Dick's Search Engine Tips:
There are several ways to register your pages on the search engines. Is registering your pages that important? It is if you want people to find your site. Let's take a look at what options are available to you.
Option 1: Many web hosts offer a search engine registration service at a low cost. For example, godaddy.com offers an option called, "Traffic Blazer". For just $39.95/yr you can register all your web pages. You will have to use their utility. That is, you don't simply click a button and your pages are automatically registered. But according to my web consultant it's very easy to use. This option is by far the easiest option.
Option 2: You can add metatags (more on this in a minute) to the HTML code of the page. This requires some knowledge of HTML, but it's not difficult if you're a "detail person".
Option 3: You can invest in an application that will guide your through the metatag process for maximum density and then simultaneously submit the page or pages to many search engines. This is the option I use for our sites. It gives me the power to do what I want, when I want. But then, you might expect this. Our entire business is extremely dependent upon search engine placement.
In More Depth...
Regardless of which option you eventually choose, it would be good to have a basic knowledge of "metatags". Metatags are the words and phrases that help the search engines index what's on your page. Without them many search engines won't be able to find you. The metatags are what you register (along with the actual page text) with the search engines. Below are the metatags for my own book description page of Country Priestess. You are looking at the actual raw HTML code. Don't worry, you won't have to deal with this if you choose options 1 or 3. But take a look anyway, just for your own basic knowledge. Just think of me right now as your "mother" who's making you take your cod liver oil. <g>
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Awe-Struck E-Books: Country Priestess, sf romance ebook</TITLE>
<META name=keywords content="awe-struck,awestruck,ebook,ebooks,sci fi,sf,romance,sf romance,country priestess,dick claassen,aliens,zeta reticulans,science fiction,autistic,autisim,awe-struck e-books">
<META name=description content="Awe-Struck: Country Priestess, sf romance ebook-A man is lead by his autistic nephew to save an alien and find his soul mate.">
</HEAD>
Notice the <TITLE> tag. After it comes the actual title, "Awe-Struck E-Books: Country Priestess, sf romance ebook". You see this as the page title when you look at this page online. I haven't counted the characters in this title, but it's not too long for the search engines. But be careful: much longer than this and some search engines will truncate the title. Avoid this if you can.
Notice the <METAname-keywords content= tag. This is where you put in your keywords. The keywords are separated by commas. Keep the number of keywords low because many search engines will only look at the first 75 characters in a keyword list. I always have more than 75 characters, but I put the most important keywords at the head of the list. The good news is some search engines will look at the whole list.
Notice the <META name=description content= tag. Don't make your description any longer than the one you see in my code. Yes, I know it's extremely short. It's like one of those descriptions you see in a TV guide, isn't it? But any longer than this and many search engines will truncate it. Keep it short if you want people to be able to see the whole description.
You can really turn metatags to even greater advantage if you know a couple of things. Most important is to make sure your keywords are also in your page title and description. From the above you can see that my page title is loaded with keywords. And as a rule I begin my description with the title I used for the page. That way the description contains keywords and every metatag contains keywords. And this greatly, GREATLY increases the keyword density. And that's what you want.
Interesting Aside: If you look at the source code of this page, as well as any of the other FAQ pages, you'll see I haven't put in most of the metatag information. Only the page title is there. That's because I don't want these pages to be found by the public. These pages are for your eyes, only. So, no, I didn't forget to add metatags. <g> You can sleep well, though, that all your description pages AND preview pages are registered.
OPTION 1: (Web host search engine registration service) If you use this kind of service, the utility they provide requires you to put in your keywords, page title, and description of the page. But you needn't do it in the HTML code. The utility will just offer fields where you type in the information. When you have everything filled in, you click the submit button and your page is registered. You will want to use this option if you're not comfortable with working with HTML code. And 40 bucks a year is cheap for this kind of service. It even periodically resubmits pages during the year to those engines that will allow it. This option is about as hands-off as it gets.
OPTION 2: (Add metatags into raw HTML code) If you look at the HTML code of your web page you will see the metatag tags at the very top of the page. Simply type in the information in the obvious places--using my code as a model--and save the page. Just make sure you enclose the keyword list as well as the description in quotes. If you're not comfortable with messing with raw code, you might not want to go with this option. How would you register such a page? Go to a search engine like Google or Yahoo. They will guide you through the submission process. Yes, it's slow and labor intensive to register a page with just one search engine at a time. But it's free. If you've got time, and if HTML doesn't scare you, this option might work well for you.
OPTION 3: (Using your own search engine registration application) We run Awe-Struck with Macs, for the most part. That is, Kathryn and I use Macs. If you use a Mac, consider using the application, VSE Be Found. (Even if you use a PC, read the following information because there are PC applications that have the same capability.) VSE Be Found, as well as PC applications like it, allows you to enter all the information in the fields provided, and the app prompts you if a field is too long. It also allows you to include alternate text descriptions of the graphic images. You will want to include as many keywords as possible in these descriptions. There is a lite version and a pro version of this application. The lite version has a few search engines you can simultaneously submit your page to. ($40) The pro version, ($70), the one I use, submits to around 70 engines at once, including every possible Google engine, (Google in other countries that accept English pages). The pro version also sets up different profiles so I can submit more than one site using this application. Since we have three websites, I need the pro version. I also need the extensive search engine database the pro version provides. The more engines we get your pages on, the more of your books we'll sell.
FINAL TIPS: Don't submit a specific page to Google more than once. If you do, Google will delete that page from their database. (This information comes from a tech at godaddy.com.) There has been so much abuse by people registering pages over and over again the better search engines have put down their mighty cyber foot on this. And I say good for them. There are millions of pages registered. We don't need repeats. Keep the keyword list pertinent but short. A shorter list increases keyword density which will put your page closer to the top of the list. Use keywords in both the page title and description to increase keyword density. Try to include at least some keywords in the actual page text. You'll notice I have a header in the actual text on your book description page that has author name, book title and genre. These items are also part of your keyword list. This connects the page text to your keywords. Warning! Don't simply list the keywords without embedding them into meaningful text. My description page header is meaningful text, but simply listing the keywords somewhere in the text isn't meaningful and will put your page at risk for getting registered. There are often humans looking at these pages and making the judgement whether to register your page. If they see a keyword list in your page text where the list makes no sense in the page presentation, your page won't be registered. That big sucking sound in the sky will be your page going bye bye. <g>
FINAL COMMENT: If you go with option 1, you needn't worry about much. The $39.95/yr fee, (godaddy's fee), makes the whole thing painless for you. On the other hand, if you feel confident with modifying HTML code, option 2 is a good choice, although, keep in mind that you will only be able to register to one search engine at a time unless you find an application that will allow simultaneous submissions. If you want to simultaneously submit your pages, you will want to consider option 3. Before you even ask me how many search engines option 1 registers to, I don't know. You will have to read the online information with that particular service. Is it worth it to register your pages? You bet it is. Adding metatag information to the search engines gives you the power to target your audience, pull them in with an interesting description, and greatly increase your keyword density. If you rely on automatic spidering, the spider will only make the text of your page available to searchers. And that's not enough to make your page attractive enough for someone to click on. Oh, yeah! I almost forgot! Be sure you upload your pages after you add your keywords! After that you can register them. The modified pages have to be on your server if you expect the search engines to get the metatagged version. They will register them without the keywords, of course, but your hard work to add keywords will have been for nothing. Especially since most search engines won't allow another submission of that page for several months, if ever. Google won't let you reregister, so be careful you have your metagged page uploaded before you register it.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Just do it! :-) I know that many of you have contests and give-aways on your sites. That's a good promotional move. But if people can't find your pages, what's the point? There ain't none. <g>