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Advertising Your Web Site

You've created a wonderful web site and now you would like people to visit it. But it's a big web out there. How do you let people know that your site is available?

There are many possibilities. Here are a few which I'll explain in detail, below:

Be sure you have placed appropriate META tags on at least your main pages
Alert the large search sites that your pages are available
Find other web sites that are related to yours and ask their owners if they would consider including a link to your site
Find newsgroups and discussion groups that discuss topics related to your web site's subject and ask their owners if they will post a "press release" about your site

META Tags

Search engines, like those used by such sites as AltaVista, Yahoo, and even our own UVM web, look at your web page and create an index of the words found on it. You can help the search engine by adding special tags to the "HEAD" area of your web page. These tags allow you to add information like the page's author(s), a description of what's in the page, and keywords. More information about how to structure these tags can be found at:
http://cit.uvm.edu/www/searchhint.html

Alerting the Search Sites

The large search sites may eventually get around to finding and indexing your web site. But you can help jump start that process by registering your site with them. How to do this varies from search site to search site. For example, as of this writing, AltaVista has a link from it's main page titled "Add a Page" which explains how to add your site to their index and provides a box for you to type in the URL for your site.

One way to get registered quickly with a number of search sites is to visit Scott Banister's SubmitIt! Free. Although he also has a service that charges a fee to register with several hundred sites, the Free service will allow you to register with about 20, including AltaVista, InfoSeek, Web Crawler and others. The address is:
http://siteowner.linkexchange.com/Free.cfm

Get on Other Sites' Lists of Links

A favorite web pastime seems to be created lists of links. Many of these are simply "my favorite bookmark" type lists, but many are collections that people have developed after much research. If you don't already know who has collected lists that fit with your topic, it's time to do a little research!

You can try the general search sites (AltaVista, WebCrawler, Excite, etc.) but you might find it easier to begin with a search site that categorizes information (Yahoo, InfoSeek, etc.). (Netscape has collected links to a number of search sites so you may want to start there: http://home.netscape.com/escapes/search.)

For example, let's say you have just completed a wonderful educational web site on the works of J.S. Bach. You might go to InfoSeek, look under "education" then "music" then "composers" and find that there is a "J. S. Bach Web SIte." A visit to that site shows you that the site's owner has a collection of "other Bach web sites." It also shows that this is a well-developed, good quality site that has evidence of being maintained regularly. Send a note to that owner asking if your site can be added to the list.

Depending on your topic, you may also want to get your site added to more general resources lists. For example, in the Humanities there is a site titled "The Voice of the Shuttle" (http://humanitas.ucsb.edu) that collects all sorts of Humanities-based resources. Again, send a note to the owner asking to be included on the list.

Sending Web "Press Releases"

The above suggestions will help get your web site some coverage if people are looking for your topic, but only if they are already looking. You may want to encourage them to look by announcing your site directly to people. No, I'm not suggesting that you spam! But a little "target marketing" can't hurt.

First you need to find people who are interested in your topic. There are thousands of e-mail discussion groups and newsgroups on a variety of topics. To find several that are appropriate for your web site check Diane Kovac's Directory of Scholarly and Professional E-Conferences or you may also try Rob Kabacoff's Lists of Lists that links you to several sites that list e-mail discussion groups.

Search the site for appropriate groups. For example, using our J.S. Bach topic again, a search for "music" at the Kovac's site turns up over 100 discussion groups devoted to music. Several of these, CLASSICA, CLASSM-L, EARLYM-L, etc. would appear to be an appropriate venue for announcing a Bach web site. The Kovac's site provides a brief description of what each group discusses, as well as subscription information and an owner's e-mail address. You can subscribe to the group, "lurk" for a few days to get a feel for what kinds of discussion takes place, and then send a note to the group announcing your site. Or, simply send a note to the list owner saying something like "You may find the following resource of interest to the readers of the such-and-such list" and include a description of your site with the URL.

And One More Idea

While not a formal approach to advertising your site, don't forget that including your URL in your signature when you send e-mail is often a good way to encourage visitors.

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