Marketing Your Crafts - Part 2

SEO(Search Engine Optimization) and Link Exchange

This is one topic that you can never seem to know enough about.Getting your website submitted and accepted into a search engine can be challenging to say the least. Especially places like Google and DMOZ directory.We'll talk more here about Google because with DMOZ its more a matter of if the people reviewing your site decide to include it.With Google though there are certian ways you can help their robots crawl your site more often and increase your chances of your site being included in the search listings. Of course the goal here is to improve your rankings so your website shows up under searches on the first page of listings. The top 5 listings is even better, but more difficult to obtain.

Here are some ways you can increase your chances of getting indexed in Google and also improving your rankings whether your listed there or not.

1. Do a search for similar websites to your own on Google. Look at the top 5 websites and contact them to see if they would be willing to do a link exchange with you.Maybe they offer link or banner advertising. Some will and you may have to pay a fee but trust me, a small investment can reap huge rewards.

2. Concentrate on gaining 1-way links. These are links and banners placed on similar websites that point back to your website. This is not a link exchange. A good way to approach other website owners and make it worth their while to have your banner on their website but not their banner on yours is to offer to add their banner or link to your mailing list newsletter instead.

3.Stay away from link farms.These and some of the topsites Google can actually frown upon and it can hinder your site getting indexed and can effect your rankings.

4.Consider signing up for Adwords through Google.This will place your advertisement on similar sites and visitors can click your ad and go to your site. You can chose how much traffic your willing to spend for clicks.Its another lower cost way to build traffic.

Kelle Arvay of Patternmart