Is your Web site lost among the millions of pages on the Web? Are you frustrated when search engines bring up every imaginable site but your own? Would you like to maximise your Web site's visibility in the major search engines and directories? If so, you need to take active steps to ensure that your Web site is favoured by search engines. Simply creating a page and putting it on the Web isn't enough. Your Web site will be muscled aside by other pages that have been tuned and optimised for maximum search engine visibility. You must think of search engine positioning in terms of the individual pages or URLs in your Web site.

Until recently getting your site listed on the major search engines was a time-consuming process uncertain of success. Except for obvious banner ads, buying your way into the search results for any search engine was almost inconceivable other than GoTo.com, Now, the major search engines are offering ways for you to pay for your site to be listed in their indices.

Paying for Your Listing in a Search Engine Paying to submit your Web site's URLs to a search engine solves two major problems for Web masters. First, after submitting a URL, it's no longer necessary to repeatedly check to make sure a page has been included in an index. Even more important, the one-year time-frame provides the peace of mind of knowing that it's no longer necessary to frequently recheck to make sure the page has not been deleted from the database. The program automatically monitors the process, and notifies the Web master when a page has been accepted and included in the database.

Search engines let you buy your way into their indices in two ways: Paid Inclusion and Paid Submission.

Paid Submission is where a search engine charges to process a request to be included in its listings. Typically, paid submission programs do not guarantee to list a site, only to review and possibly include it in a faster time frame than is normally done. Paid Submission (or pay for consideration) systems have operated at human-powered Yahoo and LookSmart for some time.

Paid Inclusion means that pages will absolutely be guaranteed to be listed, while in Paid Submission systems no such assurances are made. But, Paid Inclusion doesn't guarantee a particular position in the main search results.

Paid Inclusion is not the same as paid placement programs, such as GoTo.com, that guarantee positions. If you want to be number one for a particular search term at GoTo.com, which is a paid placement search engine, you simply agree to pay more money than any other advertiser for the term. You can still submit your site to major search engines for free, and it still may be listed in the top search results even if you do not pay anything.

Buying into Many Search Engines at Once There are a few companies that use either software or human editors to create indices of the Web. These companies sell their indices to the major search engines, so it is possible to submit your Web site URL in one place and have it reach many search engines' web site, or portals. Many of the major search engines use more than one type of search engine. For example, AltaVista has its own search engine and also uses the LookSmart directory when you click on any of the categories on its home page. The ability to submit a URL once and have it appear in so many search engines throughout the world is an extremely easy and cost-effective use of marketing resources.

LookSmart's Paid Submission Program: Express SubmitOne-Time fee $199 U.S for one URL. ( /submit.looksmart.com ) LookSmart is a human-compiled directory of Web sites like Yahoo. In addition to being a stand-alone service ( www.looksmart.com ), LookSmart provides directory results to Excite, AltaVista, CNN, MSN Search iWon and Juno. The LookSmart Paid Submission program called Express Submit ensures that a LookSmart editor will review your site and consider it for inclusion in the directory. Within two business days you will be notified whether your site qualifies for inclusion in the LookSmart directory, although it may take a few weeks for your site to be listed by its affiliates. If your site qualifies, your one-time payment ensures your site will be listed in the LookSmart network indefinitely. Once you submit a URL, there is no need for additional payments and no need to submit your site to any of LookSmart's partners. Make sure your Web site meets all the LookSmart criteria listed on the Submit a Site Guidelines page (a link on the Express Submitform) so that it will be accepted before you pay the $199 one-time submission fee. Inktomi's Paid Inclusion Program: Search/Submit$30 U.S for one URL for one year. ( www.inktomi.com/products /portal/search/pagesubmission.html ) Inktomi software powers more than 125 of the world's largest search engines, including AOL, HotBot, and MSN, NBCi, and iWon. Inktomi provides LookSmart with search results when a search fails to find a match among LookSmart's reviews The Inktomi Paid Inclusion program called Search/Submitis a subscription service that ensures the Web pages (URLs) you submit get placed and remain in the Inktomi search index for one year. All you do is tell us the URLs you want included in the Inktomi index. Usually within 48 hours your URLs are included in the Inktomi index and can be found on Inktomi's search partners' sites. Inktomi sends its indexer (a program that connects to your site and reads it to locate keywords and creates a listing in the Inktomi index) multiple times per week to check for fresh content and to ensure the accuracy of your listing in their index. A one-year subscription for one URL, or web page, costs, $30, and there are discounts for additional URLs. Although you can buy your way into the search engines, this does not guarantee your Web site will be listed first or even in the top 20 search results. Your Web site's place in the search results still depends on the content in your Web site and how easily the software spiders used by Inktomi and others and the human editors at LookSmart and Yahoo can read it. Next week: Improving your listings in a search engine index