The simple answer is no: submission to search engines is not necessary. Most search engines today (especially Google) crawl and index pages by following links. Using that logic, a single inbound link from any already indexed page will send your page to the engine. Later, if that page links to other pages on your site, they will also be indexed…and so on.
For this reason, inbound links are very important. In fact, getting backlinks may be the most important thing in SEO. In theory, however, a website owner shouldn't have to "explore" or "search" for links. If the content presented is of interest, useful and/or important, there is a natural tendency among web users to link to the information. This is the basis of Google's PageRank algorithm.
Still, submitting your site to search engines doesn't hurt. Plus, it only takes about 5 minutes of extra work, assuming you only send the big ones. And once is enough… you don't need to submit your site more than once. It doesn't help or make the site crawl faster or more often.
It should be noted that submitting the website to Google, Yahoo, MSN and many others is free of charge. Many SEO companies claim that you need to pay to be indexed. This is not the case and you should stay away from these companies. They only seek easy income and do not seek the best for the client.
Would anyone consider going on a cross-country vacation without carrying a map? It's hard enough to find your way with a map. How difficult would it be if this adventure were attempted without one? Yet this is exactly what people do every day in the online world. They tried to build their own online businesses without having a roadmap towards the desired goal. Then, after months or years of wandering online, they give up in frustration and quit. They walk away saying that the Internet is not working for them. The reason it didn't work is that they don't take the proper route and follow it!
You don't have to end up lost in the online confusion. Here are seven steps to help chart the course and get you started in the right direction. It's not all you need to know, but it does provide a basic foundation on which to build.
Let's consider it the beginner's roadmap to winning the internet marketing game.
1. Choose a target market
The biggest mistake most people make when starting a business is that they pick a product and then try to find people who want to buy it. If that is the starting address, then it is successfully going in the opposite direction of the destination. Smart organizations operate from a different approach. They first choose a market and then the product that those people are looking for in that market. In other words, instead of trying to find potential customers to sell their product to, they find specific potential customers and then ask them what they want to buy.
You shouldn't even consider starting a business until you know exactly where you're going to get your leads. Think about your target customers first. Then a product can be devised for those people. Would you rather have 1,000 visits a day to your site from a general audience OR 10 visits a day from people in need faced with a problem and willing to pay any price to buy the product that solves it? If you're smart, people who are ready to buy are picked!
2. Develop a product
Next, you need to develop a product or service for this market. Now is not the time to think about affiliate programs.
You have to start by being able to sell a product online. There are three main ways to sell a product using the Internet:
a. Create your own exclusive product.
This is the best chance you have. If you have the ability to develop your own product, you can choose your price, sell reprint rights to others, set up an affiliate program, etc. You don't have to limit yourself. Tens of thousands of innovative entrepreneurs have used their own information products to launch their careers. Is this possible to do.
Throughout your professional life, you have surely learned that you can share knowledge on how to solve a need. Perhaps there is someone else who has the right or complementary skills for the same need and you can partner with these third parties in various ways to launch the solution. Don't just pass up the opportunity and say it can't be done.
b. Buy rights to a product or join with third parties with non-digital product.
Rights to hit products can be purchased for between $500 and $20,000. If someone has created a product that interests your target market, it's not a bad idea to offer a rights fee. In this way, you can obtain your own product online and not have to pay for margin. You can also search through the posts your target market reads and search for products that people are selling. Then, call them and request exclusive Internet rights to the product for a certain percentage of the profits or an initial fee.
c. Join an affiliate network.
If you are just starting out online, this can be a good choice. You do have to keep in mind though that it doesn't offer quite the profit potential that creating your own product or obtaining rights to one has. When choosing an affiliate program, make sure that it is something your targeted market cannot be without. They absolutely have to have it. Also pay special attention to the profits you receive from each sale.
If you are only be paid 5% commissions on the sales of $10 books, you will only be making 50 cents per customer. It would take 2,000 customers just to produce $1,000 in profits. You cannot make money like this online! Look for higher priced products and higher commissions…especially commissions in the 25% or higher range.
3. Create a USP
It is possible to create a Unique Selling Position or VPU (in English USP, Unique Selling Position) for your product or service. Too many companies are trying to be one of the online companies. You can't be like everyone else and expect to make a profit in a global economy. Going to the next third party website to place an order is very easy and fast for any customer.
You have to create a uniqueness for the product or offer. What can you offer that no one else can? Can you offer better warranties, better customer service, more tech support, faster shipping, or lower prices? It is necessary to think of something that distinguishes it from all online competitors and tell them in detail the type of solution that is being offered.
4. Select a domain name and hosting service
The next step is to choose a domain name that describes the company, USP and offer. Try to be as brief and descriptive as possible about the organization. Avoid the use of hyphens or misspellings in the product. Both of these things will cause people to skip if they type it directly into the address bar. Someone will get free traffic that you have worked hard to get.
For hosting, choose a provider with good customer service and fast technical support.
5. Develop a suitable site for the client
The next step is to develop the website and make it available to the market. An Internet business works full time, therefore it is important that you know how to design and develop it so that you can know the most effective possibilities that are available.
You save a lot of investment if you know what you are talking about. If the main business is offline and only a secondary income is being added, then it is more important to consider involving outside professionals.
When designing the site, always keep the customer in mind. All links should be easy to understand, the site should be simple, provide contact or order forms, and so on. You have to think like a customer, not like the owner of the company.
Customers are not as interested in the business as the person in charge of the company. You have to make sure to put the benefits of the site and its PVU at the top of the web. More than half of Internet users never get past the first screen full of information. Therefore, you have to provide them with the information they need as quickly as possible. The rules for any type of business are Profits, Profits and more Profits.
6. Offer a digital gift
One of the main keys to building traffic and sales to your site is to always offer some sort of giveaway as a pull factor. For example, free reports, weather reports, or news. However, one of the biggest pull factors is the free comprehensive e-books that are offered, for example, in exchange for a newsletter subscription.
A gift should be created regardless of the type of business. A free report, message board, or some other type of online service. A free demo of your product or service may also be offered. The important thing is to create something that can be offered for free to attract visitors.
7. Start a subscription list
Almost every internet marketer has developed their own email list of some kind. For most of them, it's a weekly email newsletter. For others, it may be a tip of the day. Other people may have a list to which they send important updates.
No matter the reason, your chances of success are increased if you focus on building a quality email list of loyal users. Very rarely do customers buy the first time they visit a website. Most of them will be included in the subscription list, and after a few weeks or months and then they will buy. They have to get to know the company before they are willing to spend their money on it.
On the other hand, the most effective potential customers come from offline advertising. For example, from advertisements in popular or specialized written press aimed at the sector of the organization. Offline leads coming to the web often turn out to contain a much higher percentage of buyers than any of the online advertising methods.
Once you have developed this brief 7-step outline tailored to your organization and industry, you will have a basic map to create your own Internet success story
