Getting your website to show up in Google, MSN & Yahoo.

New websites usually take quite some time (3-6 months or more)to really show up in Google, MSN, etc. There are some ways to help "make" this happens and to encourage it to happen quicker.

1. Search Google for "Google Submit URL" or "MSN Submit URL" or "Yahoo Submit URL" and you should get forms that let you put your website address in so that these search engines will go through your site and add them to their search results.

2. Some search engines and major portals also offer paid programs to buy advertising in search results, or ensure a quicker inclusion in their standard results.

3. If you are able, find other website owners (local friends, businesses, blogs, etc) who are willing to place a link to your website on their site. Engines like Google consider these links pointing TO your site to be "votes of confidence" by the web at large and will rank your site more highly the more sites link to you (and also the better rank the linking sites have, the better for you). Also the more relevant to your site's content the linking site is, the better the effect the link will have on your search engine ranking.

4. Add "keywords" and "descriptions" in the advanced tab of your pages with words that you think people will use to search for your site. For small local businesses it is a good idea to include the area name in the title tag, as in many cases you'll never come close to ranking near the top for something generic like "office cleaning service", but you'd likely have a good chance targeting "office cleaner in alma, ks"

5. (Optional) Choose a domain name that relates to your target keywords. Sometimes having a domain name that exactly matches your target market search (like http://www.OfficeCleanerAlma.com) will result in much quicker results for those keywords. Keep in mind though, that there are many other factors to consider when choosing a domain name, like branding, memorability, and length, so you need to weigh this along with other considerations.

Following these tips, plus applying a little bit of patience will eventually result in your site showing up in search engines. Keep in mind that all engines move at different paces including your site, and that it takes time and persistence to get ranked across the board.