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Net Gains (Apr 28, 98) |
One email query that I inevitably keep getting, month after month,
is about homepage promotion. After the initial thrill of getting
an Internet connection wears off, users stake their claim in cyberspace.
The simplest way to a free homepage is using a free hosting service
like Tripod (http://www.tripod.com) or Geocities (http://www.geocities.com)
and building your online home there. However the ubiquitous counter
on the homepage refuses to increase at the expected rate, and
that's when it's time to dash off that email to the friendly neighbourhood
Internet columnist - yours truly. So this week, we take a look
at a new site that is pretty much a one-stop shop as far as promoting
a homepage or a site goes.
Siteowner.com (http://www.siteowner.com) is touted as "the
ultimate bookmark for web site owners", and is not too far
from the truth with that claim. This site is a must visit for
anyone with a homepage, or a even a full blown website. And the
basic functions are for free - so you have everything to gain
from using this service. Siteowner.com has six sub-services :
Submit It!, Meta Tag Analyzer, Meta Tag Builder, PositionAgent,
Link Finder, & GifWizard Site Survey.
The Submit It! feature allows a user to submit his webpage
to seven search engines : Excite, HotBot, Lycos, AltaVista, InfoSeek,
NetFind, and WebCrawler, by just keying in the URL (homepage address),
and email address.
Meta Tag Analyzer is a feature that takes in your URL and
goes through the page to see how effective your title is and how
useful your meta tags are. Meta tags are used to help certain
search engines index the homepage, and give the homepage creator
the say in describing his webpage. However, if you're not too
comfortable with creating meta tags, fear not, siteowner.com takes
care of that too!
The Meta Tag Builder can be used to create meta tags for
a homepage. All it requires to do all the dirty work for you is
the name and description of your website along with a few keywords
that best capture what the site is all about. After that, it's
just a matter of the click of a button, and you've got your meta
tags ready for the copying.
PositionAgent allows a user to find out where his site
ranks in the search engines. This serves as an indicator of how
much more work need be done to boost the site's ranking with search
engines. I strongly recommend regularly using this feature to
find keep tabs on your site.
Link Finder shows how many other sites link to your site.
If you don't score too well in this test, it's high time you get
those emails going out to all your friends to include a link to
your homepage from theirs. (Chances are, they'll ask you to reciprocate
the favour!)
Finally, the GifWizard Site Survey analyses the efficiency
of the graphics on your site. One of the cardinal sins of homepage
building is to put large image files on the page - which converts
the surfing experience into a test of patience, and often causes
users to surf to another site instead. Keep those images small,
and you'll have so many less people cursing your design sense.
If you've got moolah to spend on promoting your site, use
some of the other pay-and-use options siteowner.com has to offer.
But rest assured, for the average page, the free services at siteowner.com
are more than sufficient.
Another similar site (thanks to Ashish M.) is Web Site Garage
(http://www.websitegarage.com) which allows you to tune up your
website for free. When you enter your URL, the site conducts 7
tests to check browser compatibility, load time, dead links, link
popularity, spell check, HTML design check, and readiness for
search engine indexing.
And just like in an actual garage, you get a summary report from
the Head Mechanic of this site, with hyperlinks for detailed results
describing the flaws in your website, allowing you to make necessary
modifications. You can also avail of services similar to Submit
It and Meta Tag Builder mentioned earlier, as well as reduce the
size of your images for free. Other features that require payment
allow you to see how your website looks when viewed with different
browsers, help with press releases about the site, and monthly
tune ups.
There - that should be more than sufficient to get people flocking
into your website - assuming of course, that you have something
to offer them !