We are frequently asked if Submission Services such as "Submit It" or "Register It" are worth using.

We are frequently asked if Submission Services such as "Submit It" or "Register It" are worth using.

Answer:

In a single word... No.

Why? you ask.

Several reasons...

First: Each different Search Engine uses different "relevancy criteria" by which your page will be indexed, while "submission" services are suited for only the one size fits all generic type web pages that typically get buried under a mountain of other web sites found in the various Search Indexes.

As you should know from reading the SE Book, your various web pages should be designed to "fit" each Search Engine individually. True, this is a lot of work but it is worth it because it is still the least expensive way to expose your business to huge numbers of prospective customers. Unlike TV and print advertising, the Internet is the most economical way to reach masses of people who are looking for your services and products! ...but in order to succeed you must use the right approach. Designing duplicate pages to "fit" each of the major search engines is part of the "right" approach.

On the other hand, when a submission service "submits" your page, they are not concerned about how "high" up on a search your page will be indexed. Their only promise is that you will be submitted. In addition, it is not their concern whether the index accepts or rejects your page -- their only job is to submit it.

Second: It is difficult to tell if your page is actually ever submitted. It has been our experience that web pages submitted through such a service have sometimes never shown up at all in the various indexes or catalogs that they were supposed to have been submitted to.

Third: Every expert we know agrees that submitting pages through a service is ineffective. And, it makes no difference how many indexes you are listed on if you can't be found... or if only a few people even use the index.

Remember that 95% of all people who look for indexed web pages search using one or two of the top eight indexes. If you focus your time and effort building pages that are designed to be found by these top eight indexes and then take the time to submit them "in house"... you will get the results that you are looking for; which, we assume, is increased traffic to your site that will translate to profitable income.

If, on the other hand you opt to have your pages submitted by the "services" then the most you can realistically hope for is to be buried somewhere in the middle of thousands of web sites in a few hundred indexes and get lost in the crush of web sites that are continuously flooding the Internet.

Now, of course, that's only our opinion and we could be wrong. If so, we would like to hear from someone (anyone) who has concrete experience that a submissions services can place a web page on various Search Engines in favorably advantageous position. If you know of any way to do this, please write us and we'll report it here. In the meantime, your submissions and page design should be handled "in house" by knowledgeable personnel in order to optimize your Internet marketing efforts.

Let's face it. Developing an effective web site can require a lot of time and a little money. It makes good sense to go the extra mile to insure it is registered equally effectively... and it makes no sense to trust your newly created "sales resource" to an "assembly line" submission process that is notoriously ineffective.