Contents
Overview 1
Making Your Web Site Accessible 2
Signing Up for Traffic Builder 7
Using SubmitIt! to Submit Your E-Commerce
Web Site 9
Lab 5: Using SubmitIt! to Submit
Web Sites 17
Review 22

Module 5: Promoting
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Module 5: Promoting Your Web Site iii Instructor Notes
This module teaches students the importance of promoting a Web site in order
to attract user traffic. The module also shows students how to design their Web
sites in such a way that they receive a high listing on search engines and in
directories. The module describes how the SubmitIt! service from Microsoft
®

bCentral
™
can help the students to fine-tune their Web sites and submit the sites
to search engines and directories on the Web.
After completing this module, students will be able to:
!
Identify methods for ensuring a high listing for a Web site on search
engines.
!
Sign up for bCentral Traffic Builder.
!
Submit an e-commerce Web site to multiple search engines and directories.
!
Obtain reports on submitted sites.
!
Verify submission of a Web site to search engines.


Use the following strategies to present this module:
!
Making Your Web Site Accessible
Explain the methods that enable a Web site to receive a high ranking by
search engines and directories. Use the examples on the Mightyflight Toys
Web site to highlight these points.
!
Signing Up for Traffic Builder
Explain to the students that Traffic Builder includes site-promotion services
such as SubmitIt!, Banner Network, and ListBot. Demonstrate the sign-up
process before proceeding to the following section on using SubmitIt!.
!
Using SubmitIt! to Submit Your E-Commerce Web Site
Discuss and demonstrate the procedures for using SubmitIt! To analyze the
content of a Web page, submit the Web page, and verify the submission.

Module 5: Promoting Your Web Site 1 Overview
!
Making Your Web Site Accessible
!
Signing Up for Traffic Builder
!
Using SubmitIt! to Submit Your E-Commerce Web SiteOne of the main concerns for an online business is to get its Web site listed on
the various search engines and directories on the Internet. Securing a listing on

commerce Web site by
submitting it to search
engines and directories on
the Web, by using the
SubmitIt! service from
Microsoft bCentral.
2 Module 5: Promoting Your Web Site #
##
#

Making Your Web Site Accessible
!
Getting Listed on Search Engines
!
Selecting Web Pages for SubmissionCreating an e-commerce Web site does not automatically mean that the site will
attract traffic. In an environment where e-commerce Web sites are being
created by the thousands, it is necessary to plan a strategy for ensuring higher
visibility for your own Web site. You need to follow an appropriate
methodology to ensure that your site attracts the largest portion of your target
audience.
One strategy for promoting an e-commerce Web site is to advertise the site
through media such as newspapers and television. A more direct approach is to
announce your site by submitting it to various search engines and directories.
This is especially important, because most users will find your site through

Avoid spammingSubmitting your e-commerce Web site to search engines increases its visibility
to the target audience, and consequently attracts more traffic. However, it is not
enough to merely secure listings for your Web site on search engines. A high
ranking on the search engines is also important to ensure visibility.
Before submitting your Web site to search engines, you need to consider
several issues regarding the Web site title and text. You should use the
following methods when designing and scripting your Web pages:
!
Use descriptive <TITLE> tags.
The <TITLE> tag contains the text that the browser displays on the title bar.
Search engines refer to this <TITLE> tag first when they search a Web site.
If the text in the <TITLE> tag describes the content of your Web page, it is
easier for the user to understand what your Web site is about. Do not have
<TITLE> tags on your Web pages that contain only the words “Home
Page”, as this gives no indication of the nature of your site.
!
Use descriptive <META> tags.
Some search engines search the <META> tags on Web pages and list the
text that they contain after the title of the Web site. For this reason, it is a
good idea to include additional information about your Web site in
<META> tags. The <META> tag should describe your main business
activities and should relate to the content on that Web page. This helps your
Web site to secure a higher rank in the search results of these search
engines.
Some search engines, such as Excite, do not check the <META> tags at all.
For these search engines, you should try to make the first few paragraphs of
your Web page as descriptive as possible. Also, descriptive and keyword

Use <ALT> tags with graphics.
Some search engines search for text contained in <ALT> tags while
searching a site for keywords. The text within <ALT> tags can be
associated with graphics files on a Web site to increase the chance of more
keywords being listed by the search engine. This method also increases the
ranking of your listings in the search results. In addition, if text browsers are
used, search engines will look for the text within the <ALT> tag that is
associated with the graphics files, and then display that text to the user.
!
Include links to and from other sites.
Some search engines rank sites based on the number of links the sites have
to other sites. If you have links to many high-ranking sites on your Web site,
your site may be considered a hub and may itself rank higher in search
results. In addition, if many other sites link to your site, you may be
considered an authority and receive a higher rank in search listings. You
should not submit Web pages that have no links—or only links—on them.
This can lead search engines such as AltaVista to reject your Web page.
!
Avoid spamming.
All search engines now discourage “spamming” by users while submitting
Web pages for listing. In this context, spamming involves using too many
keywords and repeating them excessively in the <META> tag in order to
obtain a high ranking from a search engine. Although the first instance of
spamming in a submission may simply disqualify that page from being
accepted, repeated instances may also lead to legal proceedings against the
offender.

Let’s consider the Mightyflight Toys e-commerce Web site as an example of
the preceding practices. Mightyflight Toys has a business-to-consumer site that
retails toys such as toy cars, dolls, teddy bears, and so on. Before submitting its

Name It, We Got It."> The SubmitIt! site provides hints and tips on submitting a Web site to
search engines.

Tip
6 Module 5: Promoting Your Web Site Selecting Web Pages for Submission
!
Depending on the search engine, you need to submit all
of the pages, some of the pages, or no page from your
Web site
!
If you need to submit pages to a search engine:
$
Submit all pages that contain product-related information
$
Make sure that all submitted pages contain a link to the
home page
$
Include <TITLE> and <META> tags in all pages to be
submittedDepending on the search engine to which you are submitting your site, you can
submit all of the Web pages, selected Web pages, or none at all. For example,
Lycos allows you to submit as many pages as you want, while WebCrawler lets

considerations for selecting
Web pages for submission.
Lead-in
In addition to submitting
your home page to search
engines, you need to submit
the Web pages that contain
relevant information for site
visitors.
Module 5: Promoting Your Web Site 7 Signing Up for Traffic Builder
!
Information to be entered on the sign-up form includes:
$
First and last name
$
User e-mail address
$
Password
$
Address, including city and ZIP code
$
Country
$
Phone number
$
Credit card details for payment


of signing up for bCentral
Traffic Builder in order to
use the service to create a
Web site.
Lead-in
Traffic Builder comes with a
set of services, including
SubmitIt!, that help you to
promote your e-commerce
Web site. To use Traffic
Builder, you must first sign
up for it.
Delivery Tip
Access the site

and tell the students that
they should access this site
to sign up for bCentral
Traffic Builder. Then,
demonstrate the procedure
for signing up for Traffic
Builder as a new member.
Remind the students that
when they do their lab
exercises, they should save
the invoice page on their
machine, or e-mail it to one
of their e-mail addresses.