How can I get my site listed in the search engines to increase sales?

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While many options exist to help you increase web presence and market a web site, this brief list of web-marketing basics goes over some of the more useful and widely-trusted tactics.

Search engines send out software 'spiders' that browse a web site's content and determine the site's rank; in other words, a site's importance or relevance compared to other sites. Following the guidelines below, you can begin to increase your site's ranking:

Page Titles:

Make sure you title each page within your site according to each page's particular content. The words between the <title> and </title> tags in the page's HTML code not only appear at the top of your browser window, but provide essential information to search engine spiders.

META Tags:

Though hidden, search engine spiders value these tidbits of code. Because of this, your META tags should be carefully crafted. For example, make sure that keywords used in a <META name="keywords"> tag reflect the page's actual content. Yet, if a page's content overuses keywords, your site can be penalized with a lower ranking.

Structure:

Text in HTML ‘header’ codes (<h1>, <h2>, etc.) carries more ranking weight than basic text. Search engine spiders index and rank web pages more accurately when you organize the page's content using standardized document structure methods. 

Submit URL:

Submit your site for indexing to the larger search engines:

Linking:

Many search engines consider the number of incoming links to a site a good indicator of that site's importance. In other words, when other sites—especially other higher-ranked sites—link to your site, the higher your site's ranking will go.

Directories:

Visit the Open Directory Project and submit your site. Google uses this service to help determine ranking. Also, search the internet and/or ask colleagues for other online directories specific to your industry or business type. These directories often will list your site for no charge. Alongside free directories, sites like Yahoo!, for example, offer a paid service to include your site in their directory.

Reciprocity:

Opportunities to trade links with other sites or organizations abound on the web. Think of those sites you'd like to be associated with and ask them to trade links. Also, devise a format for how you would like them to link back to you (ie.g., using chosen keywords).

News & Press::

Articles, newsletters, and press releases are excellent ways to promote your site. While they act as advertising materials, press releases drawing on your business's strengths and expertise, for example, can also become valuable resources when distributed for free to your field's online and in-print publications.

People discover new ways to steer visitors to their websites every day, but these models never fail:

Traditional Ads:

Remember to publish your website's URL on all of the printed materials your company distributes—from business cards to newsletters to financial reports and otherwise. This applies equally to any TV or radio advertisements you might do.

Pay-per-Click:

Many companies and search engines offer the ability to purchase placement on their sites and charge you, the advertiser, when someone clicks your link. Depending on your industry, this can lift your site to the top of targeted keyword searches. Some places to start learning about this type of advertising include: