2. Search Engines
Search engines are an essential part of the machinery of the web and they can provide your site with a significant amount of its traffic -- but first you've got to get listed and obtain a high ranking.

Unfortunately there are many cowboys out there who claim, that for a fee, they will submit your site to thousands of search engines in such a way that you will be highly ranked.

Sounds almost too good to be true doesn't it?

Unfortunately, it usually is too good to be true.

Here are some interesting facts:

• There are thousands of search engines and online directories in which you can have your site listed.
• However, 99% of all online searches are performed using just a handful of those search engines and directories.
• There is no "simple" way to ensure that your website will be highly ranked on all the key search engines and directory sites.

In short -- don't waste your money having your site listed on all those no-name, nobody-cares, search engines and directory sites that themselves get no traffic.

Focus instead on getting highly ranked by the small handful of search engines and directories that the vast majority of Net users turn to when they want to find something.

At the top of this critical handful of sites worth listing on are:

• Google.com (search engine)
• Yahoo.com (directory, uses Google for searches)
• MSN.com (search engine)
• Altavista.com (search engine)
• Teoma.com (search engine)
• AOL.com

No matter how many other sites you're listed on, these few will still provide the bulk of your search-engine and directory referrals -- so spend your time and money optimizing your position on these few rather than wasting your efforts elsewhere.

This now leads us to the next issue... just how do you get a good ranking on these search engines?