The Web Design Process – Part 11
11. Announce the new web site to indexing and directory services. Being online is not enough by itself. People have to be able to find out where you are. There are a wide variety of Web “search engines” available where pages can be listed. Here’s how it works: People go to the search engine web page (or, on some browsers, simply click on a toolbar button) and enter key words related to the topic in which they are interested. They click to start the search, and the engine returns a list of links and (usually) brief descriptions of pages it finds. In order for the engine to find your page, it must know where it is and what it’s about. The most frequently used search engines are free services both to listers and users. It takes a familiarity with each engine and how it works to register pages effectively. Keeping up with the search engines available is also a continuous process where change is rapid. UltraWarp focuses a lot of effort on this part of the process. You can have the most well-designed pages in the world, but if no one knows they are there you will never get results. Besides the search engines UltraWarp can help you develop a marketing plan for making your site known to potential customers.