having your site closer to the top of the Search Engine Results Pages will help surfers to find your site. Over 85 percent of web users rely on Search Engines to find information.

Your site being easily found by Search Engines depends on two main things:

• Directories (such as Yahoo!, Google, etc. ) - mostly human editing.

• Spiders or Crawlers (such as MSNbot, Hotbot, etc.) - these are programs that check the content of your site (your meta tags), and index the site along with the site's technical performance (such as no broken links).

So you need to do the following to help promote your site:

1. Register your site:

Register in as many directories and spiders as you can. If you have a mirrored site ( an affiliate site that is duplicated with the same content for all Affiliates) , do not ... I REPEAT ... do not submit the exact same information to the directories and spiders as everyone else. You'll be placed at the bottom of the list, which might be page 10 or some other page worse than that. It's better to create your own description rather than use the suggested text that the site has given you. I will usually use the Thesaurus and replace a few words in the description and it will still have the same meaning. Try to make sure you use something eye-catching for the title and description. Need help with creating a header or description that's eye-catching? I was recently introduced to a software package that has helped me out a lot because I'm always getting writers block. The name of the software is AdCopyPro.  With the listings below, which one would you click on?

Myself, I would click on the second one because it looks like it has something that might interest me. By the way, the second one is actually an affiliate income program that I am involved in!

Here are just a few to get you started. These will open in a new window.

http://www.mostpopularsites.net - a general directory
http://www.best-websites.net - a general directory
http://www.mps-golf.com - a golf specific directory
http://www.mps-health.com - a health conditions and diseases site 
http://www.mps-shopping.com - a shopping directory
http://www.mps-travel.com - a travel directory 
http://www.link-vault.com/?ss=1023 - a Link building community
http://store.exactseek.com/mostpopularsites.html - 150+ MILLION searches per month on 145+ Search Engines for your featured listing!

2. Optimize your site:

1. Make sure that all your links are working and that your web pages are uploaded properly, otherwise your site will receive low rankings and be placed at the bottom of the result pages. That is not where you want to be!

2. Most Search Engines determine your site popularity by a special algorithm similar to the one used by Google. The main focus is determining your popularity ... how many other sites are linked to yours and your site content. (See #3 below.)

3. Make sure you add a title and meta tags to your pages. You can use the Meta Tags Builder located on this site for FREE. When adding keywords or keyphrases choose them carefully. There is one simple rule for choosing keywords and keyphrases, If it's not on the web page don't use it! For help in picking keywords, you can use Google Suggest Lab. Remember one thing when you optimize your site, try to use words and phrases that are unique to your site. Remember this ... it isn't always good to select a word or phrase just because it's at the top of the keyword selector list. By selecting only "popular words or phrases", could still place you near the bottom of the search results pages because everyone else uses the same words or phrases.

3. Exchange links with other sites:

Exchanged links with other sites are called reciprocal links. Try to link with sites similar to yours in content with a high page rank (PR) value. Unless your site is some sort of directory site, linking to "just any old site", can decrease your PR value. There are some link exchange programs on the internet that have you linking to all sorts of sites that are not similar to your own. The Search Engines have gotten wise to the fact that the programs are out there and individuals trying to falsify there link popularity. If you can get one way links (they link to you but you don't link to them) that's even better! The search engines look at one way links with more interest because they realize that a person linking to your site, without a return link, is really interested in the information on your site. They aren't exchanging links with you.

4. Create a 'Link To Us' page:

You should have a statement or paragraph within your site that requests reciprocal links, preferably your home page or another page that you know will get a lot of traffic. Within the statement or paragraph, place a link to your 'Link To Us' page. You should have a selection of banners & text links for your visitors to choose from. 

Try to make it as easy as possible for your visitors to copy the information from your 'Link To Us' page. If you use javascript, you can place forms on your page that allow the visitor to select and copy the link information to their clipboard for pasting on their web page. I suggest that you go to JavaFile.com or DynamicDrive.com to select a script that can be used on your site.

There are several web sites where you can create your banners for free. My favorites are:

• AdDesign.com

• Bpath.com

• GrSites.com

• CoolArchives.com

• Flaming Text.com

• BannerCreator.nu

Note: Banners aren't as popular as they used to be, because everyone is starting to ignore them. With most of my new sites I've started placing the banner(s) near the bottom of the page. Let the visitor gain an interest in wanting to click on the banner before showing it to them.

5. Create a Sitemap page: 

Search Engines love visiting a Sitemap!! It also helps the visitors that actually use a Sitemap when they are at your site. When creating a Sitemap, don't forget to put information about all the little things such as search engine boxes on a particular page, all your forms of communication (email form, greeting cards, message boards, etc). Take a look at my Sitemap. It's filled with all sorts of information that's not listed on the menus.

6. Use a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Search Engine:

Another great way to attract targeted traffic is through PPC Search Engines. This is the most effective way even though you have to pay for the clicks. My favorite is GoClick.com! Membership is $10.00 and you get one thousand clicks, in other words one cent per click! If you join, don't forget to use unique keywords & keyphrases. For the PPC Search Engines it is also a good idea to use misspelled words since some people don't type that well!

7. Use a Pay-Per-Play (PPP) Site:

You're already heard what it sounds like when you landed on this page. Just like the PPC you can bid on having your advertisement played on web sites such as this one. When PPP first started, the word spread like fire for individuals wanting to place a small piece of code on their site to help others advertise! You can go to Selling PPP to find out more.

8. Create Some Splash Pages:

The latest trend on the internet is to create what are called splash pages. I'm involved in several traffic exchanges and have noticed a lot of pages that give you just enough information so you want to click and go to the site. Think of it as a catch my eye/summary page. Here are a few pages that I created or associates created for some of the affiliate programs that I am involved in. They will open in a new window.

• Agloco

• Entertainment 4 Less

• Search Big Daddy

• GWOPC

If you don't know how to go about creating a splash page or need some place to store your pages, you can always become a member of Splash Page Maker. It's a great site for beginners wanting to get creative. 

Once you have done the seven steps above, you're on the way to becoming a popular site. But remember that a lot of hard work, time and patience will give you the results you are after. Even with the information that you just read, it will still take some time before the Search Engines notice you!

Here's an article that can help you with your optimization and web design. It's a very good article. It is called "Search Engine Friendly Design."

View the Find-A-Friend Webmasters page for more links to other sites including submission sites that get you in the top search engines without really trying!