You have now gone through the fun work of creating quality content and now it's time todrive traffic to the site.
This is the time we all waited for.
You can submit your site to the search engines and wait for them to index the site. Google is fairly quick and index a site in about 1-2 weeks. Yahoo usually needs about four weeks to index a site.
After a new site is indexed it will usually go in and out of the index for a while and don't expect to rank high quickly quickly.
The Google sandbox algorithm puts new sites on a probation period until your site have proven itself trustworthy. This can last for several months and up to a year.
It's easier to quickly rank high on Yahoo but it still takes some time. On MSN you can quite quickly rank high already within a few weeks after it's been indexed, if you have optimized your web page properly.
You need patience until your traffic from organic search becomes substantial, especially on Google.
There are however a few things you can do to kick-start your traffic. It will cost some money but if you run a business it's a reasonable cost.
To ensure all your pages gets quickly indexed I suggest you follow these steps.
Do it in the order they are listed for best effect.
1. Buy inclusion in the Yahoo Directory
It costs 299$ per inclusion (600$ for adult sites) and they promise your site is reviewed within seven business days after submission. Your inclusion will last for one year.
Make sure you follow the guidelines for submission because the money is non-refundable and there is no guarantee your site will be included in their directory. You will however get a chance to correct your site if it's not approved the first time.
You should be included in the directory in seven days if your site fulfills their requirements.
The Yahoo directory is maintained by human editors following strict guidelines so other search engines will assume a site included the Yahoo directory is of high quality. This will give a good first impression.
Yahoo also have a free inclusion option in their directory for non-commercial sites but it can take months to get listed if ever. This is not the way forward if you urgently want traffic but is a good alternative if you can wait a few months.
2. Buy high quality links
Buy high quality links through link brokers or directly from web site owners. The links you buy should be of high quality and highly relevant to your site.
3. Buy traffic through Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
Buying traffic is a good alternative until your site is ranked on the search engines. You should also expect to get incoming links from this traffic which is good for your ranking.
You place bids on keywords and the placement of your ads in the search engines result pages are more prominent the higher you bid. You can set a fixed budget to limit the cost. Expect to initially spend about 100$ for a PPC campaign but it varies greatly depending on the keyword competition.
The two dominant search engines in PPC advertising are:
- Google AdWords
- Yahoo Search Marketing
There are other providers as well that are cheaper but I suggest you use these two to quickly attract traffic and get quick feedback to your ads and content. The other providers can be a good alternative later.
PPC campaigns are a great alternative to organic traffic also after your site gets indexed and achieve a good ranking.
4. Submit to search engines
This is what most people do first but I suggest you wait until you have some quality links from the Yahoo directory and/or high quality links from other web sites.
You will get an "easier start" with the search engines if you have high quality links like the Yahoo directory or from other trusted sites already from the beginning. Remember, there is only one chance to give a good first impression.
By "looking" trustworthy you have a better chance to quickly come up from the Google sandbox.
The search engines will find and index your site without any need for submission if you have high quality inbound links. It doesn't hurt however to submit your site if want it indexed quickly.
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