Chances are, at some point or another, you’ve received an email from a search engine optimization (SEO) firm that promises to submit your website to thousands of search engines or hundreds of directories promising higher rankings, more visitors, more clicks.

If you fall for this ploy, you’ll find yourself out hundreds of dollars with no real value in return.

The truth is that there are only three major search engines: Google, Yahoo and Bing.

Any other site that calls itself a search engine simply returns results from one of the big three, so submitting your company website to any of these other so called “search engines” is a waste of your valuable time.

When to Submit Your Website to Google, Yahoo or Bing

You may want to submit your website to the major search engines if it is brand new, and you want your website to be included in search results as soon as possible. Honestly, this is really not necessary – and many argue that it won’t speed up the process.

The major search engines do a pretty good job of finding new content fairly quickly, and your website will soon be listed in a few days – even if you never officially submit your site to a search engine.

Search engines use programs called robots or spiders to crawl the internet looking for new content. These spiders follow links from one web page to another, and from one website to another, with complex algorithms.  When the spider encounters new content, a new page, new photograph, or a new site, it indexes the information immediately.

In other words, it records the new content and its location so when someone does a search including keywords or phrases that matches the content on that particular web page or site, that specific URL address, title and description will appear in the search results.

And your site will appear on Google, Bing, and Yahoo whether you officially submit it or not, so please – please! – don’t waste valuable time, effort, or dollars succumbing to scrupulous ploys and promises of what you can already get for free.

Who really does marketing? Can "they" do it all?

I’m a bit annoyed that all the various companies involved in marketing say, a little too assertively, that they “do marketing.” If that sounds confusing well it’s understandable.

Marketing is such a broad term and encompasses such a multitude of services and skill sets that for most business people, someone saying they “do marketing” can be as confusing as a Chinese menu. “Marketing” is a term applied to high-level strategic planning and branding as well as getting trade show posters printed at Kinkos.

Add to this confusion the plethora of marketing, advertising and promotional tools available to promote your business, and the task of marketing your company in an effective manner can quickly become overwhelming

For example, here is a partial list of marketing and advertising tools available:

• Advertising: TV, Radio, Cable, Magazines, Newspaper, Classified, Co-Op Advertising, Yellow Pages
• Direct Marketing: Direct Mail, Telemarketing, Email Marketing, Newsletters
• Marketing Communications: Brochures, Sales Sheets, Presentation Folders
• Advertising Specialties: Promotional Items
• Online Marketing: Search Engine Optimization, Pay-Per-Click, Website Development, Directories, Blogs, Banner Advertising
• Public Relations: Press Releases, Articles, Event Marketing
• Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogs

With such a variety of marketing avenues to take, it’s difficult for a client to decipher the most appropriate tools to use when promoting their business. Business owners often meet people who claim to do marketing, often proposing rudimentary, rather than a comprehensive marketing program, invariably tailored to their particular expertise.

For example, many advertising agencies will say they can develop a comprehensive marketing plan and strategy, but that’s not their area of expertise. And, without a doubt, advertising will be the cornerstone of their marketing recommendations, whether it’s the most effective tool to promote your specific business or not.

Marketing is not unlike seeking medical advice…

If you have a back problem and see orthopedic surgeon, she will recommend surgery because this is how she was trained to fix back problems. If you go to a chiropractor, he will conclude you’re out of alignment and suggest a regular regimen of adjustments. And a physical therapist will discern certain muscles weaker than others, causing an imbalance in your core and recommend strengthening and conditioning.

Marketing is not unlike seeking construction advice…

It’s the same process as if building a home. You’re not going to hire a plumber to design your house – you’re going to hire an architect. And the same goes for your marketing, don’t hire your public relations firm to produce a strategic marketing plan.

It’s not easy obtaining appropriate advice from a specialist in one profession, and the same is true with marketing.

It’s hard to get objective advice where there isn’t a self-serving interest.

What you really need is a marketing consultant who has the training and experience to develop an effective marketing program specific for your individual business goals and objectives.

You’ve just registered a great new domain for you business,

www.yourgreatdomain.com, and as you’re ready to checkout, you’re offered terrific  deals on yourgreatdomain.net, yourgreatdomain.biz, yourgreatdomain.info, yourgreatdomain.co, etcetera, as well as cheap hosting to go with them.

For a few hundred bucks, you’re the proud owner of a dozen domains and hosting.

Now what should you do with all these sites?

Don't cut & paste content onto multiple domains and sub-domains.

If you believe simply duplicating your current website and putting the same content up on these new domains you will dominate the search engine results pages (SERPs) for your keywords and search phrases, you will be sadly mistaken!

The major search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing frown upon having multiple sites with essentially the same content. In fact, they will think you are attempting to cheat: deceiving the search engines and gaming the system. If they do, there are severe repercussions from the search engine police.

How severe?

Your site will be “black-balled” and not appear in any search results, except for your specific business name or URL.

Obviously, this will be the exact opposite of your objective, and will damage any business big-time if you rely extensively on search engines to deliver traffic to your website. Getting on the bad side of search engines is bad for business.

There are times when using a new domain or sub-domain (part of a larger domain with sub-domain added before the top-level domain with a period, e.g. subdomain.yourgreatdomain.com.) makes good sense.

For example, if you’re selling a single product or service as part of your business, such as a book, and have a number of affiliate websites that want to send customers to a single website focusing on that one particular product and the ability to purchase it.

In this case, a sub-domain makes it easier for the customer to find what they’re looking for, without users being distracted by other products and offerings.

If you have a strong rationale to use multiple domains to promote your business, take special care that the content and information on your multiple websites is significantly different from each other.

Do not cut and paste.

Invest in developing good content and a strong sales proposition. Trying to deceive Google, Yahoo and Bing may provide some short-term gains, but you risk long-term consequences.