Search Engines:

Search engines are the main route your customers will take to find you on the web.  If you are not listed on the major search engines, your site will not be found, and you will not be very successful in selling your products. 

Kinfolk Crafts will assist you by inserting meta tags on any site created by us. If you have created your own site, make sure your site is optimized for search engines by including a descriptive Title, Keywords, and a good Description that includes as many of your keywords as possible. You can generate your own meta tags at: www.addme.com/meta.htm

Spider search engines like Google and Ask will also crawl any pages you link to, so include an opening paragraph about your site on your home page that includes as many keywords and links to other pages on your site as possible. Learn more about Meta Tags. Also, check out the Search Engine Forums for more valuable information from other web site owners.

What search engines should you be listed on? There are thousands of search engines out there, but you really don't need to be listed on all of them. Many search engines use the results from just a few directories. The following are search engines you should be listed on: Google Yahoo (Requires Registration) Open Directory (DMOZ) MSN Ask.com The above search engines, like DMOZ feed many other search engines - even some that may require a fee to get listed on.

Selecting the Right Key Words:

Whenever I am reviewing a web site for Search Engine Optimization, I start by performing a Google search to try to find sites similar to the one I am promoting. I enter as many keywords as I can think of to see what sites come up first. Then I may visit the site to see what keywords they are using in their meta tags that help them achieve their top ranking position. If the keywords are relevant to my site, then I will add them to my keyword list and use as many of them as I can in the Title, Description and Home Page text.

Google will also suggest other key words that you might want to consider down at the bottom of the page. These are actual phrases that recent users have typed in and they can prove an invaluable resource for selecting your keywords.

A great Free tool is WebCeo. This program will crawl the web and list similar top listed web sites for any key word phrases you enter. You can use the keyword list that it generates to expand your current keyword listing.

Optimizing your site for Google:

Google is our search engine of choice. Make sure your site is optimized for this popular search engine by following Google's guidelines. You should also have a sitemap. What is a Sitemap file and why should I have one?

All hosting accounts with Kinfolk Crafts include a customized control panel that will automatically generate a Google sitemap for you!

Important! Make sure you:

• Use Google's Webmaster Tools to analyze and optimize your site!
• Review Google's Webmaster Guidelines.

Use Google Base

Google Base gives sellers the ability to easily create items and post them directly to Google Product Search. Simply enter your product's information in Google Base via a web form, and your item will be posted to Product Search within minutes. You don't even need a website to create items. Google Base will create and host a unique URL (web address) where searchers can view your products for as long as they're active. Learn more about posting your products individually through a web form.

Alternatively, if you're a seller with a large number of products, you may wish to submit your items in bulk. Google Base supports batch uploading through data feeds. Learn more about creating a product feed for inclusion in Product Search.

Paid Listings

Paying to get listed on a search engine is a personal decision. You will have to evaluate whether it is worth the investment or not. It may be to your benefit to pay the required fees to get listed Yahoo! Sponsored Search or Google AdWords.

Sign up for Yahoo Sponsered Search and get a $25 credit.

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